In a testament to the University of Southern California’s (USC) commitment to innovation and research excellence, six distinguished faculty members have been elected as Senior Members of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) for the 2025 nomination cycle. This prestigious recognition underscores their significant contributions to their respective fields and highlights USC’s supportive environment for groundbreaking research.
USC’s 2025 NAI Senior Members:
- Preet Chaudhary, MD, PhD – Professor of Medicine, Bloom Family Chair in Lymphoma Research, Chief, Nohl Division of Hematology and Center for Blood Diseases in the Department of Medicine and Director for Bone Marrow Transplant at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.
- Young Cho, PhD – Research Assistant Professor at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and Computer Scientist at the Information Sciences Institute.
- Pinchas Cohen, MD – Distinguished Professor of Gerontology, Medicine and Biological Sciences, Dean, USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, William and Sylvia Kugel Dean’s Chair in Gerontology, and Executive Director, Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center
- Emily Liman, PhD – Harold Dornsife Chair in Neurosciences and Professor of Biological Sciences at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.
- Michael Selsted, MD, PhD – Professor of Pathology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.
- Niema Pahlevan, PhD – Gordon S. Marshall Early Career Chair in Engineering and Associate Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, and Medicine at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering.
The election of these faculty members as NAI Senior Members reflects USC’s dedication to fostering an environment that encourages innovation and supports the translation of research into real-world applications. USC’s Office of Research and Innovation (OORI), in collaboration with the USC Stevens Center for Innovation, plays a pivotal role in identifying and supporting faculty whose work demonstrates measurable success in patents, licensing, and commercialization. This collaborative effort ensures that USC researchers receive the recognition they deserve and that their innovations continue to make a tangible impact on society. The university’s strategic support structures are designed to streamline the nomination process for prestigious recognitions like the NAI Senior Membership, thereby amplifying the reach and application of USC’s research endeavors.
The Senior Member program began in 2018 and has elected a new class of senior members in each year since its conceptualization. From 2018-2023, USC had 9 faculty members elected as a Senior Member: (1) 2018 – No faculty members elected; (2) 2019 – 2 faculty members elected; (3) 2020 – 3 members faculty elected; (4) 2021 – 1 faculty member elected (5) 2022 – 2 faculty members elected; and (6) 2023 – 1 faculty member elected.
In 2024, Research Strategy and Development (RSD), in collaboration with USC Steven’s Center for Innovation, strategized to streamline the nomination process, in hopes of increasing the number of USC faculty members successfully elected to NAI inventor recognition programs. Due to this concerted effort between the two units, USC saw 11 faculty members nominated as Senior Members in 2024, more than doubling the total number of USC Senior Members from previous years in just a single nomination cycle. In 2025, 6 faculty members were nominated as Senior Members, and all nominations supported by OORI RSD were successful.
Congratulations to the 2025 NAI Senior Member class!