Spudich elected Fellow of Academy of Arts & Sciences

Dr. John Spudich, the Robert A. Welch Distinguished Chair in Chemistry, was elected a Fellow of the prestigious American Academy of Arts & Sciences. He joins an elite group of newly elected members, including scholars, scientists, artists, civic, corporate, and philanthropic leaders.

Founded in 1780, the American Academy of Arts & Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The academy's elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.

Interim Dean Jerry Wolinsky congratulated Spudich on this high honor, making special note of the importance of his work at the Medical School.

"We know that your work is excellent; confirmation from outside the institution serves to reinforce how lucky we are to have you here and how important your work is," Wolinsky said.

Spudich is director of the Center for Membrane Biology, as well as a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology. His research focuses on the mechanisms by which photosensory receptors sense and transmit information concerning the color, intensity, and pattern of light in the environment.

"I am very honored to be elected and want to emphasize that it would not have been possible without the contributions of many fine colleagues in our laboratory and especially the nearly three decades of research and insights from my close co-worker and wife, Elena Spudich," Spudich said.

Spudich is part of the 2007 class of newly elected members announced April 30 that includes 203 new Fellows and 24 new Foreign Honorary Members. This year's new Fellows include former Vice President Albert Gore Jr.; former Supreme Court Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor; New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg; Google Chair and CEO Eric Schmidt; filmmaker Spike Lee; economists Gregory Mankiw and Murray Weidenbaum; astronomer Donald Brownlee; and robotics pioneer Rodney Brooks.

New members will be inducted into the academy at an Oct. 6 ceremony in Cambridge, Mass.

Three others from the UT Health Science Center are academy members, including: Dr. William Jackson Schull, '99, professor emeritus of epidemiology at the School of Public Health; Dr. Ferid Murad, '00, the John S. Dunn, Sr. Distinguished Chair in Physiology and Medicine, professor of integrative biology and pharmacology, and director of the Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases (IMM); and Dr. Irma Gigli, '02, the Hans J. Muller-Eberhard, M.D., Ph.D. Chair in Immunology, the Walter and Mary Mischer Distinguished Professor in Molecular Medicine, and deputy director of the IMM.

-C. Webb