Kathleen Green, PhD, the Joseph L. Mayberry, Sr., Professor of Pathology and Toxicology and professor of Dermatology, has been elected to the German National Academy of Sciences, in recognition of her scientific achievements.
A leader in epithelial cell biology, Green came to Northwestern to conduct postdoctoral research in cell biology and joined the faculty in 1987. Since then, she has received several honors including Feinberg’s Distinguished Woman in Medicine and Science award, the Society for Investigative Dermatology’s Albert M. Kligman/Phillip Frost Leadership Lecture Award and, most recently, was named the chair of the National Institutes of Health chartered study section “Arthritis, Connective Tissue and Skin Study Section, Center for Scientific Review.”
“I am absolutely delighted to have been elected to the German National Academy of Sciences section of Internal Medicine and Dermatology. Being part of an international community of scientists expands my opportunities to promote science and the investigators who do science, at all stages of their careers,” Green said. “My membership in the German Academy will also reinforce and enrich interactions with German colleagues established this last year while I was on sabbatical.”
Green collaborated on research projects in the area of epidermal development in the lab of Carien Niessen, PhD, professor, during her sabbatical at the University of Cologne last year. Her research was supported by an award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany.
“Dr. Green has been a trailblazer in research that has elucidated the function of various cell-cell junction proteins, particularly desmosomes, critical adhesive structures in the skin and heart,” said Amy Paller, MD, chair of Dermatology and director of the Northwestern University Skin Disease Research Center. “Some of her more recent work has focused on epidermal tissue polarity, especially with desmosomes, and was initiated during her recent time as a Humboldt Research Professor at the University of Cologne. Election to the elite German National Academy of Sciences is well deserved, and we are so proud of Dr. Green’s many accomplishments.”
Green is also associate director for Basic Sciences at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, as well as a member of the Center for Genetic Medicine and the Northwestern University Skin Disease Research Center.
The German National Academy of Sciences, formerly known as the Leopoldina, the oldest German-speaking society of scholars, provides science-based advice to politics and society. About one quarter of members are from outside German-speaking countries (Germany, Austria and Switzerland).
