Vish Viswanath, Emily Oken elected to National Academy of Medicine
Two faculty members from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health—Emily Oken and Kasisomayajula “Vish” Viswanath—have been elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM).
Membership is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievements and commitment to service.
Viswanath and Oken were among 90 regular members and 10 international members elected during NAM’s annual meeting on October 19.
Oken, professor in the Department of Nutrition at Harvard Chan School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute Professor of Population Medicine at Harvard Medical School, was chosen for her seminal research on pregnancy health and on chronic disease risk in women and children, which has had a far-reaching impact on federal and international guidelines. According to a NAM press release, “Her discoveries on nutritional and environmental influences on women’s health spanning the reproductive years and on children’s long-term health have shaped both science and policy.”
Viswanath, Lee Kum Kee Professor of Health Communication, director of the Lee Kum Sheung Center for Health and Happiness, and director of the India Research Center, is being recognized for his work on translational communication science and health inequities, which has profoundly influenced scholarship and practice in public health and has been widely used by local, national, and international bodies, according to the release.
Read the NAM press release:
NAM Elects 100 New Members for 2026
