NEW YORK – Three distinguished Columbia University Medical Center faculty have been elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences this year.
Election to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) is one of the highest honors in the fields of medicine and health, and Columbia now has 49 members in this esteemed organization. The three CUMC faculty – Kathryn Calame, Timothy Pedley and Carolyn Westhoff – were among the 65 new IOM members announced Oct. 8, 2007, raising its total active IOM membership to 1,538.
“Columbia’s new members were chosen through a highly selective process that recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to advancing the medical science, health care, and public health fields,” said Lee Goldman, M.D., executive vice president for health and biomedical sciences and dean of the faculties of health and medicine at Columbia University. “We are proud to have them in our midst.”
Kathryn Calame, Ph.D., is professor of microbiology and of biochemistry & molecular biophysics at Columbia’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. Dr. Calame studies gene regulation in the immune system, and her laboratory work focuses primarily on transcriptional regulation of lymphocyte development. A major focus of her current work is an unusual transcriptional repressor called Blimp-1 (B lymphocyte induced maturation protein). Her studies on Blimp-1 are revealing important aspects of regulation in both B and T cells.
Timothy A. Pedley, M.D., is the Henry and Lucy Moses Professor of Neurology, chairman of the Department of Neurology at P&S, and neurologist-in-chief at the Neurological Institute at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. Dr. Pedley’s clinical and research interests are focused on epilepsy. His laboratory interests are in the role played by the ionic microenvironment in abnormal hippocampal and cortical excitability and in long-lasting changes in the hippocampus induced by repeated seizures.
Carolyn L. Westhoff, M.D., is professor of obstetrics and gynecology at P&S and professor of epidemiology and of population and family health at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health. She studies the effect of obesity on contraceptive effectiveness and leads several research projects investigating contraception and the epidemiology of women’s reproductive health. Most recently, Dr. Westhoff was the principal investigator of a clinical trial of a novel oral contraceptive initiation method known as Quick Start.
The Institute of Medicine is part of the National Academies, which also includes the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and National Research Council. The IOM structure is unique in its role as both an honorific membership group and advisory organization. Members are expected to volunteer on study committees to serve as a national resource for independent, scientifically informed analysis and recommendations on issues related to human health.
Columbia University Medical Center provides international leadership in pre-clinical and clinical research, in medical and health sciences education, and in patient care. The medical center trains future leaders and includes the dedicated work of many physicians, scientists, public health professionals, nurses, and dentists at the College of Physicians & Surgeons, the Mailman School of Public Health, the School of Nursing, the College of Dental Medicine, the biomedical departments of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and allied research centers and institutions. www.cumc.columbia.edu