September 2026 Council Roster

Chairperson

Erica Brown, Ph.D.
Acting Director
National Institute of General Medical Sciences
National Institutes of Health
Bethesda, MD 20892

Members

Natalie G. Ahn, Ph.D. (Extended, November 2026)
Distinguished Professor
Department of Biochemistry
​​University of Colorado at Boulder
Boulder, CO 80309-0596

Eric Alani, Ph.D. (2026)
Professor
Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853

Jonathan Baker, Ph.D. (2027)
Professor of Pharmacology
Associate Vice President for Research School of Medicine
University of Nevada, Reno
Reno, NV 89557

Julie Bastarache, M.D. (2027)
Director, Edge for Scholars
Professor of Medicine, Cell & Developmental Biology, Pathology, Microbiology & Immunology 
Division of Allergy, Pulmonary, and Critical Care Medicine
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Nashville, TN 37232-2650

Sudha Chakrapani, Ph.D. (2028)
Chair, Department of Pharmacology
John H. Hord Professor
Director, Cleveland Center for Membrane and Structural Biology
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
Cleveland OH 44106

Melinda Duncan, Ph.D. (2029)
Associate Vice President for Research
Trustee's Distinguished Professor
Department of Biological Sciences
University of Delaware
Newark, DE 19716

Neil Garg, Ph.D. (2027)
Distinguished Professor and Kenneth N. Trueblood Chair
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA 90095

Elizabeth Gavis, M.D., Ph.D. (2029)
Damon B. Pfeiffer Professor in the Life Sciences
Chair, Department of Molecular Biology
Department of Molecular Biology
Princeton University
Princeton, NJ 08544

Brent L. Iverson, Ph.D. (2028)
Professor of Chemistry and Distinguished Teaching Professor
Warren J. and Viola Mae Raymer Professor
Department of Chemistry
The University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX 78712

Laurie Kilpatrick, Ph.D. (2029)
Associate Dean, Research
Professor
Center for Inflammation and Lung Research
Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Inflammation
Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University
Philadelphia, PA 19140

L. Andrew Lee, Ph.D. (2028)
Chief Scientific Officer
ICMS, Inc.
Irmo, SC 29063

Gerald Marschke, Ph.D. (2029)
Associate Professor
Department of Economics
University at Albany, State University of New York
Albany, NY 12222

Sarah Michel, Ph.D. (2027)
Dean & Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences
University of Maryland School of Pharmacy Baltimore, MD 21201

Lucy Erin O'Brien, Ph.D. (2028)
Associate Professor
Department of Molecular & Cellular Physiology & Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine
Stanford University School of Medicine
Stanford, CA 94305-5305

Lesilee Rose, Ph.D. (Extended, November 2026)
Professor
Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology
College of Biological Sciences
University of California, Davis
Davis, CA 95616

Christopher W. Seymour, M.D. (2026)
Professor
Department of Critical Care Medicine
Professor
Departments of Emergency Medicine & Clinical Translational Science
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Pittsburgh, PA 15261 

Donald K. Warne, M.D., M.P.H. (2026) 
Provost Fellow, Indigenous Health Policy
Co-Director, Center for Indigenous Health
Professor of Public Health
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health  
Baltimore, MD 21231

Leyte Winfield, Ph.D. (2026)
Professor
Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry 
Division Chair
Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
Spelman College
Atlanta, GA 30314-4395

 

 

 

 

 

Ad Hoc Participants

Matthew Beyersdorf, Ph.D. 
Patent Attorney 
BioNTech
Cambridge, MA 02139

Stephen Cutler, Ph.D.
Vice President for Economic Development 
Dean and Professor
College of Pharmacy
University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC 29208

Erin Dolan, Ph.D.
Professor
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Georgia Athletic Association Professor of Innovative Science Education
Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor
The University of Georgia
Athens, GA 30602

Anum Glasgow, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics
Columbia University
New York, NY 10032

Emily L. Spaulding, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
George Wojtech Chair in Neurobiology
Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory
Bar Harbor, ME 04609

Executive Secretary

Ariel Zane, Ph.D.
Acting Associate Director for Extramural Activities
National Institute of General Medical Sciences
National Institutes of Health
Bethesda, MD 20892

Ex-Officio 

Ronald M. Przygodzki, M.D.
Director
Genomic Medicine
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Veterans Health Administration
Office of Research and Development (14RD)
Washington, DC 20420

 

 

This page last updated on 08/28/2026 3:49 PM