Robert Satcher Selected for Top 50 List

By

Robert Satcher Selected for Top 50 List

Astronaut Robert SatcherThe editors of Science Spectrum and U.S. Black Engineer & Information Technology have selected Robert L. Satcher, MD, PhD, assistant professor of orthopaedic surgery at the Feinberg School of Medicine, as one of this year’s “50 Most Important Blacks in Research Science.”

Dr. Satcher and other honorees are featured in the September issue of Science Spectrum, which is distributed to science programs and scientists nationally. The annual list recognizes individuals whose contributions serve as positive examples of the “small but influential cadre of African Americans in the field.” According to National Science Foundation (NSF) studies, the United States is falling behind other nations in the production of scientists and engineers, and of 708,200 scientists reported in a recent NSF survey, blacks and Hispanics made up only 6 percent.

In May Dr. Satcher was one of two physicians selected as part of NASA’s 2004 astronaut class. The 11-member group began training this summer at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. A specialist in child and adult bone cancer, Dr. Satcher joined Northwestern three years ago. Although he is on leave, Dr. Satcher still is conducting research at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University and the Institute for Bioengineering and Nanoscience in Advanced Medicine. Additionally, he is on the attending staffs at Northwestern Memorial and Children’s Memorial Hospitals.