Joseph Takahashi ’74—Public Health Adviser

Joseph Takahashi ’74, the Loyd B. Sands Distinguished Chair in Neuroscience and investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, was elected to the National Academies of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine (IOM). Takahashi is internationally known for discovering the mammalian gene linked to circadian rhythms—biological clocks that govern sleeping, walking, and eating. As a member of IOM, he will help shape policies and advise the federal government on public health issues such as medical care, research, and education. Takahashi, a member of the National Academy of the Sciences since 2003, taught neurobiology at Northwestern for 26 years and was the director of the Center for Functional Genomics.