News Release

Monday, October 21, 2013

Three NIH scientists elected to Institute of Medicine

Three scientists at the National Institutes of Health have been elected members of the Institute of Medicine. Election to the IOM 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. Current, active IOM membership elects new members annually from candidates nominated for professional achievement and commitment to service. For 2013, 70 new members were chosen.

“Election to the IOM is a marker of an outstanding professional and scientific career,” said NIH Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D. “We are proud of our accomplished scientists and congratulate them on this honor.”

The NIH scientists newly elected are:

• Warren J. Leonard, M.D., National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), is an NIH Distinguished Investigator, and chief of the Laboratory of Molecular Immunology and director of the Immunology Center at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. His research focuses on the biology, signaling, and molecular regulation of molecules known as cytokines, which are critical for the development and function of the immune system. He has made groundbreaking contributions in basic and applied research, including identifying the molecular cause of several forms of human inherited immunodeficiency. Dr. Leonard received his A.B. in mathematics, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from Princeton University, Princeton, N.J., in 1973 and his M.D. from Stanford University, Stanford, Calif., in 1977.
• Ronald N. Germain, M.D., Ph.D., National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), is an NIH Distinguished Investigator and chief of Laboratory of Systems Biology and the Lymphocyte Biology Section at NIAID. He has made seminal contributions to our understanding of T-cell receptor signaling in response to peptide/MHC molecule binding, the control of immune cell migration and cell-cell interaction in vivo by structural and chemical cues, and helped pioneer the field of intravital imaging, analysis, and modeling of immune cell dynamics. Dr. Germain has been at NIH since 1982 and received his Sc.B., summa cum laude, together with his Sc.M. from Brown University, Providence, R.I., in 1970. He earned his M.D., magna cum laude, together with his Ph.D. from Harvard Medical School and Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., in 1976.
• Daniel S. Pine, M.D., National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), is the chief of the Section on Development and Affective Neuroscience in the NIMH Intramural Research Program. After graduating from medical school at the University of Chicago in 1990, Dr. Pine spent 10 years in training and research on child psychiatry at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, New York City. Since medical school, he has been engaged continuously in research focusing on the epidemiology, biology, and treatment of pediatric mental illnesses. His areas of expertise include biological and pharmacological aspects of mood, anxiety, and behavioral disorders in children, as well as classification of psychopathology across the lifespan. This expertise is reflected in more than 300 peer-reviewed papers. Currently, his research group is examining the degree to which mood and anxiety disorders in children and adolescents are associated with underlying abnormalities in the amygdala, prefrontal cortex, and associated brain regions.

For more information about IOM and other new members, visit http://www.iom.edu.

The Office of the Director, the central office at NIH, is responsible for setting policy for NIH, which includes 27 Institutes and Centers. This involves planning, managing, and coordinating the programs and activities of all NIH components. The Office of the Director also includes program offices which are responsible for stimulating specific areas of research throughout NIH. Additional information is available at http://www.nih.gov/icd/od.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

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