Garret FitzGerald, Perelman School of Medicine professor of systems pharmacology and translational therapeutics and director of the Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics at Penn, has been elected to the Leopoldina, the German National Academy of Sciences, the oldest continuously existing academy of medicine and the natural sciences in the world.

The award recognizes Dr. FitzGerald’s “scientific achievements and . . . personal standing.” He has been selected for membership in the Academy’s section on physiology and pharmacology/toxicology.

Past Academy members include Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein and Marie Curie. Today it has over 1,500 elected members in more than 30 countries worldwide.

Dr. FitzGerald, whose research interests include the mechanisms of drug action, has been described by CNN as a “pain medicine visionary.” He is internationally recognized for helping show how low-dose aspirin can ward off cardiovascular disease.