The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) announced the election of 90 regular members and 10 international members during its annual meeting in October 2025. 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, the press release said. With their election, NAM members make a commitment to volunteer their service in National Academies activities.
“I am deeply honored to welcome these extraordinary health and medicine leaders and researchers into the National Academy of Medicine,” NAM President Victor J. Dzau is quoted saying in the press release. “Their demonstrated excellence in tackling public health challenges, leading major discoveries, improving health care, advancing health policy, and addressing health equity will critically strengthen our collective ability to tackle the most pressing health challenges of our time.”
New 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. The NAM’s Articles of Organization stipulate that at least one-quarter of the membership is selected from fields outside the health professions such as law, engineering, social sciences, and the humanities. The newly elected members bring NAM’s total membership to more than 2,500, which includes more than 200 international members.
Established originally as the Institute of Medicine in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences, NAM works with NAS to provide independent, objective analysis and advice to the nation and conduct other activities to solve complex problems and inform public policy decisions
Below are the newly elected regular members of Indian descent that the National Academy of Medicine inducted in October 2025. Their election citations are given below as they appeared in the press release:
Chandy C. John, MD, MS, Ryan White Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, Indiana University School of Medicine and Riley Hospital for Children, Indianapolis. For making pivotal contributions to global health by defining mechanisms leading to death and neurodevelopmental impairment in severe malaria, and conducting field trials on malaria and sickle cell disease in African children that have changed international guidelines. He has mentored an entire generation of international investigators.
Darius N. Lakdawalla, PhD, Quintiles Chair in Pharmaceutical Development and Regulatory Innovation and professor of pharmaceutical economics and public policy, Mann School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences; professor of health policy and management, Price School of Public Policy; and chief scientific officer, Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics, University of Southern California, Los Angeles. For transforming the study of value in health care, using economic insights to reorient health care value assessment around what matters to patients and their families, identifying policies promoting value-based decisions by providers and medical innovators, and illuminating the role of patient behavior in affecting health outcomes.
Anita Raj, PhD, MS, executive director, Newcomb Institute, and Nancy Reeves Dreux Chair and professor, Weatherhead School of Public Health, Tulane University, New Orleans. For impactful research on sexual, reproductive, and maternal health, as well as theoretical and survey measurement advancements in understanding women’s empowerment, gender norms, and gender-based violence as social determinants of health, resulting in evidence-based policies and global agenda setting with governments and U.N. organizations to benefit women and girls.
Jay Ashok Shendure, MD, PhD, professor of genome sciences and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle. For pioneering development of the second wave of genomics technologies for gene discovery for Mendelian disorders, autism, and cancer; for non-invasive medical diagnostics based on cell-free DNA testing for prenatal diagnosis and cancer; for synthetic biology; and to understand gene regulation and embryonic development based on analysis of individual cells.
Ravi Thadhani, MD, MPH, executive vice president of clinical affairs and chief medical officer, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center; and adjunct professor, Department of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta. For visionary leadership at three academic health centers and for pioneering research leading to the first FDA-approved test to predict preeclampsia, a major medical cause of maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality.
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