Two Salk scientists elected as 2025 AAAS Fellows

Salk News

March 26, 2026

Two Salk scientists elected as 2025 AAAS Fellows

March 26, 2026

• Highlights
• Salk scientists Gerald Shadel and Tatyana Sharpee elected as American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2025 Fellows
• AAAS Fellows are distinguished scientists, engineers, and innovators who have made significant contributions to their fields

LA JOLLA-Salk molecular biologist Gerald Shadel, PhD, and neuroscientist Tatyana Sharpee, PhD, have been elected as American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2025 Fellows. The honor recognizes scientists with distinguished scientific and social accomplishments, and AAAS Fellows become national and global science spokespersons for the rest of their lives.

Shadel and Sharpee are among nearly 500 scientists, engineers, and innovators who have been elected as 2025 Fellows. At Salk, they join the ranks of seven other faculty members who are also AAAS Fellows.

"Both of these distinguished scientists have advanced science and exemplified the impact of foundational research. Tatyana's research has contributed to deep mechanistic understanding of brain function and Gerald's work has provided important insights into the complex inner workings of mitochondria," says Salk President Gerald Joyce, MD, PhD. "This recognition reflects the creativity, rigor, and vision that drive their discoveries."

Gerald Shadel, PhD

Gerald Shadel was named an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2025 Fellow.
Click here for a high-resolution image.
Credit: Salk Institute

Shadel is a professor in the Molecular and Cell Biology Laboratory, Audrey Geisel Chair in Biomedical Science, and co-director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for Biology of Aging Research at Salk. Shadel is a mitochondria expert; his lab focuses on these little cellular powerhouses and the way their function or dysfunction can impact aging, cancer, and degenerative disease. His research has led to many foundational discoveries, including a recent finding that mitochondrial DNA can promote inflammation, which could lead to anti-inflammatory treatments for autoimmune diseases like lupus and pathology associated with aging.

Shadel has received many awards recognizing his achievements, including the Amgen Outstanding Investigator Award, the Paul F. Glenn Foundation Award for Research in Biological Mechanisms of Aging, and the Charles L. Hoppel Prize for Outstanding Contributions in Mitochondrial Research. Shadel was also part of a Salk team that was awarded $19.2 million by the American Heart Association-Allen Initiative to study Alzheimer's and aging in the brain. Alongside Sanford Burnham Prebys, UC San Diego, and Salk colleagues, Shadel also received $13 million from the National Institutes of Health to study aging as a major risk factor for liver cancer.

Tatyana Sharpee, PhD

Tatyana Sharpee was named an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2025 Fellow.
Click here for a high-resolution image.
Credit: Salk Institute

Sharpee is a professor in the Computational Neurobiology and Integrative Biology Laboratories and holds the Edwin K. Hunter Chair at Salk. In her research, Sharpee combines mathematics, statistics, and physics to ask how the brain and body work while their components constantly change: When our neural connections are constantly changing during our lives, how do we retain a sense of self? How do we perceive the world? By focusing on brain circuitry and understanding basic sensory experiences, her discoveries bring us closer to solutions for a broad range of diseases and disorders, from stroke to Alzheimer's to schizophrenia.

Sharpee is a fellow of the American Physical Society and has received numerous other accolades celebrating her science, including a National Science Foundation CAREER Award. In 2022, Sharpee became the second woman to receive the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) Delano Award for Computational Bioscience. Since then, she was named a Prebys Research Hero.

About the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Founded in 1848, AAAS was the first permanent organization formed to promote the development of science and engineering nationally. In 1899, AAAS cemented a partnership with Science magazine, a private venture partially funded by Thomas Edison and, later, Alexander Graham Bell. For over 170 years, AAAS has built pioneering programs to bring underrepresented groups into science; to apply science to human rights; to support the growth of science in the developing world; to explore issues of science, ethics, and law; to track federal spending for R&D; and much more. In recent years, AAAS has redoubled its efforts to be the leading voice and force for science. We are dedicated to ensuring that science and scientific evidence are fully and positively integrated into public policy, and the scientific community is speaking with one voice to advance science in the United States and around the world.