NEWS

Rita Allen Foundation Grantee, Frederick S. Kaplan, M.D., Elected to Institute of Medicine

October 2009

Dr. Frederick S. Kaplan, whose research has received grant support from the Rita Allen Foundation (RAF), has been selected for induction into the Institute of Medicine (IOM).

Frederick S. Kaplan, M.D., at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (U of Penn), has been elected to the Institute of Medicine (IOM), a prestigious branch of the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Kaplan is The Isaac & Rose Nassau Professor of Orthopaedic Molecular Medicine and Chief of the Division of Molecular Orthopaedic Medicine at U of Penn.

Dr. Kaplan co-directs the only center in the world devoted entirely to studying FOP and POH, bone disorders in which the body forms a second skeleton of heterotopic bone. Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP) is an extremely rare disease of the connective tissue. A mutation of the body's repair mechanism causes fibrous tissue, including muscle, to be ossified, permanently freezing joints in place and immobilizing patients.

The center Dr. Kaplan manages has received grant funding from RAF in the amount of $600,000 and is credited with identifying the mutation responsible for FOP.
The IOM is an honorific organization that was established in 1970 to provide unbiased, evidence-based and authoritative advice concerning health and science policy concerning matters of biomedical science, medicine and health. A maximum of 65 new members are elected annually through a highly selective process that recognizes people who have made important contributions to the advancement of medical science, health care or public health.

Read the Press Announcement concerning Dr. Kaplan’s selection to the IOM.