Nanette Santoro, MD, professor and E. Stewart Taylor Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, has been elected into the National Academy of Medicine, one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine.
The election recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service. The National Academy elected 75 regular members and 10 international members during its annual meeting earlier this week.
Nanette Santoro, MD
“This distinguished and diverse class of new members is a truly remarkable set of scholars and leaders whose impressive work has advanced science, improved health, and made the world a better place for everyone,” said National Academy of Medicine President Victor J. Dzau, MD. “Their expertise in science, medicine, health, and policy in the U.S. and around the globe will help our organization address today’s most pressing health challenges and inform the future of health and health care. It is my privilege to welcome these esteemed individuals to the National Academy of Medicine.”
In its announcement, the National Academy said Santoro is being honored for “research discoveries in health predictors of midlife women, participation in cutting-edge clinical trial design and execution.”
Santoro’s research projects have included the Kronos Early Estrogen Prevention Study (KEEPS), which has tested the effect of estrogen, when given within three years of menopause, on carotid artery thickness and coronary calcium scores, as well as cognition. She is also a co-Investigator on the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation, a seven-center study of 3,000 women of five different ethnicities who have traversed the menopause. SWAN is examining a variety of outcomes and risk factors for health and disease in this representative cohort of US women.
She has also been involved in clinical trials that have examined the role of hormone therapy and alternative treatments in menopausal women’s health. Her research has also considered how obesity in women interferes with fertility and reproductive hormone production.
She serves as Chair the Steering Committee of the National Institute of Health’s Reproductive Medicine Network, a clinical trials network that performs cutting-edge research in infertility and reproduction. I have also had a longstanding research interest in premature ovarian failure. She is also lead investigator on three mentored research NIH grant awards.
Santoro joined the University of Colorado School of Medicine as chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in 2009. Prior to joining CU, she held faculty appointments at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New Jersey Medical School and Harvard Medical School.
Santoro earned her medical degree from Albany Medical College of Union University and completed a postdoctoral residency at Beth Israel Medical Center and a fellowship in the Departments of Gynecology and Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
Guest contributor: CU School of Medicine