UC Faculty Named to Institute of Medicine

Nearly a dozen UC faculty members are among the new members elected this year to the Institute of Medicine, an organization that provides guidance on various medical and research issues.

One of these members is R. Alta Charo, a visiting bioethics professor at the UC Berkeley School of Law. Originally from the University of Wisconsin, Charo said she found out about her selection a little over a week ago.

“I was totally jazzed,” she said. “This is a very big deal for me.”

The institute was established in 1970 as part of the National Academies, which were created by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863. The organization provides independent evidence-based advice on science, technology and medical policy, Charo said.

The institute organizes committees to investigate issues within the medical community. Charo participated in a recent committee that worked to generate recommendations for improving the Food and Drug Administration, Charo said.

New members elected also include faculty from UCLA, UC San Diego and UCSF.

Institute members choose 65 new members and five foreign representatives each year. The choices are based on career achievements, said institute spokesperson Christine Stencel.

The number of new members elected from the UC system this year is not exceptional, according to Brigitte Donner, spokesperson for the UC Office of Federal Governmental Relations.

“In each of the past five years, eight or more UC faculty and researchers have been elected to (the institute). Of the 1,501 total active (institute) members, 161 are affiliated with the University of California,” Donner said in an e-mail.

It is not common, however, for UC Berkeley to have an affiliate elected to the institute because the campus has no medical school, according to campus spokesperson Robert Sanders.

“We have lots of members of the National Academy of Sciences, but not the Institute of Medicine,” he said.

-Corinna Matlis

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