More Honours Awarded By The American Society For Microbiology

Main Category: Biology / Biochemistry
Also Included In: Medical Students / Training
Article Date: 19 Jul 2008 - 4:00 PDT

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The 2008 American Society for Microbiology (ASM) bioMerieux Sonnenwirth Award for Leadership in Clinical Microbiology was presented to Geraldine S. Hall, Staff, Department of Microbiology, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Ohio. This award recognizes a distinguished microbiologist for the promotion of innovation in clinical laboratory science, dedication to ASM, and the advancement of clinical microbiology as a profession.

Under Dr. Hall's leadership, and that of Gary Procop, the Cleveland Clinic was the first to implement the use of pyrosequencing as a routine method for the identification of clinically important mycobacteria. Along with Dr. Procop, Dr. Hall played a key role in implementing the routine use of PNA FISH for the rapid identification of Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans. Dr. Hall is also an active participant in professional societies. She is an organizer and promoter of the Northeast Ohio Association for Clinical Microbiology, and has participated in the South Central Association for Clinical Microbiologists since 1983, where she has held nine senior positions, including President. At ASM, she has served on the Meetings Board and as Chair of ASM's Clinical Microbiology Division, and presently serves as Chair of the ASM Branch Lectureship Program (ASMBL), the Committee on Continuing Education, the Distance Education Committee, and the Placement Committee. Dr. Hall is a certified Diplomate of the American Board of Medical Microbiology and a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology.

Dr. Hall received her B.S. in Biology from Saint Francis College, Loretto, Pennsylvania, and her Ph.D. in Biology with an emphasis on Microbiology from Saint Bonaventure University, New York.

The bioMérieux Sonnenwirth Award for Leadership in Clinical Microbiology was presented during the 108th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

The 2008 American Society for Microbiology (ASM) ASM Graduate Microbiology Teaching Award was presented to Gary M. Dunny, Professor of Microbiology at the University of Minnesota Medical School. This award recognizes distinguished teaching of microbiology and mentoring of students at the graduate and postgraduate levels.

Dr. Dunny is a dedicated, dynamic teacher who has prepared many students for productive careers in the field of microbiology. Colleagues and students describe him as an outstanding mentor, advocate, and role model who approaches his teaching responsibilities - in the classroom and in the laboratory - with exceptional creativity, thoughtfulness, and commitment. Dr. Dunny's research achievements include development of the well-known pheromone quorum sensing system in Enterococcus faecalis. He also has generated groundbreaking work on pathogenic factors necessary for enterococcal endocarditis.

Dr. Dunny earned his B.S. in Cellular Biology and his Ph.D. in Microbiology at the University of Michigan.

The ASM Graduate Microbiology Teaching Award was presented during the 108th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

The 2008 American Society for Microbiology (ASM) USFCC/J. Roger Porter Award is being presented to James T. Staley, Founding Director, Astrobiology Program and Professor, Department of Microbiology, University of Washington, Seattle. This award recognizes outstanding efforts by a scientist who has demonstrated the importance of microbial biodiversity through sustained curatorial or stewardship activities for a major resource used by the scientific community.

For more than two decades, Dr. Staley has served on the Editorial Board of Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology. In 2000, he was appointed Chair and he has played a crucial role in guiding the Manual's transition to taxonomy based on phylogeny (ribosomal RNA). Over the past four decades, Dr. Staley's research interests have been wide-ranging, from the degradation of polyaromatic hydrocarbons and gas vacuolated bacteria, to rock-weathering microorganisms and heterotrophs living in Antarctic ice. He played a key role in recognizing and identifying the Planctomycetes, including the discovery of new members of this group in various depths of the Black Sea, and he has a longstanding interest in the study of prosthecate bacteria. Dr. Staley was the Founding Director of the Astrobiology Program at the University of Washington, a position he held from 1998-2005. He is also a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology.

Dr. Staley received his M.Sc. in Microbiology from Ohio State University, and his Ph.D. in Bacteriology from the University of California, Davis.

The USFCC/J. Roger Porter Award was presented during the 108th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM), June 1 - June 5, 2008 in Boston, Massachusetts. ASM is the world's oldest and largest life science organization and has more than 43,000 members worldwide. ASM's mission is to advance the microbiological sciences and promote the use of scientific knowledge for improved health and economic and environmental well-being

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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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Source: Garth Hogan
American Society for Microbiology