Glazer and Omer are new members of the National Academy of Medicine

Two Yale faculty members, Peter M. Glazer, MD, PhD; and Saad B. Omer, MBBS, MPH, PhD; have been elected to the prestigious National Academy of Medicine, the academy announced today. Founded in 1970 as the Institute of Medicine, the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) is one of three academies that make up the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (the National Academies) in the United States. New members are elected by current members through a process that recognizes individuals who have made major contributions to the advancement of medical science, health care and public health.

NAM President Victor J. Dzau said of Glazer and Omer and the 98 other newly elected members of the academy, “Their expertise will be critical in informing the future of health and medicine in the everyone’s interest. I am truly honored to welcome these esteemed individuals to the National Academy of Medicine.

Peter M. Glazer is Chairman and Robert E. Hunter Professor of Therapeutic Radiology and Professor of Genetics. Glazer studies new cancer treatment strategies and the role of impaired DNA repair in tumor progression. His research has been recognized by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health with a prestigious $7 million Outstanding Investigator Award which supports his efforts to harness DNA repair for the treatment of cancer. He found that tumor hypoxia causes genetic instability and that mutations in isocitrate dehydrogenase and related metabolic genes suppress DNA repair in cancers, conferring vulnerability to PARP inhibitors. His lab has developed new DNA repair inhibitors for the treatment of cancer and has developed triplex-forming oligonucleotides for gene editing. His work has led to several new cancer clinical trials at Yale and elsewhere. Glazer also directs the radiation oncology program at Smilow Cancer Hospital and its network of care centers. He earned his MD and Ph.D. at Yale after earning his BS in Chemistry from Harvard in 1979 and his MS in Biochemistry from Oxford University in 1981. He joined the Yale School of Medicine Medicine in the Department of Therapeutic Radiology in 1991.

Saad B. Omer is the inaugural director of the Yale Institute for Global Health, Harvey and Kate Cushing Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases) at the Yale School of Medicine, Professor of Microbial Disease Epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health, and Assistant Professor at Yale School of Nursing. Omer has conducted studies in the United States, Guatemala, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, South Africa and Australia. Omer has conducted fundamental studies on maternal vaccination as well as interventions to reduce vaccine refusal and conducted consequentialist research during the COVID-19 pandemic. His work has been cited in global and national policy recommendations and has informed public health practice, clinical vaccine recommendations, and legislation in the United States and around the world. He sits on the board of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force, for which he led the drafting of the prioritization roadmap. for global vaccine allocation. Omer earned his MPH and Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University, after earning his medical degree from the Aga Khan University in Karachi, Pakistan in 1998. He joined the Yale faculty in 2019.

Nancy J. Brown, MD, Jean and David W. Wallace Dean of the Yale School of Medicine, says Glazer and Omer are well deserving of the honor of being elected to NAM. “These two extraordinary members of our faculty have distinguished themselves in cancer research and responses to global health crises respectively. They represent the breadth of Yale’s talents that have a tremendous impact on the health of people around the world.

This year’s inductees are immediately full members of NAM and will be formally inducted at the 2023 NAM Annual Meeting.