honors

Understanding the Body’s Universe of Atoms

IRP’s Adriaan Bax Elected to Royal Society for Pioneering Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Methods

Dr. Adrian Baax

“My mortal body is indeed a universe of atoms, but I am just an atom in the universe myself,” physicist Richard Feynman once wrote in a poem. Within our own bodily universes, all those atoms tell a story about how our bodies work — and how they sometimes don’t.

IRP Distinguished Investigator Adriaan Bax, Ph.D., has pioneered ways to watch those atoms using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) methods. This year, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in recognition of his research, which has contributed greatly to our knowledge of how the proteins and nucleic acids that keep our bodies running smoothly are structured, how they move, and how they interact, particularly in relation to diseases caused by their malformations and malfunctions. The Royal Society, which was founded in England in the 1660s, is a fellowship of many of the world’s most eminent scientists and is the oldest scientific academy in continuous existence. 

IRP’s Thomas Kunkel Elected to National Academy of Sciences

Scientist Honored for Discoveries About DNA Replication

Dr. Thomas Kunkel

Our cells’ ability to create more of themselves is crucial for many aspects of health, but a cell without DNA can’t do all that much. For that reason, perhaps the most crucial step in cell division is the replication of DNA. IRP Distinguished Investigator Thomas Kunkel, Ph.D., has spent his career trying to understand DNA replication, what happens when the process goes wrong, and what influences the likelihood of mistakes. Earlier this year, he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in recognition of his extensive contributions to this field.

A Lifetime Exploring the Kingdom of Fungi

IRP’s June Kwon-Chung Elected to National Academy of Sciences for Advances in Mycology

Dr. June Kwon-Chung

Even as a little girl, NIH Distinguished Investigator June Kwon-Chung, Ph.D., knew she would be a scientist. Seven decades later, she has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) for her groundbreaking research on fungal diseases.

“My dream has always been to become a research scientist in the field of biology,” Dr. Kwon-Chung says. “This goes way back to when I was barely out of the toddler stage.” 

As a child growing up in Korea before it split into two separate countries, Dr. Kwon-Chung felt blessed to have parents and teachers who nurtured her interests early. Her participation in her junior high school’s “Biology Club” led her to focus on the study of bacteria as a student at the Ewha Womans University in Seoul, Korea, even though wartime disruptions made scientific study challenging. In 1961, she won a year-long Fulbright Smith-Mundt scholarship to study in the U.S. and chose to attend the University of Wisconsin, where she specialized in mycology, the study of fungi.

IRP’s Marston Linehan Receives HHS Secretary’s Award for Distinguished Service

Honor Recognizes Groundbreaking Advances in Cancer Genetics

Dr. Marston Linehan

As an undergraduate majoring in English, IRP senior investigator W. Marston Linehan, M.D., was fascinated by the complex poetry of 18th-century writer William Blake. But as much as he loved puzzling out the deeper meanings behind literary metaphors and imagery, Dr. Linehan eventually realized he wanted to do work that had more tangible benefits for people. Biology, with its own deep and complex mysteries, fit the bill.

Nearly 40 years later, Dr. Linehan’s pioneering work in the study of genetic forms of kidney cancer has transformed how doctors treat the disease. Over that period, he and his colleagues discovered or co-discovered nine distinct forms of kidney cancer and identified 10 different genes that cause them. These discoveries have provided the basis for targeted therapies and new approaches to treatment and, this year, earned Dr. Linehan the HHS Secretary’s Award for Distinguished Service, the highest honor given by the US government’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

NHGRI Director Eric Green Elected to National Academy of Medicine

Sequencing the Human Genome Sparks Transformation in Medicine

Dr. Eric Green next to a drawing of a DNA molecule

Few people can say they got in on the ground floor of a foundational achievement in science, but that’s where Eric Green, M.D., Ph.D., Director of NIH’s National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), found himself when he began his career. It’s no wonder, then, that he was elected to the prestigious National Academy of Medicine (NAM) in October 2023.

Thirty four years ago, as a newly minted physician-scientist, Dr. Green joined the Human Genome Project, an initiative that had among its leaders former NIH Director Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D. The initiative aimed to determine the order of the roughly 3 billion DNA building blocks, called nucleotides, that constitute the genetic blueprint for building and operating our bodies. Today, Dr. Green leads the NIH Institute that was established to lead NIH’s contribution to that ambitious endeavor, overseeing the investigation and application of information and technologies that drive the application of genomics to modern-day medicine.

HHS Awards Recognize IRP Cancer Researchers

Long Careers at NIH Yield Groundbreaking Achievements

from left to right: Dr. Robert Yarchoan, Dr. Elaine Jaffe, and Dr. Louis Staudt

When you work at the National Institutes of Health, major advances in health and science can seem like a regular occurrence. Yet not all advances are created equal; some change entire paradigms for understanding and treating disease, even disarming a disease’s lethal effects.

This fall, three IRP senior investigators received Departmental Awards from the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for their exceptional contributions to science: Louis M. Staudt, M.D., Ph.D., Elaine S. Jaffe, M.D., and Robert Yarchoan, M.D. Dr. Staudt received the HHS Secretary’s Award for Distinguished Service for his revolutionary work on the diagnosis and treatment of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL); Dr. Jaffe received the Secretary’s Award for Meritorious Service for her pioneering discoveries about lymphomas and blood cancers; and Dr. Yarchoan received the HHS Career Achievement Award for his role in developing the first effective drugs for AIDS and developing treatments for HIV-associated cancers.

IRP Scientists Win Breakthrough Prize for Parkinson’s Discoveries

Andrew Singleton and Ellen Sidransky Lauded for Genetics Research

Dr. Ellen Sidransky (left) and Dr. Andrew Singleton (right)

Throughout history, some of the most important insights about devastating illnesses have come from identifying genes that contribute to them. Parkinson’s disease, a neurological condition that robs patients of the ability to move, is just one example of this pattern — and one that IRP researchers have made critical advances on in recent years.

Reflecting the IRP’s groundbreaking research on Parkinson’s disease, in September, IRP senior investigators Ellen Sidransky, M.D., and Andrew Singleton, Ph.D., were awarded the prestigious Breakthrough Prize for their research on the genetic causes of the illness. The world’s largest scientific award, the Breakthrough Prize honors “transformative advances toward understanding living systems and extending human life.” Each year, one award in the Life Sciences category is reserved for research on Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative disorders. Dr. Sidransky and Dr. Singleton, along with a third Parkinson’s researcher, Thomas Gasser, M.D., Ph.D., at the University of Tübingen in Germany, will share the $3 million prize.

Sandra Wolin and Ronald Germain Elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences

IRP Scientists Recognized for RNA Revelations and Immune System Insights

Dr. Ronald Germain (left) and Dr. Sandra Wolin

Since its founding in 1780, the American Academy of Arts & Sciences has honored excellence in fields ranging from the humanities and arts to math, biology, and physics. In 2023, two of IRP’s eminent researchers joined the ranks of such luminaries as Benjamin Franklin and Nobel Prize winner Barbara McClintock as members of the Academy for their work in immunology and RNA science.

IRP’s John O’Shea Elected to National Academy of Sciences

NIH Scientist Spurred Revolution in Autoimmune Disease Therapy

Dr. John O'Shea

IRP senior investigator John O’Shea, M.D., is a man of many talents. During his career at NIH, he has applied his creativity and drive not just to playing a variety of instruments in a rock band made up of NIH scientists, the Affordable Rock ‘n’ Roll Act (ARRA), but also to his groundbreaking research on the immune system.

This May, Dr. O’Shea, who is the Scientific Director at the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), was elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) for his influential research on the biochemical chain of events that kicks our immune system into gear, which has led to a better understanding of how genetic mutations interfere with the immune response, as well as the development of an entire new class of drugs that target the immune system.

IRP’s Bruce Tromberg Elected to National Academy of Medicine

Advances in Bioengineering Drive Life-Saving Medicine

Dr. Bruce Tromberg

“To discover new things, you need new ways to see them,” says Bruce J. Tromberg, Ph.D., Director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB). That’s why he has spent the past 30 years of his career improving and inventing tools to help doctors and scientists conduct cutting-edge biomedical research and apply their findings to the task of saving lives. This past October, Dr. Tromberg was elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) for his contributions to the fields of biophotonics and biomedical optics, as well as his leadership in the biomedical engineering and imaging community.