Fessler inducted into Association of American Physicians
AAP recognized Fessler’s sustained and meaningful advances to identify disease biomarkers and the biological mechanisms regulating the immune response. (Photo courtesy of Steve McCaw / NIEHS)
Michael Fessler, M.D., Clinical Director of NIEHS, was recently elected into the prestigious Association of American Physicians (AAP) for his noteworthy contributions to biomedicine. Founded in 1885, AAP membership is limited to physicians who are also scientists who have made impactful research contributions.
“This is certainly a very meaningful milestone for me,” Fessler told Environmental Factor. He explained that most physician-scientists have a long and winding path where they only become card-carrying scientists rigorously trained in the scientific method somewhat later along in their career development due to competing clinical demands.
“Most of us who go on to become physician-scientists initially enter medical school with the primary goal of learning to diagnose and treat patients,” Fessler said. “The possibility of advancing the field through research discovery becomes, for many of us, a new, exciting passion and overarching goal.”
Fessler’s work centers on the immune response as it relates primarily to lung disease and infection. His lab has also investigated how lipids, particularly cholesterol, affect immune cell function during infection and inflammation.
Williams honored for reproductive biology research
Williams also leads the Reproductive Medicine Group and holds a secondary appointment in the NIEHS Epigenetics and RNA Biology Laboratory. (Photo courtesy of Steve McCaw / NIEHS)
Carmen Williams, M.D., Ph.D., received this year’s Society for the Study of Reproduction Research Award for outstanding research published over the past six years. The society is the world’s leading organization for reproductive biology in biomedicine and agriculture.
“It’s an incredible honor,” said Williams, Deputy Chief of the NIEHS Reproductive and Developmental Biology Laboratory. “It means that they recognize the work that I’ve done as being on a par with the best reproductive biology research in the world.”
Williams’ research focuses on the signaling involved when sperm activates an egg and the environmental factors that can affect that process. She also studies how exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals affects development.
(Susan Cosier is a contract writer for the NIEHS Office of Communications and Public Liaison.)
