As someone who doesn’t always send birthday cards on time, I’m used to offering belated congratulations. So I have no shame in sending them now to four CIRM grantees elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2020. I say four, but it’s really three and a half. I’ll explain why in a moment.

Being elected to the National Academy of Medicine—“one of the highest honors in health and medicine,” according to NAM—is a major achievement. Members select new inductees and choose only individuals with exceptional accomplishments and service. In other words, they don’t let just anyone in, which is probably why I’m still waiting for my invitation.

The CIRM grantees elected last year are:

Antoni Ribas, MD, PhD, professor of medicine, surgery, and molecular and medical pharmacology, U. C. Los Angeles.

Dr. Ribas is a pioneer in cancer immunology and has dedicated his career to developing new treatments for malignant melanoma. When he began his work, malignant melanoma was almost always fatal. Today, it is a cancer that can be cured.

In a news release, Dr. Ribas said he was honored to be recognized by the Academy. “It speaks to the impact immunotherapy has played in cancer research. When I started treating melanoma that had spread to other organs, maybe one in twenty patients responded. Nobody wanted to specialize in this field. It was considered the worst of the worst cancers.”

It appears he chose his career path well.

Jeffrey Louis Goldberg, MD, PhD, professor and chair of ophthalmology, Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif.

Dr. Goldberg was honored for his work to understand vision loss and develop strategies to reverse it. His lab created artificial retinas that use tiny silicon chips implanted in the eye to transmit images down the optic nerve to the brain. He also helped advance imaging technologies that improve our ability to detect damage in photoreceptor cells. These cells convert light into signals that let us see color and see at night.

In a news release, he thanked the community for the recognition. “I look forward to serving the goals of the National Academies and continuing collaborative research with colleagues at the Byers Eye Institute at Stanford and around the world as we work to combat needless blindness,” he said.

Mark S. Anderson, MD, PhD, professor in Diabetes Research, Diabetes Center, U. C. San Francisco.

Dr. Anderson was honored as a leader in studying autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes. This focus extends to his lab, where his research examines the genetic control of autoimmune diseases to better understand how immune tolerance breaks down.

These honors highlight how foundational research—much of it supported through CIRM’s collaborative programs—continues to drive progress toward new therapies. From uncovering how autoimmune diseases develop to identifying leukemia stem cells, the awardees’ work is opening the door to future treatments that could save lives.

Dr. Anderson was honored for his leadership in studying autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes. His lab examines the genetic control of autoimmunity to understand how immune tolerance breaks down. Understanding why the immune system turns on the body could help researchers develop treatments that stop—or even reverse—this process by restoring healthy immune activity.

Earlier, I mentioned that three and a half CIRM grantees were elected to the Academy. The “half” refers to Dr. John Dick. He is a Canadian researcher whose work was part of a CIRM‑funded collaboration with UC San Diego’s Dennis Carson through the Collaborative Funding Partnership Program. Because of this partnership, we’re proud to claim him as one of our own.

Dr. Dick is a remarkable scientist. He developed a test that led to the discovery of leukemia stem cells. These cells can survive surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation and can cause cancer to return after treatment. His discovery reshaped our understanding of cancer and revealed a new strategy for curing it.