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April 27, 2009
American Academy elects Wagner, DeLong

By Beverly clark

President Jim Wagner and Professor of Neurology Mahlon R. DeLong have been elected as fellows of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, one of the nation’s most prestigious honorary societies and a center for independent policy research. They are among the 210 new fellows and 19 Foreign Honorary Members in the sciences, the humanities and the arts, business, public affairs and the nonprofit sector.

Wagner is an award-winning teacher and scientist who became the 19th president of Emory University in 2003. Following a distinguished tenure on the faculty of Johns Hopkins, Wagner served as dean, provost and interim president of Case Western Reserve University before joining Emory.

Wagner has authored more than 115 publications and has served as editor or editorial board member for several publications. He earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Delaware; a master’s degree in clinical engineering from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; and a Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from Johns Hopkins as well. In 2007, Wagner received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Johns Hopkins University Whiting School of Engineering and the Johns Hopkins Alumni Association.

Wagner serves on the boards of The Carter Center, the Georgia Research Alliance, SunTrust Banks, the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, and the Woodruff Arts Center. For the 2008-2009 academic year, Wagner is chair of the Atlanta Regional Council for Higher Education (ARCHE).

DeLong is the William Timmie Professor of Neurology at the School of Medicine. DeLong’s studies have led to the development of new and effective surgical approaches for the improved treatment of Parkinson’s disease and therapies for other movement and neuropsychiatric disorders.

Among numerous awards, DeLong received the 2008 Movement Disorders Society Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2009 American Academy of Neurology Movement Disorders Research Award. He is recognized by Health America as one of the Top Doctors in Neurology for the treatment of movement disorders.

DeLong was elected to membership in the Institute of Medicine, the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars and is a past chair of the Society for Neuroscience.

He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and currently serves as chair of its section on neuroscience. He is scientific director of the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation and a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the American Parkinson Disease Association.

DeLong received his undergraduate degree from Stanford University and his medical degree from Harvard University.

The Academy, established in 1780 by John Adams, James Bowdoin, John Hancock and other scholar-patriots, undertakes studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s membership of scholars and practitioners from many disciplines and professions gives it a unique capacity to conduct a wide range of interdisciplinary, long-term policy research. The current membership includes more than 250 Nobel laureates and more than 60 Pulitzer Prize winners.

The new class will be inducted at a ceremony on Oct.10, at the Academy’s headquarters in Cambridge, Mass.