Medical Honor Societies Recognize Columbia Faculty Members
Six faculty of Columbia University Irving Medical Center have been elected to prestigious medical honor societies for physician-scientists.
The Association of American Physicians has elected four faculty:
- R. Graham Barr (Medicine, VP&S)
- Ana Navas-Acien (Environmental Health Sciences, Mailman)
- Aimee Payne (Dermatology, VP&S)
- Muredach Reilly (Medicine, VP&S)
The AAP is an honorary medical society founded in 1885 to advance scientific and practical medicine. Election is an honor extended to physicians who are making important discoveries in basic or translational biomedical research. Election is limited to 70 physicians each year.
The American Society for Clinical Investigation has elected two faculty of the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons:
- Elizabeth C. Verna (Surgery)
- Kelley Yan (Medicine)
Founded in 1908, ASCI is one of the nation’s oldest medical honor societies and is composed of more than 3,000 physician-scientists representing all medical specialties. The society is dedicated to the advancement of research that extends understanding of diseases and improves treatment.
The new members were announced in April at the joint annual scientific meeting of AAP, ASCI, and the American Physician Scientists Association.
Read more about the Columbia honorees:
R. Graham Barr, MD, DrPH
R. Graham Barr is the Hamilton Southworth Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology. His research focuses on the epidemiology of respiratory disorders, with particular attention to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), emphysema and related syndromes. He has shown that heart and lung function are closely related, even in subclinical disease, and is examining pulmonary vascular changes in early COPD, which may suggest novel therapeutic and preventive approaches to this disorder, which is a major public health problem in the United States.
Ana Navas-Acien, MD, PhD, MPH
Ana Navas-Acien is the Leon Hess Professor and Chair of Environmental Health Sciences at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. She is a physician-epidemiologist with a specialty in preventive medicine and public health. Her research investigates the health effects of environmental exposures (metals, tobacco smoke, e-cigarettes, air pollution), molecular pathways and gene-environment interactions, and effective interventions for reducing involuntary exposures.
Aimee Payne, MD, PhD
Aimee Payne is the Herbert and Florence Irving Professor and chair of dermatology at VP&S. Payne’s research focuses on understanding the pathogenic mechanisms of pemphigus vulgaris, an organ-specific autoimmune disease, with the goal of using the knowledge to develop precision targeted therapies for pemphigus and other immune-mediated diseases. She also serves as co-chair of the scientific advisory board at Cabaletta Bio, a company she co-founded to enable the first precision cellular immunotherapies for autoimmunity to enter human clinical trials.
Muredach Reilly, MD
Muredach Reilly is the vice dean of clinical and translational research for VP&S, the Herbert and Florence Irving Professor of Medicine, and director of the Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research. In his role as director of the Irving Institute, he builds programs in clinical and translational research and in precision medicine. His research uses genomics and human physiology to define new mechanisms of atherosclerotic diseases.
Elizabeth C. Verna, MD
Elizabeth Verna is the Frank Cardile Associate Professor of Medicine in the Center for Liver Disease and Transplantation and Division of Digestive and Liver Diseases. She is a transplant hepatologist and has an active clinical research program in end-stage liver disease and liver transplantation. Verna is also the director of clinical research for the Columbia University Transplant Clinical Research Center.
Kelley Yan, MD, PhD
Kelley Yan is the Warner-Lambert Assistant Professor of Medicine and assistant professor of genetics and development at VP&S. Yan is a physician-scientist trained in diverse disciplines including clinical gastroenterology, structural biology, and stem cell biology. She studies intestinal stem cell biology at the molecular, cellular, and tissue levels and seeks to understand how 3D structure or molecular form enables biological function and confers specificity in protein-protein or protein-nucleic acid interactions.