Professor Emeritus Yosef Shiloh from the Sackler Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University (TAU) was elected an international member of the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS). The Academy includes approximately 2,500 American scientists from all fields of science and another approximately 500 foreign scientists from all over the world. Professor Shiloh is the 43rd Israeli researcher elected to NAS, alongside Nobel laureates Professor Ada Yonath, Professor Dan Shechtman, and Professor Aaron Ciechanover.

Professor Shiloh is the Incumbent of the David and Inez Myers Chair for Cancer Genetics in the Department of Human Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry in TAU’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine. He has been the recipient of the EMET Prize, the Israel Prize, and the Clowes Award for Outstanding Cancer Research, the most important prize awarded by the American Association for Cancer Research.

Election to the Academy reflects widespread recognition by all the members of the Academy from a variety of scientific fields. The acceptance bar for non-American members is particularly high, adding to the prestige of “international” members.

The NAS advises the American government and nation on matters of science, engineering, and medicine, based on a charter granted to it by Congress and signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863. Membership in the Academy is lifelong, and up to 120 scientists from the USA and up to 30 foreign scientists are elected to the Academy each year.

“It is a great honor and I thank the Academy members for recognizing our work,” Professor Shiloh says. “NAS is a body whose opinion is heard and given consideration, and I hope that the opinion of the Israeli Academy of Sciences and Humanities, of which I am a member, will be heard here in a similar way. In the US, the President, the administration, and the public listen to what the Academy says, hence the weight that the Americans attribute to membership in this institution.”

“This is a tremendous honor for us in the Department and the Faculty of Medicine at TAU,” says Professor Karen Avraham, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine. “Professor Shiloh’s research has made a seminal and remarkable contribution in the area of a rare but devastating genetic disease, ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T), with far-reaching implications for DNA repair and cancer.

“Most compelling, what drove Professor Shiloh every step of the way was his compassion for the patients. The main theme of his work can be summarized in the title of a lecture that he has delivered to numerous audiences over the years: ‘Investigation of Rare Genetic Disorders: A Mission for Human Welfare and a Steppingstone in Understanding our Biology.’ Prof. Shiloh continues to explore the connection between A-T, neurodegeneration, and aging in search of new treatment modalities for A-T, as well as to devoting his efforts to educating the public about the medical and social implications of the genome revolution.”

Next year Professor Shiloh will participate in a ceremony in honor of the members selected in 2023, which will be held at the Academy House in Washington, DC.