Professor, pulmonologist and cancer researcher Patrick Nana-Sinkam, M.D., has been elected as a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation. Membership is by election, and only researchers who are 50 years of age or younger are eligible for nomination.

One of the country’s oldest and most respected medical honor societies, the ASCI has more than 3,000 physician-scientist members who translate laboratory findings to the advancement of clinical practice. The society’s mission is to support the scientific efforts, educational needs and clinical aspirations of physician-scientists to improve human health.

Nana-Sinkam is the only Virginia physician-scientist to be elected this year and the 13th Virginia Commonwealth University faculty member to hold membership. He is a professor of medicine at the VCU School of Medicine and chair of the school’s Division of Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care Medicine. He is also the KL2 program co-director at the C. Kenneth and Dianne Wright Center for Clinical and Translational Research and a member of VCU Massey Cancer Center’s Cancer Cell Signaling and Cancer Prevention and Control research programs.

“I am honored to be counted among my ASCI physician-scientist peers who represent excellence across a breadth of academic medicine and have made significant contributions to the understanding of human health,” Nana-Sinkam said. “I look forward to working with the ASCI to advance science and foster partnerships that accelerate translational research for the betterment of human health.”   

Nana-Sinkam studies genetic biomarkers as a means of developing novel blood-based tests for the early detection of lung cancer. His research focuses on improving patient outcomes through new targeted therapies. At the Wright Center, he mentors early career faculty members to help prepare the next generation of clinician-scientists for success in clinical and translational research.       

“Since joining the VCU School of Medicine faculty in 2016, Dr. Nana-Sinkam has made great strides in advancing our clinical research enterprise and has taken a special interest in connecting health sciences researchers with the resources they need to support their work,” said Peter Buckley, M.D., dean of the VCU School of Medicine. “We are proud to count him among our ranks of faculty members who are representing VCU’s clinical research expertise on a national stage.”

Nana-Sinkam will be among new members from 46 different U.S. institutions who will be inducted into the ASCI on April 5 in Chicago.