Three faculty members at the University of Pennsylvania have been elected to the Class of 2018 of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Ezekiel J. Emanuel, Steven Feierman, and Richard V. Kadison were among the 213 people in a wide range of disciplines and professions.
Emanuel is the Diane v.S. Levy and Robert M. Levy University Professor, vice provost for global initiatives, professor of health care management, professor of medical ethics and health policy, and chair of the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy. He is a Penn Integrates Knowledge professor with appointments in the Wharton School and the Perelman School of Medicine.
He was the founding chair of the Department of Bioethics at the National Institutes of Health until August 2011. He recently served as a special advisor on health policy to the director of the Office of Management and Budget and National Economic Council. He is also a breast oncologist.
Emanuel received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School and his Ph.D. in political philosophy from Harvard University and has published widely on health care reform, research ethics, and end-of-life care. His book “Reinventing American Health Care” examines the history of the U.S. health care system, the Affordable Care Act, and health care predictions for the future. Its sequel, “Prescription for the Future,” was released in June 2017. Emanuel also serves as a Venture Partner at Oak HC/FT in addition to serving as contributor for the New York Times and Fox News.
He began teaching online with a massive open online course on Coursera in 2013 and has since shaped his experiences and research into brief video lectures on medical ethics and health policy issues for continuing education, professional development, and academic learners.
Feierman, professor of history emeritus, spent many years living and working in East Africa. He teaches African history, comparative medicine, and medicine and development in the School of Arts and Sciences.
He is the author of “Peasant Intellectuals: Anthropology and History in Tanzania” (University of Wisconsin Press, 1990) and “The Shambaa Kingdom: A History” (University of Wisconsin Press,1974); a co-author of “African History: From Earliest Times to Independence” (Longman, 1995); co-editor of “The Social Basis of Health and Healing in Africa” (1990); and author of many articles about memory, religion, and healing in Africa.
Feierman has doctoral degrees in both African history, from Northwestern University, and social anthropology, from Oxford University. He has spent many years living and working in East Africa. Prior to coming to Penn he was professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he taught from 1969 until 1989, and at the University of Florida, from 1989 to 1995.
Kadison is the Gustave C. Kuemmerle Professor of Mathematics in Penn Arts and Sciences. He is best known for his contributions to the study of operator algebras and mathematical physics.
Kadison is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and a foreign member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters and the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. He is a 1969 Guggenheim Fellow. In 1999 he was awarded the Leroy P. Steele Prize for Lifetime Achievement by the American Mathematical Society, and in 2012 he became a fellow of the American Mathematical Society.
Founded in 1780, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences honors exceptional scholars, leaders, artists, and innovators and engages them in sharing knowledge and addressing challenges facing the world.
The new members of the Academy were elected in 25 categories and are affiliated with 125 institutions. The 238th class of new members is available at www.amacad.org/members.
“Membership in the Academy is not only an honor, but also an opportunity and a responsibility,” said Jonathan Fanton, president of the American Academy. “Members can be inspired and engaged by connecting with one another and through Academy projects dedicated to the common good. The intellect, creativity, and commitment of the 2018 Class will enrich the work of the Academy and the world in which we live.”
