David C. White Research and Mentoring Award - 2015
Dr Thomas Walsh
Thomas Walsh, M.D., Weill Cornell Medical College, New York Presbyterian Hospital, New York, has won the 2015 D.C. White Research and Mentoring Award. Dr. Thomas Walsh is an outstanding selection for the DC White Research and Mentoring Award – selected from a truly remarkable pool of nominees. He is described in his nomination as a “towering figure in medical mycology,” and his groundbreaking contributions to translational research are embodied in the statement from one of his colleagues that “one cannot work in the ICU, hematology or BMT units for 10 minutes without seeing the impact of his (Dr. Walsh’s) Laboratory’s work.”
Beyond his accomplishments in multidisciplinary translational research - with more than 850 publications from his laboratory - his commitment to lifelong mentorship truly stands out as embodying the values of D.C. White. His mentorship of 166 students in multiple fields of medical mycology that include “antimicrobial treatment, pharmacology, innate host defenses, molecular diagnosis, laboratory animal science, epidemiology of invasive fungal infections, and multidrug resistant bacterial infections,” is indeed impressive, with many of his mentees now serving as leaders in their respective fields. What is even more remarkable is Dr. Walsh’s commitment to diversity. To again quote his nomination, “his mentees hail from 39 different countries. Fifty-two mentees are members of historically disadvantaged minorities and 98 are women.” The final words of his nomination summarize the high esteem in which he is held, “His profound impact on an entire generation of clinicians and scientists resonates in the words of one of his mentees….who said, “My mentor was the making of who I am.”
Presentation
Dr Walsh will present "Meeting the Challenges of Emerging Pathogens through Interdisciplinary Research and Mentoring" at the 115th General Meeting of the ASM.