Ludwig scientist Richard D. Kolodner elected to the Institute of Medicine

Ludwig scientist Richard D. Kolodner, PhD, has been elected as one of 70 new members to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) today. Election to the IOM is one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine.

Established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences, the IOM serves as an advisory organization to Congress and policy makers on important health questions. During the past year, projects included health IT and patient safety, treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder, nutrition rating systems and food packaging graphics, and studies of environmental factors in breast cancer.

Kolodner's research has played a seminal role in the understanding of cancer genetics, and he pioneered many techniques that have become standard tools in genetics research. His fundamental discoveries in the field of DNA mismatch repair, the ability of cells to repair genetic errors that could disrupt the integrity of DNA, and its connection to human cancer, led to his being elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2000 and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 2008.

He has served on numerous advisory and review boards, including the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Cancer Institute, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Scientific Review Board, the Scientific Review Council of the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas and the Scientific Advisory Committee of the AACR-Stand Up to Cancer Foundation. Kolodner received his PhD in biological sciences from UC Irvine. Following his post-doctoral work at Harvard, he was a professor at Harvard Medical School Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Department of Cancer Biology until joining the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research in 1997.

Provided by Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research