Val Sheffield, the Roy J. Carver Chair in Molecular Genetics at the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, has been elected to the 2020 class of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Sheffield was recognized for playing a key role in constructing human genetic maps and developing efficient disease-gene discovery approaches. This paved the way for the completion of the human genome project and significantly contributed to genetic discoveries in blinding eye diseases, obesity, hypertension, and neurological disorders, potentially leading to novel therapies.

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences, founded in 1780 by John Adams and John Hancock, is both an honorary society that recognizes and celebrates the excellence of its members and an independent research center convening leaders from across disciplines, professions, and perspectives to address significant challenges. Elected members join with other experts in cross-disciplinary efforts to produce reflective, independent, and pragmatic studies that inform public policy and advance the public good.

This year, 276 new members were elected and include notable scientists, artists, scholars, and leaders in the public, nonprofit, and private sectors. Sheffield joins 58 other leaders in the medical sciences specialty. Academy members are nominated and elected by current members and chosen for excellence in their field and a record of continued accomplishment.

Sheffield is eager to contribute his expertise.

“Genetic and genomic data are increasingly being integrated into the practice of medicine. With my expertise in human molecular and clinical genetics and genomics, I’m hoping to be a useful resource to the academy,” Sheffield says.

“This is an incredible honor and well-deserved national recognition. We are extremely proud of Dr. Sheffield and his achievements,” says Brooks Jackson, UI vice president for medical affairs and the Tyrone D. Artz Dean of the Carver College of Medicine. “Given these turbulent times, it is especially gratifying to be able to celebrate his success.”

Sheffield joined the UI in in 1990 to perform research and practice clinical genetics in the Division of Medical Genetics for the UI Stead Family Department of Pediatrics. He has spent his entire career at Iowa, where he served as director of the Division of Medical Genetics for 22 years until stepping down in January 2020. He conducts scientific research related to human genetic diseases, however, he has recently converted a portion of his lab to join researchers across the world fighting the coronavirus pandemic.

“Since the COVID-19 shutdown, I have switched some of my laboratory personnel to a COVID-19 project. We are trying to devise a simple method for collecting samples from patients for COVID-19 testing that doesn’t require nasal swabs (in short supply) or use medical personnel to collect samples. The person being tested will self-collect the sample, thus saving on personnel and personal protective equipment. I am hoping to get FDA approval soon for this method so that it can be used to expand needed testing throughout Iowa,” Sheffield says.

At the UI, Sheffield trains doctoral and medical students as a professor of pediatrics and a professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences. He also is an investigator for the UI Institute for Vision Research and practices medicine, caring for patients with human genetic disorders. He has co-authored more than 330 peer-reviewed scientific papers. He previously was an investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), from 1998 to 2016.

“The members of the class of 2020 have excelled in laboratories and lecture halls, they have amazed on concert stages and in surgical suites, and they have led in board rooms and courtrooms,” says academy President David W. Oxtoby. “These new members are united by a place in history and by an opportunity to shape the future through the academy’s work to advance the public good.”

Sheffield attended Brigham Young University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in zoology and a master’s degree in developmental biology. He received a doctoral degree in developmental biology and a medical degree with honors from the University of Chicago. He was a resident in pediatrics and fellow in medical genetics at the University of California, San Francisco.

His research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for 29 consecutive years, as well as by the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust. Sheffield’s honors include the E. Mead-Johnson Award for Pediatric Research and the Lewis Rudin Prize from the New York Academy of Science, and he is a member of the National Academy of Medicine. Sheffield is board certified by the American Board of Medical Genetics and Genomics in both clinical genetics and clinical molecular genetics.

Sheffield joins the following UI faculty and administrators who have been elected members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences: 

• François Abboud
• Nancy Andreasen
• Willard Lee “Sandy” Boyd
• Kevin Peter Campbell
• Donald Gurnett
• Linda Kerber
• James Leach
• Gerhard Loewenberg
• Marilynne Robinson
• Garrett Stewart
• Michael Welsh