Charles Hong, M.D., Ph.D., and Kevin Niswender, M.D., Ph.D., have been elected to membership in the American Society of Clinical Investigation (ASCI), one of the nation’s most respected medical honor societies.
They will be formally inducted with 78 other nominees April 26 during the joint annual meeting of the ASCI and Association of American Physicians in Chicago.
Hong is associate professor of Medicine, Pharmacology and of Cell & Developmental Biology and a staff physician at the VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System. His research is focused on the genetics of and potential new treatments for heart disease.
Niswender, associate professor of Medicine and of Molecular Physiology & Biophysics, also is a staff physician at the VA. He and his colleagues study the neuroendocrine regulation of feeding and pathogenesis of obesity and metabolic syndrome.
They join 44 other current Vanderbilt faculty members who have been elected to the ASCI for “outstanding records of scholarly achievement in biomedical research” early in their careers.
“I am truly humbled to have been elected and am grateful to my mentors, collaborators and laboratory members who have all contributed in such important ways,” said Niswender, a member of the Vanderbilt faculty since 2004.
“This honor is a credit to the vibrant collaborative environment at the VA and Vanderbilt that has shaped my research career during the formative years,” said Hong, who joined the faculty in 2006.
“It’s hard to imagine me doing the kind of interdisciplinary work I do anywhere but here.”
Hong earned his medical degree and Ph.D. in Genetics from Yale University. He received residency training in internal medicine at Yale and cardiology at Massachusetts General Hospital, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship and faculty position at Harvard Medical School.
His far-ranging research interests have taken him from the chemical biology of vertebrate development and stem cell differentiation to potential new targets for treating atherosclerosis and other chronic diseases.
He is a principal investigator in the Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute and Vanderbilt Institute for Chemical Biology, and a former VA Career Development Awardee.
After earning his medical degree and Ph.D. in Physiology from Vanderbilt, Niswender received residency training in internal medicine and a fellowship in Metabolism, Endocrinology and Nutrition at the University of Washington.
He and his colleagues have made significant contributions to understanding the neural underpinnings of obesity and metabolic syndrome and the actions of insulin in the brain.
Niswender is a member of the Vanderbilt Diabetes Center, the Vanderbilt Digestive Disease Research Center, and the Vanderbilt Brain Institute.
