Dr. Olujimi Ajijola, an assistant professor in the departments of medicine and of molecular, cellular and integrative physiology, has been selected as a New Voice in Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, a new initiative from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.
The initial “New Voices” group of 18 early-career leaders will provide fresh perspectives on issues of importance to the community represented by the national academies, communicating the evidence needed to effectively address national and global challenges. The group will also help identify ways to expand the Academies’ diversity of expertise.
Ajijola, a cardiac electrophysiologist, is focused on understanding how cardiac injury induces remodeling within the cardiac nervous system, and how therapies targeting the nervous system may be used to treat cardiovascular diseases and modify sudden cardiac death risk.
He is also an alumnus of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Medical Fellows Program, a recipient of the National Institute of Health Director’s New Innovator Award, and a recipient of the Young Physician Scientist Award from the American Society for Clinical Investigation.
Ajijola and other early-career leaders in the initiative will gather over a two-year period with a senior advisory committee to discuss emerging challenges in science, engineering and medicine. They also will engage nationally with a wider group of young leaders from diverse groups and will attend international events on science policy.
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine are private, nonprofit institutions that provide independent, objective analysis and advice to the nation to solve complex problems and inform public policy decisions related to science, technology and medicine. They operate under an 1863 congressional charter to the National Academy of Sciences.