Shu Chien, 74, directs the Whitaker Institute of Biomedical Engineering and is a university professor of bioengineering and medicine.
An expert on how blood flow and pressure affect vessels, his research has led to the development of better diagnostic tests and treatments for atherosclerosis and other diseases. Chien was the founding chair of the Jacobs School of Engineering's Department of Bioengineering, which is ranked among the top programs its kind, and he is one of less than ten scholars worldwide to be elected to all the U.S. national academies.
Don W. Cleveland, 55, professor of medicine, neurosciences and cellular and molecular medicine, and member of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research. Cleveland has made pioneering discoveries of the mechanisms of chromosome movement and cell-cycle control during normal cellular division, as well as of the principles of neuronal cell growth during mammalian development – defects that lead to inherited human neurodegenerative diseases.
Kenneth Kaushansky, 52, chair of UCSD's Department of Medicine. His major areas of research are on the molecular biology of blood cell growth factors, and the role of signal transduction in blood cell differentiation. Kaushansky is a member of the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences and was awarded the Outstanding Investigator Award from the American Society for Medical Research in 1997
David A. Lake, 49, a professor of political science who has published widely in international relations theory, international political economy and American foreign policy. He is currently working on the implications of state rent-seeking and democracy; states and hierarchies in international politics and a project on delegation to international organizations.
J. Andrew McCammon, 59, a professor of pharmacology and of chemistry and biochemistry, and an expert in computational biology and chemistry. An investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, he uses sophisticated computer models to examine how protein molecules function so that effective new drugs can be developed.
Keith Poole, 58, professor of political science who specializes in Congress, U.S. political and economic history, economic growth and entrepreneurship and the political-economic history of railroads. He is the author or coauthor of over 40 articles as well as the coauthor of Congress: A Political-Economic History of Roll Call Voting and four other volumes on congressional and parliamentary voting and ideology.
Founded in 1780, the Academy annually elects individuals who have made preeminent contributions to their disciplines and to society at large.