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Women Scientists in Action
The scientists profiled here have found different areas to focus their talents. Learn the paths each took to reach her current position.
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Women Scientists Elected to the National Academies
National Academy of Science (NAS)
National Academy of Medicine (NAM)
National Academy of Engineering (NAE)
Susan Amara, Ph.D.
NAS, 2004
Dr. Amara is the scientific director of the Intramural Research Program at the National Institute of Mental Health.
Yasmine Belkaid, Ph.D.
NAS, 2017
Dr. Belkaid is a senior investigator in the Mucosal Immunology Section at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Karen Faith Berman, M.D.
NAS, 2016
Dr. Berman is a senior investigator and chief of the Section on Integrative Neuroimaging and the Clinical Brain Disorders Branch at the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Mental Health Intramural Research Program.
Linda Diana Bianchi
NAM, 2013
Dr. Bianchi is an accomplished prenatal geneticist and director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
Linda S. Birnbaum, Ph.D.
NAM, 2010
Dr. Birnbaum is a toxicologist and microbiologist and the first female director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
Patricia Flatley Brennan, R.N., Ph.D.
NAM, 2001
Dr. Brennan is the director of the National Library of Medicine and past president of the American Medical Informatics Association.
Maria C. Freire, Ph.D.
NAM, 2008
Dr. Freire is the former director of the NIH Office of Technology Transfer and the current president of the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health. She is also the former president of the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development.
Naomi Lynn Gerber, M.D.
NAS, 2008
Dr. Gerber is the former chief of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the Clinical Center in NIH. She is internationally recognized for her research in rehabilitation medicine and chronic illness.
Susan Gottesman, Ph.D.
NAS, 1998
Dr. Gottesman is an NIH Distinguished Investigator and co-chief of the Laboratory of Molecular Biology at the National Cancer Institute.
Christine Grady, MSN, Ph.D.
NAM, 2017
Dr. Grady is chief of the NIH Clinical Center's Department of Bioethics. She has written widely in books and scholarly journals on topics in bioethics, HIV disease, and nursing.
Patricia Grady, Ph.D.
NAM, 1999
Dr. Grady is the director of the National Institute on Nursing Research and is internationally recognized for her research on stroke.
Florence P. Haseltine, M.D.
NAM, 1993
Dr. Haseltine is a scientist emeritus and director of the Center for Population Research at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
Betsy L. Humphreys, M.L.S.
NAM, 1999
Ms. Humphreys is the former deputy director of the National Library of Medicine. She also directed the Unified Medical Language System project.
Elaine S. Jaffe, M.D.
NAM, 2008
Dr. Jaffe is a senior investigator in the Laboratory of Pathology at the National Cancer Institute and has conducted pioneering studies related to the classification of malignant lymphomas.
Ruth L. Kirschstein, M.D.
NAM, 1983
Dr. Kirschstein was the first woman to be appointed as the director of an Institute at the National Institutes of Health. She is the former director of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences and twice served as acting NIH director.
Story Landis, Ph.D.
NAM, 2009
Dr. Landis is the former director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and was key in helping to foster a trans-NIH neuroscience research community.
Jennifer A. Lippincott-Schwartz, Ph.D.
NAM, 2009/NAS, 2008
Dr. Lippincott-Schwartz is an adjunct investigator and former chief of the Section on Organelle Biology in the Cell Biology and Metabolism Branch at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
Alexa T. McCray, Ph.D.
NAM, 2000
Dr. McCray is a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and former director of the Lister Hall National Center for Biomedical Communications at NIH.
Elizabeth F. Neufeld, Ph.D.
NAS, 1977
Dr. Neufeld is the former chief of the Genetics and Biochemistry Branch at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases as well as former deputy director of that Institute's Division of Intramural Research.
Vivian W. Pinn, M.D.
NAM, 1995
Dr. Pinn is the first African-American woman to chair an academic pathology department in the United States at the Howard University College of Medicine. She served as first full-time director of NIH's Office of Research on Women's Health.
Judith Rapoport, M.D.
NAM, 1993
Dr. Rapoport is the chief of the Child Psychiatry Branch at the National Institute of Mental Health.
Matilda White Riley
NAS, 1994
Dr. Riley is the former associate director of Behavioral and Social Research at the National Institute on Aging.
Barbara K. Rimer, DrPH
NAM, 2008
Dr. Rimer was the first woman to chair the National Cancer Advisory Board at the National Cancer Institute. She was also appointed by President Obama to chair the President's Cancer Panel in 2011.
Maxine Singer, Ph.D.
NAS, 1979
Dr. Maxine Singer is a pioneer molecular biologist and former chief of the Laboratory of Biochemistry at the National Cancer Institute. She is also known for her contributions in helping to decipher the genetic code.
Thressa C. Stadtman, Ph.D.
NAS, 1981
Dr. Stadtman was a biochemist at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. She made numerous advances in selenium biochemistry and vitamin B12 metabolism.
Gisela Therese Storz, Ph.D.
NAS, 2012
Dr. Storz is an NIH Distinguished Investigator and deputy chief of the Cell Biology and Metabolism Program at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
Leslie Ungerleider, Ph.D.
NAM, 2001/NAS, 2000
Dr. Ungerleider is an experimental psychologist and neuroscientist and chief of the Laboratory of Brain and Cognition at the National Institute of Mental Health.
Martha Vaughan, M.D.
NAS, 1985
Dr. Vaughan is a scientist emeritus in the Laboratory of Metabolic Regulation at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
Nora Volkow
NAM, 2000
Dr. Volkow is the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. She pioneered imaging techniques that show the effects of drugs on the brain, illustrating that addiction is a disease of the human brain.
Sue Wickner, Ph.D.
NAS, 2004
Dr. Wickner is a senior investigator in the Laboratory of Molecular Biology at the National Cancer Institute. She also is an NIH Distinguished Investigator.
Wei Yang, Ph.D.
NAS, 2013
Dr. Yang is an NIH Distinguished Investigator in the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Her research interests include DNA recombination, repair, and replication.
Kathryn Zoon, Ph.D.
NAM, 2002
Dr. Zoon is a scientist emeritus in the Cytokine Biology Section at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Linda Birnbaum, Ph.D.
Director
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
Susan Bonner-Weir, Ph.D.
Professor of Medicine
Harvard Medical School
Marianne Bronner, Ph.D.
Developmental Biologist
California Institute of Technology
Linda B. Buck, Ph.D.
Investigator
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Tara Chaplin, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Psychology
George Mason University
Barbara Corkey, M.D.
Zoltan Kohn Professor in Medicine
Boston University
Maureen Gannon, Ph.D.
Professor and Vice Chair for Faculty Development
Department of Medicine
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Patricia Grady, Ph.D.
Director
National Institute of Nursing Research
Chief, Chemistry and Drug Metabolism Section
National Institute on Drug Addiction
Director of Clinical and Health Services Research
National Institute on Minority and Health Disparities
Associate Vice President for Health Equity and Inclusion
University of Utah Health Sciences
Jennifer J. Manly, Ph.D.
Jennifer J. Manly, Ph.D., is an associate professor of neuropsychology at Columbia University. Her research aims to improve the diagnostic accuracy of neuropsychological tests used to detect cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease among African American and Hispanic elders.
Professor of Biological Chemistry and of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences
President of the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) and the head of the microbiome program at Human Longevity, Inc.
Professor of Nutrition and Exercise Physiology
The University of Missouri School of Medicine
M.D. Professor of Surgical Education
University of Wisconsin (UW) School of Medicine and Public Health
JoAnn Trejo, Ph.D.
Associate Dean for Health Sciences Faculty Affairs
University of California in San Diego
Lydia Villa-Komaroff, Ph.D.
Former Chief Executive Officer and Chief Scientific Officer
Cytonome/ST, LLC
Donna Vogel, M.D., Ph.D.
Former Director, Professional Development Office
Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions
Wei Yang, Ph.D.
NIH Distinguished Investigator
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
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