Memorial Sloan Kettering Physician-Scientists Elected to the Prestigious National Academy of Medicine

Deb Schrag, MD, MPH, Chair of the Department of Medicine, and Lorenz Studer, MD, Director of the Center for Stem Cell Biology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), have been elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), one of the highest honors bestowed upon scientists worldwide. With their appointments, a total of 27 MSK faculty members have been conferred with this recognition.

This year, NAM elected 90 regular members and 10 international members during its annual meeting. Election to the Academy 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.

Dr. Schrag is an accomplished healthcare leader, clinician, researcher, and expert in public health and population science. As the chair of MSK’s Department of Medicine, Dr. Schrag leads a team of nearly 500 faculty members in medical oncology, hematology, and internal medicine subspecialties, concentrated on developing and testing more effective cancer therapies and supporting patients both during and beyond treatment. Dr. Schrag is also a medical oncologist specializing in the care of patients with gastrointestinal cancer. She is an internationally recognized health services researcher who has led pragmatic trials using informatics strategies to optimize patient and clinician experience and improve cancer outcomes and equity. Prior to MSK, Dr. Schrag was the Chief of the Division of Population Sciences at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Studer is a stem cell biologist renowned for pioneering advances in stem cell biology to develop radical new therapies for cancer and degenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s and Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). He leads The Lorenz Studer Lab at MSK where he and his team harness and manipulate the potential of human pluripotent stem cells to inform human development, disease modeling and drug discovery, and cell therapy. Throughout his career, Dr. Studer has discovered strategies to direct cell fate and to induce cellular maturation and aging, transforming how scientists’ model neurodegenerative diseases. He has also spearheaded a human stem cell-based transplantation therapy for Parkinson’s disease. Dr. Studer joined MSK in 2000 and is the founding director of MSK’s Center for Stem Cell Biology.

Established originally as the Institute of Medicine in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences, the NAM addresses critical issues in health, science, medicine, and related policy and inspires positive actions across sectors. NAM works alongside the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering to provide independent, objective analysis and advice to the nation and conduct other activities to solve complex problems and inform public policy decisions. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine also encourage education and research, recognize outstanding contributions to knowledge, and increase public understanding of Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, and Medicine (also known as STEMM). With their election, NAM members make a commitment to volunteer their service in National Academies activities.

New NAM members are elected by current members through a process that recognizes individuals who have made major contributions to the advancement of the medical sciences, health care, and public health. A diversity of talent among NAM’s membership is assured by its Articles of Organization, which stipulate that at least one-quarter of the membership is selected from fields outside the health professions, including the fields of law, engineering, social sciences, and humanities.

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The people of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) are united by a singular mission: ending cancer for life. Our specialized care teams provide personalized, compassionate, expert care to patients of all ages. Informed by basic research done at our Sloan Kettering Institute, scientists across MSK collaborate to conduct innovative translational and clinical research that is driving a revolution in our understanding of cancer as a disease and improving the ability to prevent, diagnose, and treat it. MSK is dedicated to training the next generation of scientists and clinicians, who go on to pursue our mission at MSK and around the globe. One of the world’s most respected comprehensive centers devoted exclusively to cancer, we have been recognized as one of the top two cancer hospitals in the country by U.S. News & World Report for more than 30 years. www.mskcc.org