Original Article
At its annual meeting today, the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) honored three members for their outstanding service. The honorees are Eli Y. Adashi, former dean of medicine and biological sciences, Warren Alpert Medical School, Brown University; Ruzena K. Bajcsy, professor emeritus, University of Pennsylvania; and Kenneth W. Kizer, distinguished professor emeritus, UC Davis School of Medicine, and senior scholar, Clinical Excellence Research Center, Stanford University School of Medicine.
Adashi received the Walsh McDermott Medal, which recognizes a member for distinguished service to the NAM and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine over an extended period. Throughout his career, Adashi has been a thought leader in his primary discipline of women’s health and a scientific and policy pioneer in the area of reproductive medicine in the United States and around the world.
He was elected to NAM in 1999 and chaired the maternal and child health and human development interest group for six years. His contributions include many National Academies roles, including as a member of the Board on Health Sciences Policy. In total, Adashi has been a review coordinator for 24 consensus and workshop reports and a reviewer for 10 publications. He co-chaired the Joint Committee on Reducing Maternal and Neonatal Mortality in Indonesia and served as a member on several committees for National Academies consensus reports such as the Committee on Women’s Health Research and the Committee on Antiprogrestins: Assessing the Science, which proved critical to the ultimate approval of mifepristone by the FDA as a medical abortion alternative.
Bajcsy received the Adam Yarmolinsky Medal, which is awarded to a member from a discipline outside the health and medical sciences. Her distinguished career spans over 50 years at the forefront of human and machine interpretation of information. She has conducted seminal research in cognitive science, robotics, biosystems and computational biology, computerized radiological and medical image processing, and computer vision.
Bajcsy was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 1995 and the National Academy of Engineering in 1997. Her groundbreaking research has had profound implications for diagnostic medicine, surgical planning, and patient care. As the founding director of CITRIS (Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society – Berkeley), she helped build a model for how technology can directly serve society. Bajcsy has volunteered her time for various National Academies activities, including serving on the Division Committee on Engineering and Physical Sciences for five years, Computer Science and Telecommunications Board for three years, and on many consensus study and workshop planning committees.
Kizer is the recipient of the David Rall Medal, which is given to a member who has demonstrated distinguished leadership as chair of a study committee or other such activity. Kizer served as chair of the committee that produced the 2022 report Realizing the Promise of Equity in the Organ Transplantation System, which has already been highly impactful. For example, in March 2025, the Health Resources and Services Administration announced its Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network Modernization Initiative, which focuses on concepts and recommendations from the report. Additionally, the algorithm of the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) for determining how priority is calculated for kidney transplants was changed to make it more equitable.
Elected to the NAM in 1999, Kizer’s service to the National Academies has also included chairing six other consensus studies, serving as a member of 10 additional study committees and six standing committees, on the planning committees of eight workshops, and as the review coordinator or an external reviewer of 19 reports.
“These distinguished members are most deserving of this recognition for their decades of scientific leadership to improve health and medicine for all, and for their dedicated service to the NAM and National Academies,” said National Academy of Medicine President Victor J. Dzau. “From advancing women’s health and reproductive medicine research to seminal research in robotics and medical imaging to leading a landmark study to improve equity in the organ transplant system, it is an honor for us to recognize these individuals’ tireless efforts and profound expertise.”
The National Academy of Medicine, established in 1970 as the Institute of Medicine, is an independent organization of eminent professionals from diverse fields including health and medicine; the natural, social, and behavioral sciences; and beyond. It serves alongside the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering as an adviser to the nation and the international community. Through its domestic and global initiatives, the NAM works to address critical issues in health, medicine, and related policy and inspire positive action across sectors. The NAM collaborates closely with its peer academies and other divisions within the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.