Three faculty members at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have been elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), an independent organization made up of leading professionals from multiple fields, such as public health, medicine, and natural, social and behavioral sciences. NAM serves alongside the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering as advisors to the national and international science communities.

The announcement of 100 new members was made October 9.

New members elected to NAM are chosen by current members through a selective process that determines electees based on their major contributions to the advancement of the medical sciences, health care and public health. Membership in the NAM is considered one of the highest honors in health and medicine.

The new members from Johns Hopkins Medicine are:

• Deidra Candice Crews, M.D., is a professor of medicine in the Division of Nephrology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She holds faculty appointments with the School of Nursing, the Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology and Clinical Research, the Center on Aging and Health, and the Center for Health Equity, where she is deputy director. Through her research program, she and her team aim to advance equity in kidney disease and hypertension outcomes by focusing on social drivers of health inequities. She was recognized by the National Academy of Medicine for her work in advancing equity and the social epidemiology of kidney disease. She has elucidated root causes of the disproportionate kidney disease burden among socially marginalized populations; used interventions to address social and behavioral risk factors for adverse outcomes; and informed guidelines for optimizing care for people with kidney failure. Dr. Crews joined the Johns Hopkins faculty in 2009. 

• Justin Hanes, Ph.D., is the Lewis J. Ort Professor and director of the Center for Nanomedicine at the Wilmer Eye Institute of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, with joint appointments as professor of biomedical engineering, chemical and biomolecular engineering, neurosurgery, oncology, and pharmacology and molecular sciences. Hanes's research focuses on the convergence of science, engineering and medicine to catalyze the discovery of new technologies that make drug and gene therapies more effective and less toxic. He was recognized by the National Academy of Medicine for his pioneering work in the creation of effective new drug delivery technologies, especially those for diseases that affect the eyes, brain and mucosal tissues like those of the lungs; his discoveries have resulted in FDA-approved drugs expected to help millions of people. Hanes joined the Johns Hopkins faculty in 1998. 

• Joseph Sakran, M.D., M.P.A., M.P.H., is a trauma surgeon and associate professor of surgery and nursing at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is also executive vice chair of Surgery and director of Clinical Operations at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Sakran is recognized by the National Academy of Medicine for being a trauma surgeon whose innovative work and exceptional leadership in firearm-injury prevention has been most instrumental in establishing the urgency and intellectual foundation to drive research and evidence-based policy change at the local, state, and federal level.