Gerard Criner, Sudhir Kumar and Sergei Pond were recognized as Highly Cited Researchers by the global data and analytics company Clarivate.
Three active Temple researchers were recognized among the highest cited researchers in their respective fields in 2025.
Photo by Ryan S. Brandenberg
As an R1 institution, Temple is home to the highest level of university research activity, and among Temple’s faculty you’ll find some of the most impactful researchers in their fields. Across all 17 of Temple’s schools and colleges, researchers are advancing everything from clinical medicine to evolutionary genomics, and their work is earning international recognition.
Clarivate, a global data and analytics company, compiles an annual list of Highly Cited Researchers. To be featured in this distinguished group, researchers must author multiple research papers which rank in the top 1% of citations for their field and publication year, as tracked by Clarivate’s Web of Science Core Collection database.
Three active Temple researchers were recognized as Clarivate’s Highly Cited Researchers 2025. They are Gerard Criner, chair and professor of thoracic medicine and surgery and director of the Temple Lung Center at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine; Sudhir Kumar, Laura H. Carnell Professor of Biology and director of the Institute for Genomics and Evolutionary Medicine (iGem) at the College of Science and Technology; and Sergei Pond, professor of biology in the College of Science and Technology. Glen Stecher, a senior programmer at iGem, was also recognized on the list.
At the time of publication, an additional Temple researcher, Martha Kubik, was represented on Clarivate’s list. Kubik has since left Temple to pursue opportunities at other institutions, but her highly cited research was completed during her time at Temple.
“Clarivate’s designation of our faculty as among the most cited researchers in the world underscores the talent, drive and creativity within our research community,” said Vice President for Research Josh Gladden. “The faculty named to the 2025 list are driving discovery in areas that shape human health, advance fundamental science and illuminate complex biological systems. Their work delivers real impact for society and reflects the strong momentum within Temple’s research enterprise.”
“Having scholars of this caliber on our faculty means our students learn directly from the people advancing knowledge in their fields,” added interim Provost David Boardman. “These faculty exemplify the intellectual rigor that define Temple’s academic mission, and their groundbreaking research enriches our classrooms and inspires our students.”
Criner is recognized as a Highly Cited Researcher in the category of clinical medicine in 2025. An internationally renowned pulmonologist who specializes in pulmonary disease, Criner has a special focus on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), transplant medicine-lung and airway disorders. According to ResearchGate, Criner’s 774 publications have been read more than 130,000 times and have been cited more than 46,000 times.
2025 marks the fifth consecutive year that Kumar has been recognized as a Highly Cited Researcher in the category of molecular biology and genetics. After Kumar launched iGem in 2014, he and his team built software that analyzes large-scale genomic data. Their scholarly article describing the software, which is called Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Analysis version 7, was recently recognized as one of the top 100 most cited scientific works by the journal Nature. With more than 45,000 citations, the article is one of the youngest and fastest-climbing articles on Nature’s list. According to Clarivate’s database, Kumar’s 249 publications have been cited more than 226,000 times.
Pond has been recognized as a Highly Cited Researcher seven times dating back to 2014. From 2014 to 2017, he was recognized in the computer science category, and from 2023 to 2025 he was recognized in the cross-field category. Pond also conducts research out of iGem, with a focus on developing statistical models and computational tools for large and rich data sets from measurably evolving pathogens. According to Clarivate’s database, Pond’s 230 publications have been cited more than 27,000 times.