Institute of Medicine Adds Members

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies in Washington, D.C., has elected 65 new members, increasing its total active membership to 1,501. Five of the new members work in areas related to chemistry and the chemical sciences.

The selection process recognizes people who have made major contributions to the advancement of the medical sciences, health care, and public health, IOM President Harvey V. Fineberg says.

The new members include: Kathleen M. Giacomini, professor and chair of the department of biopharmaceutical sciences, University of California, San Francisco; Stephen P. Goff, Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, Higgins Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics, and professor of microbiology, Columbia University Medical Center; Susan Band Horwitz, professor and cochair of the department of molecular pharmacology, professor in the department of cell biology, and Rose C. Falkenstein Professor of Cancer Research, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University; James D. Marks, professor of anesthesia and pharmaceutical chemistry and chief of anesthesia, San Francisco General Hospital, and vice chair, department of anesthesia and perioperative medicine, UC San Francisco; and Jane S. Richardson, James B. Duke Professor of Biochemistry, Duke University Medical Center.

Five individuals were also elected to foreign associate membership, raising the number of members in that category to 82. Total IOM membership is now 1,651, including 68 members with emeritus status.

Current active members elect new members from among candidates nominated for their professional achievement and commitment to service. The IOM charter stipulates that at least one-quarter of the membership must be selected from outside the health professions, from fields such as the natural, social, and behavioral sciences, as well as law, engineering, and the humanities.