Dr. John Dick has been elected to the prestigious National Academy of Medicine (NAM)

Princess Margaret Cancer Centre Senior Scientist Dr. John Dick has been elected to the prestigious National Academy of Medicine (NAM). The NAM is one of three academies that comprise the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in the United States. 

The Academy contains over 2,200 members who are recognized for their profound professional achievements in relation to health and medicine. Each year, the NAM elects up to 100 members, of whom 10 are selected from the international stage. 

Dr. Dick is globally recognized for his discovery of leukemia stem cells, which was made possible by an assay he developed. The assay involves transplanting cells from either normal or cancer human adult bone marrow into an experimental model to gauge cancer initiation. Using this approach, he revealed that only a­­ small subset of these cells were capable of initiating leukemia and were the main cause of disease relapse. These contributions shaped our understanding of cancer and revealed a new strategy for curing the disease.

Over his prolific career, Dr. Dick has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles, which have garnered over 55,000 citations. His landmark studies are routinely published in widely read scientific journals, including Nature, Science and Cell Stem Cell, and have revolutionized our understanding of leukemia and normal blood development.

The newly-elected class of 2020 was announced at the NAM annual meeting in October. 

Congratulations to Dr. Dick!

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