Tri-I MMPTP faculty attended the Scientific Advisory Board meeting in October 2018. Scientific Advisory Board members, John Perfect, MD, Joseph Heitman, MD, PhD, William Steinbach, MD, Andrew Alspaugh, MD, and others met with the Antifungal Drug PO1 team at Duke to hear the progress they’ve made through year three of the grant. Both the internal and external advisory committee members were impressed with how much this group has accomplished and has encouraged the team to focus on where they go from here during the last two years of this grant to ensure that they are reaching as many of their goals as possible.
Joseph Heitman, M.D., Ph.D., Chair and James B. Duke Professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology have received 2019 awards from the American Society for Microbiology. Dr. Heitman received the ASM 2019 Award for Basic Research which recognizes an outstanding scientist whose discoveries have been fundamental in advancing our understanding of the microbial world. Click here for the School of Medicine Blog post. Click here for the ASM 2019 Award Winners Announcement.
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Joseph Heitman, MD, PhD received the 2018 Rhoda Benham Award from the Medical Mycological Society of the Americas (MMSA) for continuous outstanding or meritorious contributions to medical mycology(https://www.mycologicalsociety.org/rhoda_benham_award). The award and medal were presented at the MMSA Annual Banquet held in conjunction with the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) Microbe meeting in Atlanta, GA on Saturday June 9th, 2018. Rhoda Benham was a luminary and international expert in medical mycology who served on the faculty at Columbia University and Johns Hopkins University. Her work focused on clinical microbiology and in particular emphasized analysis and characterization of pathogenic Candida and Cryptococcus species and dermatophytes. Dr. Heitman joins an illustrious group of previous recipients of the Rhoda Benham award, which has been awarded annually since 1967, including notable Cryptococcus researchers June Kwon-Chung, Arturo Casadevall, John Perfect, and many others (https://www.mycologicalsociety.org/rhoda_benham_awardees). Dr. Heitman’s research program focuses on both model and pathogenic fungi, including studies on 1) the mechanisms of action and the targets of natural products including the discovery of TOR and FKBP12 as the targets of rapamycin, 2) the evolution and impact of sexual reproduction and the key discovery of unisexual reproduction among eukaryotic microbial pathogens, 3) how pathogenic microbes sense and respond to the host and environmental signals, 4) the structure, function and evolution of fungal mating type loci and fungal genomes, and 5) the role of the phosphatase calcineurin as a globally conserved fungal virulence factor including efforts to develop novel antimicrobial agents that target fungal calcineurin. Dr. Heitman is an elected fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), the American Academy of Microbiology, the Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), and the Association of American Physicians, and has previously received the ASBMB AMGEN Award (2002), the Squibb Award from the IDSA (2003), a MERIT Award from NIH-NIAID (2011-2012), and the Stanley Korsmeyer Award from the ASCI (2018). Dr. Heitman is James B. Duke Professor and Chair of the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Duke University.
Rhoda Benham award talk 2018 and Rhoda Benham Dinner Talk
Drs. Vance Fowler and Sallie Permar, MGM secondary faculty members, are the recipients of the 2018 Research Mentoring Award for Translational Research. The Research Mentoring Awards were created in 2009 to honor the outstanding research mentors in the Schools of Medicine and Nursing. Winners of this award demonstrate excellence in numerous aspects of mentoring, including accomplishments of individual mentees, programs implemented by the mentor, or by exceptional creativity in mentoring. These awards will be presented by Dean Mary Klotman at the annual Spring Faculty Meeting, which will be held at the Doris Duke Center, Duke Gardens on Wednesday, May 9, 4:45pm.
Naggie receives the Oswald Avery Award from IDSA. Susanna Naggie, PhD. received the Oswald Avery Award from the Infectious Disease Society of America. Dr. Naggie is the fourth Duke faculty member to receive this award, following William Steinbach, MD, Vance Fowler, MD, and Joseph Heitman, MD, PhD. The Oswald Avery Award recognizes outstanding achievement in an area of infectious diseases by a member of the IDSA in their early career. Read more in the DCRI press release.
Constantino wins BASF Science Competition. Nasie Constantino, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in laboratory of Ralph Dean was selected as the winner of the 2018 BASF Science competition. The competition is open to PhD students, postdocs, and young academic researchers from North American universities. The competition highlights problem solving skills to contribute to a solution of a global challenge. To read more about the Dean lab research, click here. Additional articles: BASF; NCSU Electrical and Engineering School; BASF-Chemistry
Dr. Bill Steinbach, MGM secondary faculty member, is the recipient of the 2018 Ruth and A. Morris Williams Faculty Research Prizefor his outstanding contributions in clinical science research. This award will be presented by Dean Mary Klotman at the annual Spring Faculty Meeting, which will be held at the Doris Duke Center, Duke Gardens on Wednesday, May 9, 4:45pm.