Membership in the National Academy of Medicine recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievements and commitment to service
Seven Johns Hopkins University faculty members have been elected to the National Academy of Medicine, considered one of the highest honors in health and medicine. An independent organization of leading professionals in health-related disciplines, the National Academy of Medicine serves alongside the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering as a nonpartisan advisor for policymakers and the public.
Founded in 1970, NAM addresses critical health and medicine issues both domestically and abroad. The work and recommendations of its members shape health research, practice, and policies that improve health and health outcomes worldwide.
The announcement of the 100 new members was made Oct. 19 as part of the academy’s annual meeting. The seven elected from Johns Hopkins are neuroscientist and physical therapist Amy J. Bastian, neuroscientist and surgeon Dwight Edward Bergles, internist Jeremy A. Greene, public health scholar Daniel B. Jernigan, pediatrician Ruth Aviva Karron, Kennedy Krieger Institute President and CEO Bradley L. Schlaggar, and Younan Xia, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology.
New members are elected by current members through a selective process that recognizes individuals who have made major contributions to the advancement of the medical sciences, healthcare, and public health. The NAM currently has more than 2,600 members.
More on the new members from Johns Hopkins:
Amy J. Bastian, chief scientific officer, Kennedy Krieger Institute, and professor of neuroscience, neurology, and physical medicine at the School of Medicine. As a neuroscientist and physical therapist, she studies the mechanisms underlying impaired movement in children and adults with common and rare neurological conditions, focusing on understanding how their remaining motor learning abilities can be leveraged for treatment. Bastian was elected to NAM for her fundamental work on cerebellar control of movement, sensorimotor learning, and novel rehabilitation approaches for people with brain injuries. She was previously elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2023 for advancing knowledge of normal and disordered sensorimotor control and learning in humans.
Dwight Edward Bergles, professor, Department of Neuroscience at the School of Medicine, and director of the Kavli Neuroscience Discovery Institute and the Neuroscience Imaging Center. Bergles’ research explores the mechanisms used for cellular communication in the central nervous system. He was elected for his pioneering discoveries of glial cell function in the brain. Specifically, his research defined the fate of glial progenitors and the contributions of glial cells to brain development, brain function and neurological disease.
Jeremy A. Greene, a practicing internist, professor of medicine and the history of medicine, director of the Department of the History of Medicine at the School of Medicine, and founding director of the Center for Medical Humanities and Social Medicine. Greene holds joint appointments in the Department of History of Science and Technology and the Department of Anthropology at the university’s Krieger School of Arts and Sciences. Greene was elected for his national role in elevating the importance of humanities and social sciences in medical education; for making history vital to improving biomedicine, clinical practice and health policy; and for his historical studies on how medical technologies have improved access to care and drug regulation.
Daniel B. Jernigan, contributing scholar, Center for Health Security and Center for Outbreak Response Innovation at the Bloomberg School of Public Health. Jernigan was recognized for transforming data modernization efforts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and leading national public health responses, including the bioterrorism-related anthrax attack, the emergence of West Nile virus, the SARS epidemic, the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, several Ebola outbreaks, and the COVID-19 pandemic. During his career at the CDC, he served in multiple leadership roles, most recently as director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, overseeing the agency’s largest portfolio of high-consequence pathogens; vector-borne, fungal, parasitic, and foodborne illnesses; antimicrobial resistance; and healthcare-associated infections. He also directed the Influenza Division for six years.
Ruth Aviva Karron, director of the Johns Hopkins Vaccine Initiative, professor of international health at the Bloomberg School of Public Health with a joint appointment in the Department of Pediatrics at the School of Medicine. Karron is a pediatrician, trained in infectious diseases, who has extensive experience in the evaluation of respiratory virus vaccines, including vaccines for respiratory syncytial virus, parainfluenza viruses, avian influenza, and pandemic influenza in adult and pediatric populations. Karron’s research interests also include the pathogenesis of enhanced RSV disease, the development of immune responses to respiratory viral infections in early life, the epidemiology of RSV and other respiratory viral diseases in resource-poor settings, and public policy issues related to vaccine development and distribution. She has served on a number of national and international vaccine advisory committees and panels, and she chaired the Food and Drug Administration’s Vaccine and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee from 2006-2008.
Bradley L. Schlaggar, president, CEO and chair of the Kennedy Krieger Institute and professor of neurology and pediatrics at the School of Medicine. With clinical expertise in pediatric neurology and disorders of movement, language, and cognition, Schlaggar’s research has focused on deciphering and understanding how different regions of the brain interact and work together in children. He was elected for his seminal work that built a foundation for understanding typical and atypical development of cognition, language, and reading using cognitive neuroscientific approaches, establishing him as a thought leader in translational developmental neuroscience.
Younan Xia, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. His work focuses on the design, synthesis, and use of nanomaterials in applications in medicine, electronics, and energy conversion. Among his inventions are silver nanowires used to make flexible, transparent, and conductive coatings in touchscreen displays, flexible electronics, and photovoltaics, which use semiconductors to convert sunlight into electricity. In biomedical applications, he has designed nanomaterials for cancer diagnosis and treatment, targeted drug delivery, wound management, and tissue repair and regeneration.