Two physician-scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are among the 100 new members and 25 foreign associates elected to the National Academy of Sciences this year. Election to the academy — which was announced Tuesday, April 30 — is considered one of the highest honors that can be awarded to a U.S. scientist or engineer.
The university’s newest academy members are Marco Colonna, MD, the Robert Rock Belliveau, MD, Professor of Pathology, and Timothy J. Ley, MD, the Lewis T. and Rosalind B. Apple Chair in Oncology.
With the announcement of the newest members, the total number of active members is now 2,347, and the total number of foreign associates is 487. Foreign associates are nonvoting members of the academy, with citizenship outside the United States.
Colonna
Colonna, who is also a professor of medicine, studies how immune cells fight cancer and infection, contribute to autoimmune diseases, and play a role in inflammatory diseases such as Alzheimer’s and inflammatory bowel disease.