May 4, 2005

Three Scholars Elected To Prestigious National Academy Of Sciences

By Barry Jagoda

Three members of the UCSD faculty have been named members of the National Academy of Sciences in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research, the Academy announced May 3.

The UCSD honorees are Shu Chien, professor of Bioengineering and Medicine and chair of the Department of Bioengineering; Gary Cox, professor of Political Science and chair of the Department of Political Science and Michael Karin, professor of Pharmacology in the UCSD School of Medicine.

Chien, 73, is an expert on how blood flow and pressure affects vessels. His research has led to the development of better diagnostic tests and treatments for atherosclerosis and other diseases. After receiving a medical degree from National Taiwan University, he received a Ph.D. in physiology from Columbia University. Chien, a member also of the National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine, is one of only eight scientists to be elected into all three national academies. Chien is the founding chair of UCSD’s Jacobs School of Engineering Department of Bioengineering, consistently one of the nation’s top ranked.

Cox, 49, is a specialist in the areas of legislative and electoral politics. His books, in these fields and in comparative politics, have won many prizes and awards. His most recent work, "Elbridge Gerry's Salamander," analyzes the political consequences of the reapportionment revolution in the United States. Cox is a former Guggenheim Fellow and was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1996.

Karin, 53, is a leading world authority on signal transduction pathways that regulate gene expression in response to extra cellular stimuli. His key achievements include definition of elements that mediate gene induction by hormones, cytokines and stress, identification and characterization of the transcription factors that recognize these elements and the protein kinase cascades that regulate their activities.

They join current 64 members of the UCSD faculty who previously have been named to membership in the prestigious academy.

The National Academy of Sciences is a private organization of scientists and engineers dedicated to the furtherance of science and its use for the general welfare. It was established in 1863 by a congressional act of incorporation signed by Abraham Lincoln that calls on the Academy to act as an official adviser to the federal government, upon request, in any matter of science or technology.

Media Contact: Barry Jagoda (858) 534-8567