NAM Honors Former NIEHS Director for Outstanding Service

Dr. Linda Birnbaum

The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) recently honored former National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Director Dr. Linda Birnbaum with the Adam Yarmolinsky Medal for outstanding service. The award was presented during the academy’s annual meeting.

Birnbaum served for 10 years as director of NIEHS and the National Toxicology Program. She is currently a scholar in residence at Duke University. She was acknowledged as being among the most distinguished toxicologists, with extensive leadership and service to the field of environmental and occupational health sciences.

The Yarmolinsky Medal is awarded to a member of the NAM from a discipline outside the health and medical sciences; this may include (but is not limited to) natural, social, computational and behavioral sciences, law, administration, engineering, business, environmental health, data sciences and basic life sciences.​ Eligible nominees do not include those who have a health professional degree, regardless of their scientific field or scholarly contributions. It recognizes distinguished service by a member who, over a significant period of time, has contributed in multiple ways to the mission of the NAM. 

Birnbaum has served as president of the Society of Toxicology, the largest professional organization of toxicologists in the world, and in leadership roles for numerous other professional organizations and editorial boards. She was elected to NAM in 2010 and established and provided support for the National Academies’ Environmental Health Matters Initiative.

Before NIEHS, Birnbaum directed the National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for 10 years.