Stuart Lipton, the Step Family Foundation Endowed Chair, professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, and co-founding director of the Neurodegeneration New Medicines Center at Scripps Research, has been elected as a National Academy of Inventors (NAI) Fellow. This prestigious honor recognizes his exceptional achievements as an inventor, as well as his significant impact on the innovation ecosystem, economic development and society.
As a member of the 2025 class of NAI Fellows, Lipton joins a distinguished group of innovators who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of invention. His election reflects both his personal accomplishments and his dedication to advancing technology and fostering innovation for the benefit of society.
“Since our inception, NAI has been dedicated to recognizing inventors, encouraging innovation and discovery, and enhancing the innovation ecosystem through impactful programs, resources and initiatives,” says Paul R. Sanberg, president of the NAI. “The Fellows Program is an integral part of this mission, recognizing individuals whose patented innovations have made an enduring and profound economic and societal impact on the world.”
At Scripps Research, Lipton’s lab investigates molecular signaling pathways with the goal of preventing neuronal and synaptic damage associated with aging and neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Lewy body dementia, and also neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism. His work has yielded numerous groundbreaking contributions to neuroscience and medicine in general, notably the discovery of S-nitrosylation, a chemical process akin to phosphorylation but in this case attaching a nitric oxide group to a protein, altering its function to influence both health and disease. Lipton is recognized for developing and patenting the drug memantine (sold as Namenda®, Namenda XR® and Namzaric®), one of only two medicines approved by both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA) for treating moderate-to-severe Alzheimer’s disease. As a founder of several biotech companies, he also developed an FDA-approved drug related to memantine for use in Parkinson’s disease (GoCovri®).
Lipton is an elected member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and an elected fellow of the American Academy of Neurology as well as the American Neurological Association. He is a past recipient of the Ernst Jung Prize in Medicine. In addition to his work at Scripps Research, Lipton is a practicing clinical neurologist at University of California San Diego and an adjunct professor of neurology at Yale School of Medicine.
Lipton will be officially inducted as an NAI Fellow during the NAI’s 15th Annual Conference, taking place June 1-4, 2026, in Los Angeles.