VARI scientist elected to National Academy of Sciences

VARI scientist elected to National Academy of Sciences

Stephen Baylin. Courtesy VARI

A scientist at a local medical research center has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

Stephen Baylin, the Director’s Scholar and a Center of Epigenetics professor at Van Andel Research Institute, or VARI, in downtown Grand Rapids, is the latest VARI researcher to join the NAS.

VARI Chief Scientific Officer Peter Jones was inducted last year.

Baylin serves alongside Jones as co-leader of the VARI-Stand Up To Cancer Epigenetics Dream Team, which is conducting four clinical trials that investigate potential therapies for colorectal cancer, acute myeloid leukemia, myelodysplastic syndrome and chronic myelomonocytic leukemia.

Baylin also is a professor of oncology at John Hopkins University’s School of Medicine and co-director of the cancer biology program at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center. He also served on the American Association for Cancer Research board of directors from 2004 through 2007 and has authored or co-authored more than 400 publications.

National Academy of Sciences

Established by an Act of Congress in 1863 and signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln, the NAS is a private, non-partisan institution that advises the federal government on matters related to science and technology.

NAS works alongside the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Medicine as the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine to provide independent and objective analysis to inform public-policy decisions.