Ardehali Appointed President of the ASCI

By: Tiffany Chen (MSJ 18)
Northwestern Medill School of Journalism

Hossein Ardehali, MD, Ph.D., professor of Medicine and Pharmacology is elected as the president of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI) for the academic year of 2021-2022. Ardehali, who also serves as director of the Northwestern’s Medical Scientest Training Program (MSTP), will be the first Northwestern faculty member to serve as president.

Founded in 1908, the ASCI is one of the nation’s oldest and most respected medical honor societies. It represents physician-scientists who translate laboratory findings to the advancement of clinical practice. Many senior members of ASCI are renowned leaders in the biomedical field. The ASCI supports the scientific efforts, educational needs and clinical aspirations of physician-scientists by publishing the Journal of Clinical Investigation (JCI) and advocating for increased research funding.

“ASCI is composed of highly accomplished physician-scientists, and the previous presidents have all been very successful physician-scientists,” Ardehali said. “It’s an honor to be selected as the president of ASCI.” Ardehali also won with a large margin in votes, according to John Hawley, the executive director of ASCI.

An immediate challenge facing the next ASCI president is the proposed 12 percent cut to the National Institutes of Health in the 2020 fiscal year. As one of the leaders of ASCI, Ardehali is expecting many trips to Washington, D.C. next year to increase the organization’s role in advocating for physician-scientists.

“We need to make sure that our voices are heard at the national level,” Ardehali said. “Policymakers need to know that there’s an urgent need for an increase in research funding.”

Ardehali’s other plans include improving the communication among members, so members can benefit from sharing their scientific accomplishments in different fields. He also wishes to strengthen JCI and JCI Insight, the organization’s peer-reviewed publications, and promote diversity in the biomedical field.

Whites represent almost 60 percent of medical school graduates in 2015, while 20 percent are Asian, 6 percent are Black and 5 percent are Hispanic, according to the Association of American Medical College (AAMC). Thirty percent of sexual minority students hide their sexual and gender identity, often in fear of discrimination, according to a 2015 study in Academic Medicine.

“Medicine and biomedical research have always been receptive to diversity, in terms of racial diversity, gender diversity and sexual orientation,” says Ardehali. “My goal is to increase and make diversity the centerpiece of ASCI mission.”

Ardehali majored in computer science for his undergraduate degree. However, his lab experience in the summer of his first year of college led him down a different path. “That changed my life,” he said. “I realized that research is for me. I want to be a researcher.” He, later on, pursued a career as a physician-scientist.

As a cardiologist by training and his research experience in glucose metabolism, he investigates the intersection between metabolism and heart diseases. His discovery of the novel pathway involved in iron regulation in the cell under severe iron deficiencies landed him on the cover of Cell Metabolism in 2012.