Sing Sing Way Elected to National Academy of Medicine

Research By: Sing Sing Way, MD, PhD

Post Date: October 20, 2025 | Publish Date:

Cincinnati Children’s physician-scientist receives one of the highest honors in health, medicine and science.

The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) has elected Sing Sing Way, MD, PhD, to its 2025 class of members—one of the highest honors in health, medicine and science. This year, NAM elected 90 regular members and 10 international members, bringing its total membership to more than 2,500, including over 200 international members.

Election to NAM recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service. Members are elected by current NAM members through a process that acknowledges those who have made major contributions to advancing medical sciences, health care, and public health.

Way was selected, as NAM noted, “for leadership and advocacy in reproductive and developmental biology research, with seminal contributions describing how pregnancy immunologically works, the maternal-fetal dyad, and immunity in newborn babies.”

A Career Built on Insight, Innovation and Impact

Way holds the Pauline and Lawson Reed Chair in Pediatrics and serves as a professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Cincinnati Children’s. He is the founding director of the Center for Inflammation and Tolerance, and since 2019 has served as the coordinating principal investigator for the March of Dimes Ohio Collaborative for Preterm Birth Prevention.

Throughout his career in pediatrics, Way has bridged fundamental biology and translational medicine—advancing knowledge of how the immune system adapts during pregnancy and early life to protect both mother and child. His research has reshaped understanding for how the immune system distinguishes between beneficial and harmful microbes, how maternal immune components change during pregnancy to avoid fetal rejection, and the immunological mechanisms causing stillbirth, preterm birth and other pregnancy complications.

“I am so very thankful to the National Academy of Medicine for highlighting maternal and infant health, including these important but often under-recognized developmental windows of vulnerability,” Way said. “Recognition like this reflects an entire team effort, and the hard work of highly motivated trainees, collaborators and colleagues past and present.”

At Cincinnati Children’s, the Way Lab operates at the intersection of infectious disease, reproductive and developmental immunology. Supported by the National Institutes of Health and other organizations including the Burroughs Wellcome Fund and March of Dimes, his team combines preclinical models of infection, pregnancy and early life development with the epidemiology of human infection and pregnancy complications to uncover distinctions in how the immune system works during pregnancy and newborn babies. Pregnancy complications are consistently the leading cause of infant and childhood mortality. Their discoveries continue to inform new approaches to reduce infections and improve pregnancy outcomes.

Leadership and Recognition

Way’s scientific contributions have been widely recognized nationally and internationally. He is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, Association of American Physicians, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Faculty Scholar, and recipient of the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award, E Mead Johnson award from the Society for Pediatric Research, and the inaugural recipient of the Gale and Ira Drukier Prize in Children’s Health Research.

He has served on national advisory committees and journal editorial boards, advocating and helping to shape the direction of immunology and maternal-fetal research. His leadership extends to mentoring the next generation of scientists and physician-scientists, fostering a culture of curiosity and collaboration that drives innovation across disciplines.

“My encouragement to young doctors and scientists in training is to take a glass-half-empty perspective to the current standard of care for how we treat and prevent disease, and actively consider creative and bold new ways to further improve how we care for sick babies and children,” he said.

A Distinguished Legacy of National Leadership

Way’s election continues a long legacy of leadership at Cincinnati Children’s within the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine—a family of private, nonprofit institutions that provide independent, evidence-based guidance to policymakers and inspire positive action across science, health, engineering and public policy. Established originally as the Institute of Medicine in 1970, NAM works alongside the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering to address critical issues in health, science and medicine. Members volunteer their expertise to NAM activities, contributing research, analysis and guidance that shape national and global health policy.

Leaders at Cincinnati Children’s have contributed to the academies’ work for more than 70 years, beginning in 1951 when Albert Sabin, MD, inventor of the oral polio vaccine, was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

With this new honor, Way joins an elite group of current and former Cincinnati Children’s leaders elected to the NAM, including Thomas Boat, MD; Tina Cheng, MD, MPH; Margaret “Peggy” Hostetter, MD; Alan Jobe, MD, PhD; Uma Kotagal, MBBS, MSc; Peter Margolis, MD, PhD; Marc Rothenberg, MD, PhD; Arnold Strauss, MD; and Jeffrey Whitsett, MD.

Way’s election to the National Academy of Medicine reflects both his individual impact and Cincinnati Children’s enduring commitment to advancing discovery, training leaders in medicine and science, influencing health policy, and improving outcomes for children and families worldwide.

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