Three Stanford Medicine professors — Euan Ashley, Thomas Matine and Alice Ting — were elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) among a cohort of 100 new members in October. The NAM is a private, non-governmental organization that provides lawmakers and the general public with objective advice on science and health.

An election to membership of the NAM is one of the highest honors a professional in the field of medicine can receive, and is based on both outstanding professional achievement and a commitment to service in a medical field, according to the Academy’s website. 

Montine, a pathology professor, was elected for his innovative interdisciplinary work bridging genetics, pathology, small molecule development and AI to address neurodegenerative diseases. He served as the 2015 President of the American Association of Neuropathologists, and has led NIH initiatives regarding Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

Montine says he aims to take an interdisciplinary approach to research. He often follows whatever questions the data raises — whether that means using clinical methods to answer medical questions or biochemistry and genetics to answer mechanistic questions. “I draw energy from variety more than intense focus,” Montine said.

“While I was in graduate school, two of my maternal grandparents … developed dementia,” Montine said. This experience ultimately guided him into the field of neuropathology.

Today, Montine’s work focuses on both discovery and clinical impact. His lab has “helped frontline physicians understand the complexity of the cognitive pyramid as we age, and how to most appropriately diagnose, manage and treat patients,” Montine said.

Looking ahead, Montine is excited to be an active contributor to the Academy’s work. “I’ve seen the great things that it’s done,” he said. “I’m eager to collaborate with those who have other great ideas and hopefully bring some of my own that the Academy can work on.” He pointed to the Academy’s landmark 1999 ‘To Err Is Human’ report — which reshaped U.S. medical training and patient safety — as an example of the kind of impact he hopes to support.

Ashley was selected for his pioneering work on the use of the human genome in medicine. His career began as the first full human genome sequencing in the world was taking place. When Steve Quake — the fifth person to have a full genome sequenced — walked into Ashley’s clinic in 2009, this began a career-long journey for Ashley to understand the human genome and convert genomic insights into precision medicine practices.

“We realized that there were no mechanisms to think about [genomic] data at that scale,” said Ashley, Chair of the Department of Medicine. “We set out then on a kind of crusade for almost 16 years … at the beginning, there was just one, but now there are millions of people around the world who’ve had their genome sequenced for direct clinical care.”

Since then, Ashley has co-founded several biotechnology companies and the Stanford Center for Inherited Cardiovascular Disease, and has worked with the Obama administration on several initiatives among many other accomplishments.

“I feel incredibly honored, but also incredibly lucky, and I think that the credit really goes to one, my team … and secondly, the environment of Stanford.” Ashley said. “There isn’t a week that goes by that I don’t feel grateful to be here in this incredible community, surrounded by incredibly optimistic and smart people.”

Ting, a professor of biology, genetics and chemistry, was selected for her leadership in developing molecular technologies to detect, manipulate, and discover biochemical events in living cells. One of her pioneering contributions is in proximity labeling—a technique used to identify which molecules are physically near a target protein or RNA within a cell. This allows scientists to track interactions within cells and more accurately understand cellular processes.

“These elections are a tremendous honor for our faculty members and for Stanford Medicine as a whole,” said Lloyd Minor, Dean of the Stanford University School of Medicine. “Together, their work exemplifies our mission to improve human health and highlights how bold, collaborative science is shaping the future of medicine.”