London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

Joy Lawn, Professor of Maternal, Reproductive and Child Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), has been elected as a member of the prestigious U.S. National Academy of Medicine (NAM), joining seven other LSHTM staff. 

The Academy awards membership based on outstanding accomplishments and contributions to the advancement of medical sciences, healthcare and public health, and elects only 10 international members outside the U.S. each year. NAM members work collectively to provide independent, objective analysis and advice to the public, in addition to informing policy decisions.

Prof Lawn joins LSHTM’s Director, Professor Peter Piot, as well as Professors Charlotte Watts, Andy Haines, Anne Mills, David Heymann and Martin Mckee as NAM members. Professor Nicholas Jewell, who has recently joined LSHTM from the University of California, Berkeley, has also been inducted as a member this year.

A trained paediatrician and perinatal epidemiologist, Prof Lawn has 30 years’ experience across many areas such as the design and evaluation of integrated maternal, newborn and child care services, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. She is Director of LSHTM’s MARCH (Maternal Adolescent, Reproductive & Child Health) Centre and has co-led a number of major Lancet series on newborn survival and stillbirths, as well as global studies including worldwide estimates of Group B Streptococcus infection.

Commenting on her election, Prof Joy Lawn, said: “As a clinician scientist who has spent most of my life in Africa working on maternal and newborn health, I am humbled by this honour from the National Academy of Medicine in the U.S. My years at the Centres for Disease Control and at Emory University were foundational in developing skills and meeting wonderful mentors. I now have the privilege of working at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine to advance the science but also mentor many from all around the world.”