The National Academy of Sciences announced the appointment of R. Sanders Williams, MD, dean of the Duke University School of Medicine, and Debra A. Schwinn, MD, professor of anesthesiology at Duke, to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) on October 14.

The IOM is one of three institutes within the National Academy of Sciences. It is considered a high honor by medical professionals to be included in the group, which consists of national scholars and leaders in health and medicine, behavioral and social sciences, administration, law, the physical sciences, and engineering.

Robert J. Lefkowitz, MD, a James B. Duke Professor of Medicine at Duke and an IOM member, nominated both Williams and Schwinn. Lefkowitz also served as mentor to both researchers during their fellowship years in his laboratory.

"Needless to say, I am completely delighted and proud not only that Sandy and Deb have been elected, but that it occurred so quickly," Lefkowitz said. "It often takes years to work through the process, and that they were elected in the first try speaks to how highly they were rated by the Institute.

"Sandy is an outstanding researcher who has gone on to a distinguished career as a scientist and high-level medical administrator, and Deb is absolutely at the top of her profession in academic anesthesiology," Lefkowitz said.

Williams, a physician-scientist, has made major contributions to the understanding of the basic mechanisms of cardiovascular disease. He was appointed dean of medicine and vice chancellor for Academic Affairs at Duke University Medical Center in April 2001.

Williams earned an undergraduate degree from Princeton University in 1970 and his medical degree from Duke in 1974. He completed a residency in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and then a cardiology research fellowship at Duke.

Williams joined the Duke faculty in 1980 as an assistant professor of medicine, physiology, and cell biology. He briefly left Duke in 1984 to become a visiting professor in the department of biochemistry at Oxford University before returning to Duke and becoming, in 1986, an associate professor of medicine and microbiology. In 1990, he took a position as professor of internal medicine, biochemistry, and molecular biology and chief of cardiology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. While there, he also was the director of the Ryburn Center for Molecular Cardiology.

Schwinn, 45, joined the Duke faculty in 1989 as an assistant professor of anesthesiology. Currently, she also is a professor of pharmacology/cancer biology and surgery. She also serves as vice chair for research in the Department of Anesthesiology, director of the Molecular Pharmacology Laboratories and Perioperative Genomics, and chairs the third-year medical student (research year) curriculum.

"Being elected to the Institute of Medicine validates the importance of research in perioperative medicine, as well as the discoveries that we have made over the last 15 years," Schwinn said. "This election is not just about me, but demonstrates that the whole team in our molecular pharmacology laboratory is conducting high quality research. Being a member of the Institute will allow me to interact with the top researchers in medicine. I can't imagine better company."

Schwinn's research focuses on better understanding how stress and genetic differences between people relate to disease outcomes. Since coming to Duke in 1986 for a fellowship in cardiac anesthesiology, she has made significant contributions to the basic understanding of both cardiovascular regulation and lower urinary pathophysiology. Her work with adrenergic receptors—proteins that line blood vessels and control contraction—has led to new understandings of the mechanisms underlying such conditions as high blood pressure, shock, and heart and prostate disease.

After earning her undergraduate degree in chemistry from The College of Wooster, Ohio, in 1979, Schwinn earned her medical degree from Stanford University in 1983. The next three years were spent in residencies and fellowships at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, followed by several more years of cardiac anesthesiology and basic science research training at Duke.

IOM members are elected on the basis of professional achievement. They volunteer their time as members of committees devoted to studying a broad range of health issues. Recent studies have focused on the future of the smallpox virus, the current state of cancer care, the medical use of marijuana, and donor organ procurement and transplantation.

Williams and Schwinn join 24 other present and past faculty members at Duke who are members of the institute.