The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) has elected Mohammed K. Ali, MD, MSc, Stephen F. Traynelis, PhD, Wanda Barfield, MD, MPH, and Ravi Thadhani, MD, MPH, to its prestigious 2025 class, consisting of 100 new members. Election to the National Academy of Medicine is considered one of the highest honors in health and medicine and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service.
NAM elected 90 regular members and 10 international members during its annual meeting in Washington, DC. The newly elected members bring NAM’s total membership to more than 2,500, which includes more than 200 international members. New members are elected by current members through a process that recognizes individuals who have made major contributions to the advancement of the medical sciences, health care and public health.
Mohammed K. Ali
Ali is the William H. Foege Distinguished Professor of Global Health, director of the Emory Global Diabetes Research Center, and vice chair for research in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at Emory University. He is also a practicing primary care physician. He has led groundbreaking surveillance of national and international diabetes care. Ali’s pioneering scientific contributions have shaped global diabetes initiatives and care targets, transformed visualization of care and preventive service gaps and inspired scale up in multiple countries.
Stephen F. Traynelis
Traynelis is a professor and dean’s eminent scholar in the Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology at Emory University School of Medicine, and director of the Center for Functional Evaluation of Rare Variants. Traynelis is recognized for his leadership in glutamate receptor biology, the study of receptors for excitatory neurotransmission. Their proper function is vital for brain processes like development, learning and memory. He developed first-in-class allosteric modulators of glutamate receptors, an approach for treating various central nervous system disorders, as well as advanced mechanistic understanding of synaptic transmission, epilepsy, neuroinflammation and ion channel-related genetic disorders.
Wanda D. Barfield
Barfield is an assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine and an attending neonatal-perinatal medicine specialist at Grady Health System. She is also the director of the Division of Reproductive Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. She is recognized for her leadership over federal public health programs on reproductive health, resulting in near-nationwide implementation of maternal mortality review committees. She is also credited with increased timeliness and availability of national pregnancy and infant health surveillance data, reporting annually on population data on Sudden Unexpected Infant Death, and decreasing health disparities through state perinatal quality collaboratives implementing hospital and community initiatives.
Ravi I. Thadhani
Thadhani is an adjunct professor in the Department of Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine. His groundbreaking research led to the first FDA-approved test for preeclampsia, a leading cause of maternal mortality. He is also recognized for his transformative leadership at three academic medical centers.
View the complete list of NAM’s newest members for more information.