Announcements: Kudos

NIH Clinicians Elected to ASCI, AAP, Presented Kober Medal

NIH was well represented this April at the annual joint meeting of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), Association of American Physicians (AAP), and American Physician Scientists Association (APSA) where a remarkable seven NIH intramural scientists were inducted into the ASCI. This year’s NIH inductees are Peter Grayson (NIAMS), Jung-Min Lee (NCI, Christopher Hourigan (NHLBI), Courtney Fitzhugh (NHLBI), Douglas Stewart (NCI), John Dekker (NIAID), and Armin Raznahan (NIMH).

An additional six NIHers were elected to the AAP. The AAP, founded in 1885, is among the nation’s oldest honorary society for physicians. This year’s AAP elected members from NIH are Lisa Rider (NIEHS), Heidi Kong (NIAMS), Elaine Jaffe (NCI), Yves Pommier (NCI), Brian Kelsall (NIAID), and Michael Ward (NINDS). Capping off the honors was Dan Kastner (NHGRI), who won the Kober Medal—the AAP’s highest award.

HHS Departmental Awards Recognize NIH Career Achievements, Service

Three NIH scientists and NIH members of an inter-agency team were recognized by this year’s HHS’s Departmental Awards.

The Secretary’s Award for Distinguished Service was awarded to Marston Linehan (NCI). Linehan and his group identified the VHL gene, the gene for the hereditary form of clear cell kidney cancer, von Hippel Lindau, as well as the common form of sporadic, non-familial clear cell kidney cancer. His colleagues then went on to describe the VHL gene pathway, which turned out to be the body's main oxygen sensor. When the 2019 Nobel Prize was awarded to three colleagues, Linehan's work was cited by the Nobel Assembly as being critical to the findings.

Learn more about Linehan’s research on kidney cancer at the IRP’s Research in Action.

The CMS-NIH-CDC-SAMHSA Opioid Policy Data Team also received The Secretary’s Award for Distinguished Service. The team included NIHers Beth Han (NIDA), Wilson Compton (NIDA), and Carlos Blanco (NIDA), and other HHS colleagues who were recognized for their work that delivered results directly impacting the American public to prevent drug overdose, inform the public through published research papers, and provide valuable data that informed policy development by multiple federal entities.

Brigitte Widemann (NCI) won the Secretary’s Award for Meritorious Service. Widemann has served as a committed and visionary chief of NCI's Pediatric Oncology Branch (POB). Her leadership and support of POB investigators have directly contributed to the development of the next generation of outstanding physician scientists and enabled many additional important discoveries by her colleagues. Additionally, Widemann is recognized as a highly committed and effective mentor of young trainees.

Read about Widemann’s work developing a treatment for a childhood tumor disorder on the IRP Blog.

Andre Nussenzweig (NCI) was presented with the Career Achievement Award for ground-breaking advances in understanding molecular pathways that maintain genome stability. He is one of the world's leading authorities and contributors to the study of DNA repair.

Read more about Nussenzweig’s work and his 2020 election to the National Academy of Medicine on the IRP Blog:

Every year, HHS’s Departmental Awards recognize and honor HHS employees and teams who distinguished themselves in the previous year. These employees faced and overcame some of the world’s biggest and most pressing health-related challenges as they worked to enhance the health and well-being of all Americans. The 2024 awardees included three NIH scientists as well as NIH members of an inter-agency opioid policy data team. To read more about the awardees’ accomplishments, go to the Departmental Awards page (internal only) on the HHS intranet. 

NIH Library Wins Research Advancement in Health Sciences Librarianship Award

The NIH Library has won the Medical Library Association’s (MLA) 2024 Research Advancement in Health Sciences Librarianship Award. The NIH Library was included in the MLA Virtual Awards Ceremony on April 16, recognized as a member who has made outstanding contributions to the field of health librarianship.

Established in 2017, the MLA Research Advancement in Health Sciences Librarianship Award recognizes organizations whose exemplary actions have served to advance health information research and evidence-based practice in health sciences libraries. Honorees will have created and sustained a culture of research that enables and recognizes the research engagement of health sciences librarians whose involvement has contributed significantly to clinical, educational, research, or administrative outcomes in their institutions. Awardees are selected only on occasions when the merits of an organization clearly recommend recognition by MLA. 

Workers Recognized at New Rocky Mountain Labs Vivarium

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held recently to recognize workers on the new vivarium at NIAID’s Rocky Mountain Laboratories. The celebration recognized the dozens of construction contractors and federal employees who have worked on the project, which began in Nov. 2021 and will open this May. 

Five New NIH Members of the National Academy of Sciences

Congratulations to the five NIHers who were recently elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2024: Tom Kunkel (NIEHS), June Kwon-Chung (NIAID), Steve Rosenberg (NCI), Sandy Wolin (NCI), and Giorgio Trinchieri (NCI).

The National Academies provide expert advice to the U.S. government on issues of science, health, and engineering and, today, comprise three private, nonprofit institutions: The National Academy of Sciences (NAS), National Academy of Engineering, and National Academy of Medicine. The NAS is the oldest of these, established by the U.S. Congress in 1863.

Membership to the Academies is considered one of the highest honors bestowed to a U.S. scientist.