$20 million gift from family of Philip & Sima Needleman for frontiers of science program and a new effort to rapidly respond to urgent national and global challenges in science, engineering, and medicine

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) has received a $20 million donation from the family of Philip Needleman, a member of the NAS and the National Academy of Medicine.

The gift establishes the Philip and Sima Needleman Family Legacy Fund, which will support two key initiatives: the existing NAS Frontiers of Science program and a new effort to rapidly respond to urgent national and global challenges in science, engineering, and medicine.

Established in 1989, the Frontiers of Science symposia bring together exceptional young scientists to learn about cutting-edge research in disciplines outside their own, and to build a lasting network of colleagues from a variety of institutions in both the U.S. and abroad. More than 300 alumni have been elected to the NAS, and 20 participants in the program have won Nobel Prizes.

The new Rapid Response to Emerging Science, Engineering, and Medicine Challenges Initiative will allow the National Research Council, the operating arm of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, to provide timely, critical advice and guidance on pressing national or global issues that have science and research at their core. The new effort will build upon the institution’s successful track record during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This transformational gift will enable the NAS to maintain a program that has nurtured thousands of science leaders, including myself, and also to quickly mobilize advice and guidance for fast-moving threats or issues facing society,” said NAS President Marcia McNutt. “Philip Needleman was a tireless advocate for science, and I am grateful to the Needleman family for continuing his lasting impact through this extremely generous donation.”

An accomplished medical researcher, Philip Needleman was a professor and chair of the department of pharmacology at Washington University in St. Louis from 1986 to 1989. He then became chief scientist for Monsanto, where he led the development of the arthritis drug Celebrex. Needleman returned to Washington University in 2002 to serve on its board of trustees, and took on leadership roles in the community, including acting as interim president of the Danforth Plant Science Center, engaging with science entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, and consulting in the pharmaceutical industry globally.

He was also named special adviser at Ben Gurion University in Israel, where he was a founder of the National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev.

Elected to the NAS in 1989 and to the National Academy of Medicine in 1993, Needleman served on the NAS Council and on more than 20 NAS and National Research Council committees.

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 through the work of the National Research Council.