Hashim Al-Hashimi Elected to National Academy of Sciences

Hashim Al-Hashimi, the Roy and Diana Vagelos Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

Al-Hashimi is one of 120 members and 25 international members elected this year in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) was founded in 1863, and election to membership in the NAS is considered one of the highest honors that a scientist can receive.

Over the past two decades, Al-Hashimi has developed techniques to determine 3D dynamic ensembles of RNA and DNA molecules at atomic resolution. At the atomic level, biomolecules like DNA and RNA constantly change shape. Al-Hashimi is at the vanguard of studying these dynamic structures. His studies have reshaped the field of structural biology, revealing dynamic ensembles of biomolecules as a fundamental behavior that is required to understand and predict cellular activity quantitatively. “Ultimately these changes in structure determine how biomolecules interact with one another, and every biological phenomenon and disease is the product of such molecular interactions,” says Al-Hashimi.

Using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, he has made discoveries that have led to insights about cancer and other diseases and new therapeutic tools that target RNA. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2025 and has received the National Academy of Sciences Award in Molecular Biology for his work.

Al-Hashimi is also associate dean for biomedical graduate education at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and director of biomedical graduate training in the Roy and Diana Vagelos Institute for Basic Biomedical Science.