Neil H. Shubin Nominated to Be Next National Academy of Sciences President

WASHINGTON — The Council of the National Academy of Sciences has approved the nomination of Neil H. Shubin, Robert R. Bensley Distinguished Service Professor of Organismal Biology and Anatomy and associate dean of basic science research and academic strategy at the University of Chicago, for election as the Academy’s next president. A committee chaired by John Boothroyd, Burt and Marion Avery Professor Emeritus at Stanford University School of Medicine, selected Shubin as its recommended candidate after a six-month search process. Shubin will succeed Marcia McNutt when her second and final term as NAS president ends on
June 30, 2026.

A renowned evolutionary biologist, educator, author, and science communicator, Shubin earned his bachelor’s degree in biology from Columbia College of Columbia University in 1982 and a Ph.D. in organismic and evolutionary biology from Harvard University in 1987. He did his postdoctoral work at the University of California, Berkeley.

Shubin has held faculty positions at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Chicago as well as senior leadership positions at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole and the Field Museum in Chicago. He has led fossil-hunting expeditions around the world including to Ellesmere Island in Nunavut territory, the northernmost region of Canada, where his multidisciplinary team made a breakthrough discovery in 2004 — a fossil representing an intermediate body plan between fish and amphibians. Before publishing their findings, Shubin’s team prepared educational materials that were translated into Inuktitut, one of the official languages of Nunavut, and in collaboration with local leaders, they named the fossilized animal Tiktaalik — “large freshwater fish” in Inuktitut.

In 2008, Shubin published his critically acclaimed book, Your Inner Fish, a national bestseller that received the Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science and was recognized by the National Academy of Sciences as the best science book of the year. The book shares Shubin’s insights as a fish paleontologist teaching a human anatomy lab and his expeditions that uncovered Tiktaalik. Shortly after it was published, Shubin worked with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to turn the book into a popular miniseries that aired on PBS, winning both an Emmy Award as well as the National Academy of Sciences communication award for television and radio.

Currently, at the University of Chicago, he leads a dynamic molecular biology and paleontology research laboratory where researchers experiment with embryos from sharks, paddlefish, and other species. As an educator, Shubin has inspired many students to pursue developmental biology research and has advised trainees from fields including paleontology and engineering. He also teaches a course based on Your Inner Fish to non-biology majors.

Shubin holds numerous distinctions and honors, including receiving the Roy Chapman Andrews Society Distinguished Explorer Award in 2019 and the 2024 Viktor Hamburger Outstanding Educator Prize.

Shubin was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2011 and has served on several of its committees. He is an associate editor and member of the editorial board of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and chairs the advisory board of LabX, an NAS public engagement program designed to pursue creative approaches to effective science communication.

Shubin’s name will be presented to the full membership for formal ratification later this year on a ballot that will also include candidates for the Academy’s international secretary and four positions on the Council.

The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit institution that was established under a congressional charter signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863. It recognizes achievement in science by election to membership, and — with the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Medicine — provides science, engineering, and health policy advice to the federal government and other organizations. Members of the Academy are elected by their peers for outstanding contributions to research. The membership includes approximately 2,650 active members and 550 international members, with a total of 190 members having been awarded Nobel Prizes.

Contact:
Dana Korsen, Director of Media Relations
Office of News and Public Information
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
202-334-2138; news@nas.edu