The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) recently announced the election of 90 regular members and 10 international members at its annual meeting. Election to the Academy is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service.
The American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) is delighted to recognize the outstanding work of five colleagues in the specialty of family medicine: Rebecca S. Etz, PhD, Diane Medved Harper, MD, MPH, MS, and Lauren S. Hughes, MD, MPH, MSc, MHCDS, FAAFP.
New members are elected annually through a selective process that recognizes individuals who have made major contributions to the advancement of the medical sciences, health care, and public health.
“I am thrilled to welcome these outstanding health and medicine leaders into the National Academy of Medicine. Their extraordinary talent and commitment to advancing evidence-based guidance and solutions for our country’s greatest health care challenges will strengthen our efforts to improve health for all.”
Monica M. Bertagnolli
NAM President
Rebecca S. Etz, PhD, professor, Family Medicine and Population Health, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond. For revolutionizing primary care measurement and crisis response, creating the first Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services-endorsed patient-reported primary care measure, and establishing the only national COVID-19 primary care tracking system, influencing congressional action and state policies. Her groundbreaking CMS-funded research redefines how integrated, whole-person health care can be achieved, measured, and valued.
Diane Medved Harper, MD, MPH, MS, professor of family medicine, obstetrics, and gynecology, Department of Biomedical Engineering and Department of Women and Gender Studies, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. For her work in HPV vaccination and cervical cancer prevention, leading the definitive groundbreaking clinical trials on the efficacy of HPV vaccines now utilized worldwide. Her research increased screening rates through self-sampling methodologies that inform evidence-based national and international guidelines. She has served on the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force.
Lauren S. Hughes, MD, MPH, MSc, MHCDS, FAAFP, professor, Department of Family Medicine, and state policy director, Eugene S. Farley, Jr. Health Policy Center, University of Colorado Anschutz, Aurora. For reshaping federal and state approaches to strengthening primary care and leading a body of influential reports on payment and valuation to guide U.S. policy. She co-chaired the National Academies’ Standing Committee on Primary Care, chaired the American Board of Family Medicine, served on the Colorado Primary Care Payment Reform Collaborative, and has researched and written extensively about primary care payment, workforce, integrated behavioral health, and how the discipline navigated the COVID-19 pandemic.
The NAM’s website states that a diversity of talent among NAM’s membership is assured by its Articles of Organization, which stipulate that at least one-quarter of the membership is selected from fields outside the health professions — for example, from such fields as law, engineering, social sciences, and the humanities. The newly elected members bring NAM’s total membership to more than 2,600, including more than 200 international members.
The full story and complete list of new members can be found here: NAM Elects 100 New Members for 2026.