Alex S. Evers, M.D., has been elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest honors medical scientists in the United States can receive. Evers was honored for his professional achievement in the health sciences, specifically in the area of anesthesiology.
The Institute of Medicine serves as a national resource for independent analysis and recommendations on issues related to medicine, biomedical sciences and health. It was established in 1970 as part of the National Academy of Sciences, which advises the federal government on science and technology issues.
Evers is the Henry Eliot Mallinckrodt Professor and head of the Department of Anesthesiology as well as a professor of medicine and of molecular biology and pharmacology. He is renowned for his research on the molecular mechanisms through which anesthetics depress the nervous system.
He studies how anesthetics make patients lose consciousness, focusing on target molecules with which those anesthetics preferentially interact. Using labeling techniques, Evers has identified various proteins involved in those interactions, as well as structures of specific anesthetic binding sites. His laboratory also works to identify specific cellular functions that are affected by anesthetics.
Evers is a past president of the Association of University Anesthesiologists and a past chair of the board of directors for the Washington University Faculty Practice Plan, and he is on the board of directors of the Foundation for Anesthesia Research and Education. He has received numerous honors, including the American Heart Association Established Investigator Award and a Josiah Macy Foundation Fellowship.
Evers came to Washington University in 1983 as a research fellow in the laboratory of Philip Needleman, Ph.D, then the Alumni Professor and head of the Department of Pharmacology. Prior to that, Evers completed an internship and residency in internal medicine at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago and a residency in anesthesia and fellowship in critical care at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Yale University in 1974 and a medical degree from New York University Medical School in 1978.
Evers is among 64 members whose elections to Institute of Medicine were announced by the National Academy of Sciences Oct. 24.
As a member, Evers makes a commitment to devote a significant amount of volunteer time on committees engaged in a broad range of health-policy issues.