Dr. Virginia Pascual, director of the Gale and Ira Drukier Institute for Children’s Health and the Ronay Menschel Professor of Pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medicine, has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Founded in 1780, the academy is one of the nation’s oldest honorary societies. Members have included Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Barbara McClintock among a host of other luminaries. This year, Dr. Pascual joins nearly 250 other inductees from academia, the arts, industry, policy, research and science.
“I’m in great company, and I’m very grateful and honored,” Dr. Pascual said. “The mission of the academy—to cultivate the interests, honor, dignity and happiness of a free, independent, and virtuous people—is beautiful and aspirational. I respect that spirit and could not be prouder to be a member of this community.”
Dr. Pascual’s research has been instrumental in understanding and improving treatments for serious autoimmune and inflammatory diseases in children, particularly systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (sJIA) and pediatric lupus. Her work helped identify key immune system proteins—interleukin-1 in sJIA and type I interferon in lupus—that contribute to these conditions. She played a prominent role in clinical trials that tested IL-1-blocking treatments for sJIA, which brought significant relief to nearly 70% of patients. Her lab has also developed personalized strategies to stratify pediatric lupus patients using molecular markers. “These might lead to the design of more successful clinical trials,” Dr. Pascual said.
“Work from our lab resulted in bringing two successful drugs to the pediatric rheumatology population,” she said. “This was the result of not just my own efforts, but many people working together—fellows, junior scientists and many collaborators—and especially the generosity of the children and their families who participate in our studies.”
Her recent research expands on her long-term commitment to closely monitoring the immune system of young patients over the years. “We keep identifying potential new disease triggers and developing better diagnostic and evaluation tools with the ultimate goal of making the lives of our patients a little easier,” Dr. Pascual said.
As the inaugural director of the Drukier Institute, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, Dr. Pascual mentors young pediatrician-scientists beginning their own research journeys, a role she considers a “tremendous inspiration.” Acknowledging the collaborative environment within the institute and across the wider Weill Cornell Medicine community, which she joined in 2017, she considers it pivotal to the success of both her scientific accomplishments and the research efforts of early career investigators.
“This community has without any doubt fueled progress toward advancing our understanding of pediatric autoimmune and inflammatory diseases,” she said. “And I very much appreciate the support of senior leaders at Weill Cornell who were instrumental in my nomination and election as a member of the academy.”
Cornell University Provost Dr. Kavita Bala and Dr. Anurag Agrawal, professor in the Department of Ecology and Environmental Biology, both on Cornell’s Ithaca campus, were also elected. The academy will induct this year’s honorees with a formal ceremony in October in Cambridge, Mass.