TAMEST congratulates four Texans elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) in 2026. The academy announced the election of 90 regular members and 10 international members at its annual meeting in October.

Election to the NAM is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service.

“I am thrilled to welcome these outstanding health and medicine leaders into the National Academy of Medicine,” said NAM President and TAMEST 2027 Annual Conference Speaker Monica M. Bertagnolli, M.D. (NAM), in an announcement. “Their extraordinary talent and commitment to advancing evidence-based guidance and solutions for our country’s greatest health care challenges will strengthen our efforts to improve health for all.”

TAMEST will recognize these and other new Texas-based National Academy members during the opening reception of the TAMEST 2027 Annual Conference on February 1, 2027, in Houston, Texas.

Their elections bring the current TAMEST membership to 374.

Meet our new NAM members:

• Steven A. Abrams, M.D., Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin

For his expertise in infant and micronutrient nutrition. His research has been central in developing global guidelines, including the Dietary Reference Intakes. He has developed and implemented protocols for nutrition for preterm infants, including evaluating human milk base fortification and fat sources for high-risk infants.

• Albert C. Koong, M.D., Ph.D., Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer, Sewell Family Distinguished University Chair and Professor of Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

For transforming routine clinical care for pancreatic and liver malignancies by demonstrating the safe and effective application of stereotactic body radiotherapy through practice-changing trials. His laboratory was first to identify the IRE1-XBP1 pathway as a critical cancer therapeutic target regulated by tumor hypoxia.

• Amy L. McGuire, J.D., Ph.D., Leon Jaworski Professor of Biomedical Ethics and Director, Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy, Baylor College of Medicine

For making seminal contributions on ethical and policy issues related to emerging technologies and innovative therapeutics, especially in genomics, neuropsychology and novel neurological devices. She is a national leader in bioethics.

• Katy Rezvani, M.D., Ph.D., Vice President and Head, Institute for Cell Therapy Discovery and Innovation; Melvyn N. Klein Family Endowed Director; Barnts Family Distinguished Chair for Cancer Research; and Professor, Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapy, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

For pioneering chimeric antigen receptor-natural killer (CAR-NK) cell therapies, groundbreaking immunotherapies that provide uniquely safe, cost-effective, allogeneic and off-the-shelf approaches to treat cancer. Her discoveries and practice-changing clinical trials established the field of CAR-NK cell therapies and expanded its frontiers through the first clinical trials of T cell receptor-NK cells and the development of genetically edited NK cells.