Yiping Han Named 2025 AAAS Fellow

Columbia University researcher Yiping Han has been named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), one of the most prestigious honors within the scientific community.

AAAS Fellows are a distinguished cadre of scientists, engineers, and innovators who have made distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications.

Han is professor of microbial sciences in the College of Dental Medicine and professor in the departments of microbiology & immunology, obstetrics & gynecology, and medicine in the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. She was elected a AAAS Fellow for her “distinguished contributions to the field of microbiology, particularly in understanding the role of Fusobacterium nucleatum in human disease.”

Han’s pioneering discoveries have revealed that oral bacteria are not confined to the mouth and can have impacts on other parts of the body. Her laboratory has shown how oral bacteria can relocate to the uterus during pregnancy and cause preterm birth and stillbirth. Her lab was also the first to report how oral bacteria stimulate gastrointestinal cancer and has identified potential approaches for cancer detection and prevention.

To recognize how human microbiome communities are not isolated from each other, but are mobile and interchangeable, Han coined the term “mobile microbiome.”

Among other honors, Han is also a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and president of the Anaerobe Society of the Americas.

Two other faculty at Columbia University were also named 2025 AAAS Fellows: Kevin Ochsner, professor of psychology, and George Bonanno, professor of clinical psychology.