Professor Sarah Teichmann (Chair in Stem Cell Medicine, Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge) has been elected to the prestigious National Academy of Medicine in the USA. She was announced as one of 90 new regular members and 10 new international members during the annual meeting in Washington yesterday (20 October).
Election to the Academy is considered one of the highest honours in the fields of health and medicine and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service. Professor Teichmann was elected for ‘being an international leader in systems biology, computational biology, and immunology. She made seminal contributions to our understanding of protein interactions and is a pioneer in single cell genomics. Her discoveries are revolutionizing our understanding of human biology, development, and disease, including at the maternal-foetal interface.’
Sarah did her PhD at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK and was a Beit Memorial Fellow at University College London. She started her group at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in 2001. In 2013, she moved to the Wellcome Genome Campus where her group was joint between the EMBL-European Bioinformatics Institute and the Wellcome Sanger Institute, and in 2016 was appointed Head of the Cellular Genetics programme at the Sanger. In 2024, Sarah took up a Chair in Stem Cell Medicine at the University of Cambridge (Cambridge Stem Cell Institute & Dept Medicine). Sarah is co-founder and co-leader of the international Human Cell Atlas consortium, which aims to create reference maps for cells across all human tissues and has grown to include over three thousand members across the world. In addition to NAM, Sarah is also a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.
Established originally as the Institute of Medicine in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine addresses critical issues in health, science, medicine, and related policy and inspires positive actions across sectors. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine also encourage education and research, recognize outstanding contributions to knowledge, and increase public understanding of STEMM. With their election, NAM members make a commitment to volunteer their service in National Academies activities.
NAM President Victor J. Dzau said, “I am deeply honoured to welcome these extraordinary health and medicine leaders and researchers into the National Academy of Medicine,” said. “Their demonstrated excellence in tackling public health challenges, leading major discoveries, improving health care, advancing health policy, and addressing health equity will critically strengthen our collective ability to tackle the most pressing health challenges of our time.”