Women Making Big Strides in Membership in the National Academy of Medicine

The National Academy of Medicine, formerly known as the Institute for Medicine, was founded in 1970. Election to the National Academy of Medicine is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service. With the 70 new members from the United States, there are now 2,127 active fellows of the National Academy of Medicine.

A WIAReport analysis of the list of the 70 members of the latest cohort elected into the National Academy of Medicine finds that 30, or 43 percent, are women. Most have current affiliations with academic institutions. Just two years ago, women were just 30 percent of the new members.

Here are brief biographies of the 30 women from the United States who are among latest cohort of new members of the National Academy of Medicine.

Amy F.T. Arnsten, Cornelia Isabella Bargmann, Mary T. Bassett, Elizabeth H. Bradley, Melinda Beeuwkes Buntin, and Carrie Lynn Byington

Amy F.T. Arnsten is a professor of neuroscience, psychiatry, and psychology at the Child Study Center at the Yale University School of Medicine. She holds a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of California, San Diego.

Cornelia Isabella Bargmann is the Torsten N. Wiesel Professor at Rockefeller University and president of science for the  Chan Zuckerberg Initiative in New York City. Dr. Bargmann is a graduate of the University of Georgia, where she majored in biochemistry. She holds a Ph.D. in cancer biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Mary T. Bassett is the commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. She taught at the University of Zimbabwe for 17 years. Dr. Bassett is a graduate of Harvard University and earned her medical degree at Columbia University. She also holds a master of public health degree from the University of Washington.

Elizabeth H. Bradley is president and professor of science, technology, and society at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York. Dr. Bradley graduated from Harvard University in 1984 with degrees in art history and economics. She holds an MBA from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in health policy and health economics from Yale University.

Melinda Beeuwkes Buntin is a professor and chair of the department of health policy at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville. She is a magna cum laude graduate of Princeton University in New Jersey, where she majored in public and international affairs. Professor Buntin holds a Ph.D. in health technology from Harvard University.

Carrie Lynn Byington is dean of medicine, senior vice president of the Health Science Center, and vice chancellor for health services at Texas A&M University in Bryan, Texas. She is a graduate of Texas A&M University, where she majored in biology. Dr. Byington earned her medical degree at Baylor University.

Anne Case, Wendy Webber Chapman, Tina L. Cheng, Karen B. DeSalvo, Sharon M. Donovan, and Serpil Erzurum

Anne Case is the Alexander Stewart 1886 Professor of Economics and Public Affairs Emerita in the department of economics of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. She joined the university’s faculty in 1991. Dr. Case was valedictorian of her class at the University at Albany and holds a master of public administration degree and a Ph.D. in economics from Princeton University.

Wendy Webber Chapman is a professor and chair of the department of biomedical informatics at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. She holds a bachelor’s degree in linguistics and a Ph.D. in medical informatics from the University of Utah.

Tina L. Cheng is the Given Foundation Professor of Pediatrics and director of the department of pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. She earned her medical degree at Brown University and completed her residency in pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco.

Karen B. DeSalvo is a professor of internal medicine at the University of Texas. She is the former acting assistant secretary and national coordinator for health information technology at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. DeSalvo earned her medical degree at Tulane University in New Orleans.

Sharon M. Donovan is a professor and holds the Melissa M. Noel Endowed Chair in Diet and Health in the department of food science and human nutrition at the University of Illinois. She holds a bachelor’s degree and a Ph.D. in nutrition from the University of California, Davis.

Serpil Erzurum holds the Lerner Research Chair at the Lerner Research Institute of the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. She has been with the clinic since 1993. Dr. Erzurum received her training at Northeast Ohio Medical University in Rootstown.

Mona N. Fouad, Rebekah Gee, Christine Grady, Rachel Green, Felicia Hill-Briggs, and Chanita A. Hughes Halbert

Mona N. Fouad is the senior associate dean for diversity and inclusion, professor, and director of the division of preventative medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She received her training at the Alexandria University School of Medicine in Egypt and holds a master of public health degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Rebekah Gee is the secretary of health for the State of Louisiana. Dr. Gee holds a bachelor’s degree in history and a master of public health degree from Columbia University in New York. She earned her medical degree at Cornell University and holds a master’s degree in health policy research from the University of Pennsylvania.

Christine Grady is chief of the department of bioethics at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. Grady is a graduate of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. She holds a master’s degree in community health nursing from Boston College and a Ph.D. from Georgetown University.

Rachel Green is a professor in the department of molecular biology and genetics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Green is a graduate of the University of Michigan, where she majored in chemistry. She earned a Ph.D. at Harvard University.

Felicia Hill-Briggs is a professor of medicine and physical medicine and rehabilitation at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a professor of health, behavior, and society at the university’s School of Public Health.  Dr. Hill-Briggs is a graduate of American University in Washington, D.C., where she majored in psychology. She holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Pennsylvania State University.

Chanita A. Hughes Halbert is a professor and associate dean of psychiatry and behavioral science in the College of Medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. She has been on the faculty there since 2012. Dr. Halbert holds a Ph.D. in psychology from Howard University in Washington, D.C.

Yasmin L. Hurd, Eve A. Kerr, Lynne Elizabeth Maquat, Robin Purdy Newhouse, Rebecca Onie, and Maria A. Oquendo

Yasmin L. Hurd is the Ward Coleman Professor of Translational Neuroscience and professor of psychiatry and neuroscience in Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. A native of Jamaica, Dr. Hurd received her medical training at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden.

Eve A. Kerr is the Louis Newburgh Research Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan. Dr. Kerr is  graduate of Washington University in St. Louis. She earned a master of public health degree at the University of California, Los Angeles and her medical degree at the University of California, San Francisco.

Lynne Elizabeth Maquat holds the J. Lowell Orbison Endowed Chair and is a professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the University of Rochester in New York. Dr. Maquat is a graduate of the University of Connecticut, where she majored in biology. She holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin.

Robin Purdy Newhouse is a distinguished professor and dean of the Indiana University School of Nursing in Bloomington. Dr. Newhouse is a graduate of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, Baltimore.

Rebecca Onie is the founder of Health Leads in Boston, Massachusetts. The organization acts as a health care consultant to patients who visit local clinics. Onie is a graduate of Harvard Law School.

Maria A. Oquendo is the Ruth Metzler Professor and chair of psychiatry in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Dr. Oquendo is a summa cum laude graduate of Tufts University and earned her medical degree at Columbia University.

Rita F. Redberg, Therese S. Richmond, Dorothy E. Roberts, Viviane Tabar, Suzanne L. Topalian, and Flaura Koplin Winston

Rita F. Redberg is a professor of medicine in the division of cardiology at the University of California, San Francisco. She holds a master’s degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science and earned her medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania.

Therese S. Richmond is the Andrea B. Laporte Professor of Nursing and associate dean for research and innovation for the School of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Richmond is a graduate of the University of Delaware. She holds a master’s degree in nursing from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Dorothy E. Roberts is the George A. Weiss University Professor of Law and Sociology and the Raymond Pace and Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander Professor of Civil Rights at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Roberts is a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law School.

Viviane Tabar is vice chair of the department of neurosurgery and director of the Multidisciplinary Skull Base and Pituitary Center at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. She received her medical training at the American University of Beirut.

Suzanne L. Topalian is a professor of surgery and oncology and associate director of the Bloomberg-Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Topalian is a graduate of Wellesley College and earned her medical degree at Tufts University.

Flaura Koplin Winston is the distinguished chair of the department of pediatrics and scientific director of the Center for Injury Research and Prevention at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She also serves as a professor of pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Winston holds a master’s degree, a medical degree, and a P.D. in bioengineering, all from the University of Pennsylvania.