• Press Release

National Academy of Inventors Chooses Dean of Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai as 2017 Fellow

  • NEW YORK, NY
  • (December 18, 2017)

Dennis S. Charney, MD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and President for Academic Affairs at Mount Sinai Health System, has been named a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI).

Election as an NAI Fellow is the highest professional accolade bestowed solely to academic inventors who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development, and welfare of society.

Dr. Charney was one of 155 fellows elected in the 2017 class, bringing the total number of NAI fellows to 912. They represent more than 250 research universities and governmental and nonprofit research institutes. The 2017 Fellows are named inventors on nearly 6,000 U.S. patents, and NAI Fellows collectively hold more than 32,000 U.S. patents.

“I am deeply honored to receive this recognition from the National Academy of Inventors,” said Dr. Charney. “Thank you for highlighting the contributions that and I and others have made to further understanding of disease and to transform that understanding into pioneering innovative approaches.”

The NAI Fellows include more than 100 presidents and senior leaders of research universities and nonprofit research institutes; 439 members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; 36 inductees of the National Inventors Hall of Fame; 52 recipients of the U.S. National Medal of Technology and Innovation and U.S. National Medal of Science; 29 Nobel laureates; 261 AAAS Fellows; 168 IEEE Fellows; and 142 Fellows of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, among other awards and distinctions.

On Thursday, April 5, 2018, the 2017 NAI Fellows will be inducted as part of the Seventh Annual NAI Conference of the National Academy of Inventors at the Mayflower Hotel, Autograph Collection in Washington, D.C. Andrew H. Hirshfeld, U.S. Commissioner for Patents, will deliver the keynote address for the induction ceremony.

The 2017 NAI Fellows will be highlighted with a full-page announcement in The Chronicle of Higher Education January 19, 2018, issue, and in an upcoming issue of Science and Technology and Innovation, Journal of the National Academy of Inventors.

Dr. Charney is a world-renowned expert in neurobiology and treatment of mood and anxiety disorders who has made fundamental contributions to the understanding of the causes of human anxiety, fear, and depression. His pioneering research on depression has led to new hypotheses regarding the mechanisms of antidepressant drugs, and discovery of novel therapies for treatment-resistant depression, including lithium and ketamine. His studies on human resilience identified ten key factors for building the strength to weather and bounce back from stress and trauma. These factors are detailed in an inspiring book, Resilience: The Science of Mastering Life's Greatest Challenges, co-authored by Steven Southwick and published by Cambridge University Press in 2012. Dr. Charney has written or co-authored more than 700 publications, including groundbreaking scientific papers, chapters, and books. In 2000, he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences and has been honored with every major award in his field for his scientific research. Under his leadership, the Icahn School of Medicine has risen to a rank of 13th among U.S. medical schools in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding, and the School currently ranks second in funding per principal investigator from the NIH and other sources.

The 2017 class of NAI Fellows was evaluated by the 2017 Selection Committee, which included 18 members comprising NAI Fellows, U.S. National Medals recipients, National Inventors Hall of Fame inductees, members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and senior officials from the USPTO, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Association of American Universities, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, Association of University Technology Managers, and National Inventors Hall of Fame, among other organizations.

 

National Academy of Inventors
The National Academy of Inventors is a 501(c)(3) non-profit member organization comprising U.S. and international universities, and governmental and non-profit research institutes, with over 4,000 individual inventor members and Fellows spanning more than 250 institutions worldwide. It was founded in 2010 to recognize and encourage inventors with patents issued from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, enhance the visibility of academic technology and innovation, encourage the disclosure of intellectual property, educate and mentor innovative students, and translate the inventions of its members to benefit society.

About the Mount Sinai Health System

Mount Sinai Health System is one of the largest academic medical systems in the New York metro area, with more than 43,000 employees working across eight hospitals, over 400 outpatient practices, nearly 300 labs, a school of nursing, and a leading school of medicine and graduate education. Mount Sinai advances health for all people, everywhere, by taking on the most complex health care challenges of our time — discovering and applying new scientific learning and knowledge; developing safer, more effective treatments; educating the next generation of medical leaders and innovators; and supporting local communities by delivering high-quality care to all who need it.

Through the integration of its hospitals, labs, and schools, Mount Sinai offers comprehensive health care solutions from birth through geriatrics, leveraging innovative approaches such as artificial intelligence and informatics while keeping patients’ medical and emotional needs at the center of all treatment. The Health System includes approximately 7,300 primary and specialty care physicians; 13 joint-venture outpatient surgery centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida; and more than 30 affiliated community health centers. We are consistently ranked by U.S. News & World Report's Best Hospitals, receiving high "Honor Roll" status, and are highly ranked: No. 1 in Geriatrics and top 20 in Cardiology/Heart Surgery, Diabetes/Endocrinology, Gastroenterology/GI Surgery, Neurology/Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, Pulmonology/Lung Surgery, Rehabilitation, and Urology. New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is ranked No. 12 in Ophthalmology. U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Children’s Hospitals” ranks Mount Sinai Kravis Children's Hospital among the country’s best in several pediatric specialties.

For more information, visit https://www.mountsinai.org or find Mount Sinai on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

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