Celia Schiffer Elected to National Academy of Sciences

05/07

wwPDB Foundation Chair Celia Schiffer

Celia A. Schiffer, Chair of the wwPDB Foundation and Professor & Chair of Biochemistry & Molecular Biotechnology at the UMass Chan Medical School, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences (USA).

Schiffer is among 120 members and 24 international members who were elected in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.

The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit institution that was established under a congressional charter signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863. It recognizes achievement in science by election to membership, and—with the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Medicine—provides science, engineering, and health policy advice to the federal government and other organizations.

The Schiffer lab primarily studies the molecular basis for drug resistance in viruses. Through this research, she has developed a new paradigm for avoiding drug resistance in structure-based drug design that translates to other diseases. Her accomplishments in biomedical research have been widely honored. In 2021, she was named the chair of the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Technology at UMass Chan. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and in 2019 was invested as the Gladys Smith Martin Chair in Oncology. In 2020, she was recognized with the William C. Rose Award from the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; in 2016 she was named by the Massachusetts Society for Medical Research as educator of the year for excellence in research, mentoring and leadership in bringing women and underrepresented minorities into science; and in 2016 she received the inaugural Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Mentoring from Chancellor Michael F. Collins.

The wwPDB Foundation was established in 2010 to raise funds in support of the outreach activities of the wwPDB. The Foundation raised funds to help support PDB50 events, workshops, and educational publications. The Foundation is chartered as a 501(c)(3) entity exclusively for scientific, literary, charitable, and educational purposes.

The wwPDB Foundation is grateful for our industrial sponsors: Discngine, OpenEye Scientific, Roivant Sciences, Rigaku, and ThermoFisher Scientific. Individual sponsorships are also available. Consider supporting the next 50 years of PDB's spirit of openness, cooperation, and education with a donation to the wwPDB Foundation.

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