ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND — The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology has launched an honorific program to recognize members who have made outstanding contributions to the field through their research, teaching and mentoring, or other forms of service.
Winthrop University’s Takita Sumter is one of the 30 fellows the society announced on April 27 at its 2021 ASBMB annual meeting in conjunction with the Experimental Biology Conference. Sumter is dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.
“Serving in various leadership roles for the ASBMB has enriched my career, often positioning me to mentor aspiring scientists,” Sumter said. “I never imagined that the work would lead to this level of visibility. The individuals in the inaugural class are some of the finest scientists in the world. Being a part of this elite group is quite an honor.”
The society announced the creation of the ASBMB Fellows Program in September. As explained by Bettie Sue Masters, a member of the society’s membership committee and a faculty member at the Duke University School of Medicine, “The ASBMB has been the professional home for and nurtured the careers of many great scientists. The ASBMB Fellows designation will recognize the contributions of those members who have excelled in research, education, advocacy and mentorship of future scientists and contributed to the mission of the society. This honor will recognize their commitment to their profession.”
Sumter first came to Winthrop in 2004 as an assistant professor of chemistry; she was promoted to professor in 2014. She's served in varied administrative roles and service positions both at Winthrop and within the broader biochemistry community. Before becoming dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Sumter served as interim dean and vice provost for faculty affairs. She also was the first Provost’s Faculty Fellow, interim chair of the Department of Human Nutrition and institutional co-principal investigator of Winthrop's IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) program.
“In response to our call for nominees for the first class of ASBMB fellows, it became apparent that our society has a very large number of highly productive scientists who have made outstanding contributions to our society, its publications and missions, and biomedical science,” said Judith Bond, past president of the ASBMB and chair of the fellows subcommittee. “Our first class of fellows represents a distinguished group of scientists who have demonstrated leadership and sustained commitment to the ASBMB, and whose accomplishments span the breadth of our society missions to promote scientific discovery, professional development, inclusiveness and diversity, nurture the next generation of scientists, and inform decision-makers and the public of the significance of scientific findings. These fellows honor us by being members of the ASBMB and are great role models for aspiring scientists."
The fellows are:
Natalie Ahn, University of Colorado Boulder
Karen Allen, Boston University
Teaster Baird Jr., San Francisco State University
Ruma Banerjee, University of Michigan
Suzanne Barbour, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
J. Ellis Bell, University of San Diego
Squire Booker, Pennsylvania State University
George Carman, Rutgers University
Michael Cox, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Enrique De La Cruz, Yale University
Edward Dennis, University of California, San Diego
John Denu, University of Wisconsin‒Madison
Henrik Dohlman, University of North Carolina
William Dowhan, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston McGovern Medical
School
Catherine Drennan, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Karen Fleming, Johns Hopkins University
Lila M. Gierasch, University of Massachusetts Amherst
F. Peter Guengerich, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Basic Sciences
Heidi Hamm, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Basic Sciences
William Merrick, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
Alexandra Newton, University of California, San Diego
Daniel Raben, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Kerry-Anne Rye, University of New South Wales
Sarah Spiegel, Virginia Commonwealth University
Wesley Sundquist, University of Utah School of Medicine
Takita Felder Sumter, Winthrop University
Susan Taylor, University of California, San Diego
Herbert Weissbach, Florida Atlantic University
Adele Wolfson, Wellesley College
Stephen Young, University of California, Los Angeles
About the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
The ASBMB is a nonprofit scientific and educational organization with more than 11,000 members worldwide. Most members teach and conduct research at colleges and universities. Others conduct research in government laboratories, at nonprofit research institutions and in industry. The Society publishes three journals: the Journal of Biological Chemistry, the Journal of Lipid Research, and Molecular and Cellular Proteomics. For more information about ASBMB, visit http://www.asbmb.org.
