VA scientists elected as National Academy of Medicine members for outstanding professional achievement, commitment to service

WASHINGTON —Four senior U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) researchers were recently elected as new members of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine.

VA Drs. Ann McKee, Albert Siu, Lucila Ohno-Machado and Rachel Werner were selected on Oct. 15 by current NAM members for their contributions to medical sciences, health care and public health.

“VA is extremely proud to have Drs. McKee, Siu, Ohno-Machado and Werner on our health care team,” said VA Secretary Robert Wilkie. “Their accomplishments and the tremendous work they do each day to improve the health and lives of our Veterans exemplifies the level of excellence we aspire to achieve as an agency.”

McKee, chief of Neuropathology at the VA Boston Healthcare System and professor of neurology and pathology at Boston University School of Medicine, was elected for her groundbreaking work on chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), Alzheimer’s disease, aging, and vascular neuropathology. Her research in those areas has revolutionized medicine’s understanding of the clinicopathological and molecular features of CTE in athletes and Veterans exposed to neurotrauma or blast injury, and changed the public dialogue on sports-related risks.

Siu, who directs the Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center at the James J. Peters VA Medical Center in New York, is a professor of geriatrics and palliative medicine at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York. He was elected for his seminal contributions to evidence-based practice in health-services research and in pioneering programs that intersect geriatrics and palliative care.

Ohno-Machado, a research scientist at the VA San Diego Healthcare System and chair of biomedical informatics at UC San Diego Health, was elected for creating an algorithm that allows sharing access to clinical data while respecting the privacy of individuals and institutions.

Werner, a core investigator at the Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center, is a professor of medicine and director of Health Policy and Outcomes Research at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. She was elected for advancing the understanding of how health care provider performance measurement and incentives often bring unintended and undesired equity consequences that compete with efficiency goals.

For more information on VA Research, visit www.research.va.gov.