Dr. Lewis C. Cantley. Photo credit: John Abbott
Weill Cornell Faculty Receive One of the Highest Honors in Fields of Health and Medicine
NEW YORK (October 20, 2014) — Dr. Lewis C. Cantley, the Margaret and Herman Sokol Professor in Oncology Research and a professor of cancer biology in medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, and Dr. Catherine Lord, the DeWitt Senior Scholar and a professor of psychology in psychiatry and of psychology in pediatrics at Weill Cornell, have been elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. Membership in IOM is one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine.
Dr. Cantley, the Meyer Director of the Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center at Weill Cornell, and Dr. Lord, director of the Center for Autism and the Developing Brain, a collaboration between Weill Cornell Medical College, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, are among 70 new members and 10 foreign associates elected this year in recognition of their demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service. The IOM announced its newest group of members on Oct. 20 during its 44th annual meeting in Washington, D.C.
"I am thrilled that Dr. Cantley and Dr. Lord are joining the ranks of the prestigious Institute of Medicine," said Dr. Laurie H. Glimcher, the Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean of Weill Cornell Medical College. "Lew and Cathy are both extraordinary leaders in medicine and science who have transformed their fields and significantly improved the lives of patients. I congratulate them both on this tremendous and much deserved accolade."
"I am honored and deeply humbled to be selected for membership in the Institute of Medicine," Dr. Cantley said. "It's a tremendous privilege to be in the company of such remarkable professionals who have made significant contributions to advance health and medicine, and I am excited for the opportunity to work together to make a difference in the lives of patients."
"It's a privilege to be elected into the Institute of Medicine, and I couldn't be more honored," Dr. Lord said. "I've spent my career working to transform the way we understand and treat autism spectrum disorders, and membership provides me with an opportunity to have a greater voice for patients and their families around the country."
IOM elects new members each year to recognize their contributions to the advancement of the medical sciences, healthcare and public health. At least of quarter of members are selected from fields outside the health professions, such as engineering, social sciences, law and the humanities. The newly elected members raise IOM's total active membership to 1,798 and the number of foreign associates to 128. With an additional 86 members holding emeritus status, IOM's total membership is 2,012.
Established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences, IOM is a recognized national resource for independent, scientifically informed analysis and recommendations on health issues. Elected members make a commitment to volunteer on IOM committees, boards and other activities.
About Dr. Lewis C. Cantley
Dr. Cantley is a preeminent cancer researcher who discovered the signaling pathway phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K), the most commonly mutated gene across cancers. The discovery has resulted in revolutionary treatments for cancer, diabetes and autoimmune diseases.
As the Meyer Director of the Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center, Dr. Cantley is leading a multidisciplinary team that employs precision medicine and other cutting-edge biomedical approaches to spur and then translate research breakthroughs into the most advanced therapies for patients. Using advanced technology, Meyer Cancer Center scientists are conducting detailed molecular analyses of damaged genes in cancer and applying their findings to develop new therapies that target the events driving tumor growth in individual patients. The Meyer Cancer Center ensures that patients can immediately benefit from the latest discoveries and treatments, especially in clinical trials, while training future researchers and recruiting leaders in cancer research and clinical care.
Dr. Cantley is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Among his other awards are the ASBMB Avanti Award for Lipid Research in 1998; the Heinrich Weiland Preis for Lipid Research in 2000; the Caledonian Prize from the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2002; the 2005 Pezcoller Foundation–AACR International Award for Cancer Research; the 2009 Rolf Luft Award for Diabetes and Endocrinology Research from the Karolinska Institute; Stockholm; the 2011 Pasrow Prize for Cancer Research; and in 2013, the Breakthrough in Life Sciences Prize and the Jacobæus Prize.
Dr. Cantley graduated summa cum laude in 1971 with a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from West Virginia Wesleyan College and obtained a Ph.D. in biophysical chemistry from Cornell University in 1975. He conducted postdoctoral research at Harvard University from 1975 until 1978, when he was appointed assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Cantley was appointed as professor of physiology at Tufts University in 1985, but returned to Harvard Medical School as professor of cell biology in 1992. He later served as the William Bosworth Castle Chair in Medicine and professor of systems biology at Harvard, as well as director of the Cancer Center and chief of the Division of Signal Transduction at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center before coming to Weill Cornell Medical College in 2012.
About Dr. Catherine Lord
Dr. Lord is a renowned expert on autism who is leading efforts to transform the way autism spectrum disorders are diagnosed and treated. She led the development of tools that have become the gold standard for diagnosis: an observational scale, known as the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS), and a parent interview process called the Autism Diagnostic Interview – Revised (ADI-R). Throughout her career, Dr. Lord has provided clinical evaluations and consultations and trained university students and professionals in the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders.
Dr. Catherine Lord. Photo credit: John Abbott
As director of the Center for Autism and the Developing Brain, Dr. Lord leads an interdisciplinary team that provides cutting-edge research, education and comprehensive services to people with autism spectrum disorders from infancy through adulthood. The center offers leading-edge diagnostics and intensive short-term treatment, as well as longer-term follow-up. It also serves as a referral hub that builds on resources and programs that are already available in the community.
Among her numerous honors and awards are the Eric Schopler Lifetime Achievement Award from the University of North Carolina Treatment and Education of Autistic and related Communication-handicapped Children in 2014; the 2014 Dream Maker Award from the nonprofit Have Dreams; the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Psychological Association Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology in 2012; the Patricia Buehler Legacy Award for Clinical Innovation from the American College of Occupational Therapy in 2011; the Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions to Clinical Psychology from the Society of Clinical Psychology in 2011; and the Asperger/Kanner Medal from the Free University of Berlin in 2011. She was chair of the National Research Council's Committee on Effectiveness of Early Intervention in Autism, which is charged with creating a framework for evaluating the efficacy of early intervention for autism diagnosis. Dr. Lord also served on the DSM-5 Neurodevelopmental Disorders Committee, which developed diagnostic criteria for classifying many communication and related disorders.
Dr. Lord graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1971 and earned a doctorate from Harvard University in 1976. She conducted postdoctoral research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and in 1977 was appointed assistant professor at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Lord served at the University of Alberta School of Medicine in Canada, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and the University of Chicago before joining the faculty at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 2001. There, she was director of the Autism and Communications Disorders Center, a professor in psychology, psychiatry and pediatrics, and a senior professor in the Center for Human Growth and Development. She joined Weill Cornell in 2011.
Weill Cornell Medical College
Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University's medical school located in New York City, is committed to excellence in research, teaching, patient care and the advancement of the art and science of medicine, locally, nationally and globally. Physicians and scientists of Weill Cornell Medical College are engaged in cutting-edge research from bench to bedside aimed at unlocking mysteries of the human body in health and sickness and toward developing new treatments and prevention strategies. In its commitment to global health and education, Weill Cornell has a strong presence in places such as Qatar, Tanzania, Haiti, Brazil, Austria and Turkey. Through the historic Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, Cornell University is the first in the U.S. to offer a M.D. degree overseas. Weill Cornell is the birthplace of many medical advances — including the development of the Pap test for cervical cancer, the synthesis of penicillin, the first successful embryo-biopsy pregnancy and birth in the U.S., the first clinical trial of gene therapy for Parkinson's disease, and most recently, the world's first successful use of deep brain stimulation to treat a minimally conscious brain-injured patient. Weill Cornell Medical College is affiliated with NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, where its faculty provides comprehensive patient care at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. The Medical College is also affiliated with Houston Methodist. For more information, visit weill.cornell.edu.