Biochemist Peter Kim and bioengineer Scott Delp have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences. Kim is now one of only 20 people who are members of all three national academies.
February 16, 2016 - By Amy Adams
Peter Kim
Two School of Medicine faculty members have been elected to the National Academy of Engineering: Peter Kim, PhD, professor of biochemistry, and Scott Delp, PhD, professor of bioengineering and of mechanical engineering.
Kim is now one of only 20 people who are members of all three national academies. The other two academies are the National Academy of Science and the National Academy of Medicine. Stephen Quake, PhD, professor of bioengineering and of applied physics, is also a member of all three academies.
Kim was honored for his work developing novel drugs and vaccines that are used worldwide. Before coming to Stanford in 2014, he was president of Merck Research Laboratories, where he oversaw the development of vaccines for cervical cancer, shingles and rotavirus, as well as many drugs.
Kim came to Stanford to be part of Stanford ChEM-H, an institute aimed at better understanding the chemistry of humans and developing treatments for disease. He hopes that his group will be able to contribute to the creation of an HIV vaccine. Over the past 30 years, many have tried but failed because the virus mutates so quickly. Kim’s approach focuses on a highly conserved part of the virus that is only exposed as the virus is entering the cell.
Scott Delp
Simulating movement
Delp was honored for his computer simulations of human movement and their applications to the treatment of clinical movement pathologies. Delp and his team have developed open-source software called OpenSim that allows scientists to create and analyze simulations of movement.
Delp recently launched the National Center for Mobility Data Integration to Insight, known as the Mobilize Center, which is a National Institutes of Health center of excellence for big data research.
The center makes use of the vast data available on movement in healthy people and in those with movement disorders and data generated through the proliferating wearable devices and phone apps that track movement, behaviors and health.
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Amy AdamsAmy Adams is the director of interdisciplinary life sciences communications for Stanford University. Email her at amyadams@stanford.edu.
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