The world’s largest general scientific society honored Alfred Ayala and two other Brown faculty members.
Three members of the Brown University faculty have been elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest general scientific society. Election as a fellow is an honor bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers, who nominate fellows for election by the AAAS Council, the association’s policymaking body.
The new class of AAAS fellows from across the world includes 508 scientists, engineers, and innovators spanning 24 scientific disciplines who are being recognized for their scientifically and socially distinguished achievements. The new class will be featured in the journal Science in February 2023, and honored at an in-person celebration this spring.
The new AAAS fellows from Brown are Alfred Ayala, PhD, professor of surgery (research); Linda Abriola, PhD, the Joan Wernig and E. Paul Sorensen Professor of Engineering; and Brendan Hassett, PhD, professor of mathematics and director of Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics.
Ayala studies the pathophysiological effects of shock, tissue injury, and sepsis that lead to immune dysfunction and subsequent multiple organ failure in critically ill trauma patients. Ayala is a professor of surgery (research) at The Warren Alpert School of Medicine and Rhode Island Hospital. He has been recognized by his peers through election to president, treasurer, and scientific program chair of the Shock Society, whose mission is to improve the care of victims of trauma, shock, and sepsis, and he has held leadership positions with the Surgical Infection Society and the Society of Leukocyte Biology.
During his tenure at Brown and previously at Michigan State University, Ayala has mentored students ranging from undergraduates and medical students to surgical residents and postdoctoral fellows, as well as junior faculty. At Brown, he is a member of the training faculty of multiple graduate programs, including the pathobiology program. He is also an adjunct professor in the University of Rhode Island’s graduate program in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology.
AAAS recognized Ayala for “contributions to understanding the role of effectors of immune cell function in sepsis and shock and resulting lung damage, and for significant contributions to student training/mentoring and professional societies.”
