2020 American Society for Microbiology Awards Program Honorees in Clinical Microbiology

EDITORIAL

In recent years, the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) Awards Program has presented two awards for contributions to and achievement in clinical microbiology. The ASM Scherago-Rubin Award for Clinical Microbiology recognizes an outstanding bench-level clinical microbiologist involved in routine diagnostic work who has distinguished her- or himself by excellent performance. The award was established by the late Dr. Sally Jo Rubin, an active member of ASM’s Clinical Microbiology Division C, in honor of her grandfather, Professor Morris Scherago. The ASM Award for Research and Leadership in Clinical Microbiology recognizes an outstanding scientist/clinical microbiologist with distinguished research achievements and a record of innovation and advancement of the clinical microbiology profession. This honor represents the recent merger of the BD Award for Research in Clinical Microbiology and the bioMérieux Sonnenwirth Award for Leadership in Clinical Microbiology, which were established in 1978 and 1986, respectively.

The recipient of the 2020 ASM Scherago-Rubin Award for Clinical Microbiology is Violeta J. Rekasius, B.S., MT(ASCP). Ms. Rekasius has served as microbiology technical specialist in the Loyola University Medical Center clinical microbiology laboratory in Maywood, IL, for the past 30 years. She earned her baccalaureate degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle campus and received her medical technology certificate from the Holy Cross Hospital School of Medical Technology (also in Chicago). Ms. Rekasius furthered her medical laboratory education by completing master’s coursework at the University of Illinois at Chicago Health Sciences Center.

Eligibility criteria for the Scherago-Rubin Award for Clinical Microbiology stipulate a non-doctoral-level clinical microbiologist involved primarily in routine diagnostic work, rather than in research, who has distinguished herself or himself with excellent performance in the clinical laboratory. Ms. Rekasius’s nominator for the award, Dr. Amanda Harrington (also affiliated with Loyola University Medical Center), credited “Violet” for being “heavily involved in the daily operations with me in my role as the laboratory director and the ‘go-to’ person in our laboratory for antimicrobial susceptibility testing and unusual organism identification questions. In this era of MALDI-TOF MS-based identification, it is beneficial to maintain technical knowledge of the traditional methods, and Violet’s wealth of expertise helps us solve the challenging cases. She is often the first to spot an unusual susceptibility pattern and the person we can count on to unravel a discrepant identification … I myself, and many of our hospital staff, rely not only on her expertise but also her ability to solve a problem. She keeps us up and running and providing a high-quality level of service for our providers and patients.”

Ms. Rekasius’s dedication to the clinical microbiology discipline extends beyond the diagnostic laboratory. Her supplied curriculum vitae lists 18 abstracts and six peer-reviewed publications, one of which was published in Journal of Clinical Microbiology (1). The impetus for several of these has been investigation of new laboratory methods for the goal of improving patient care and laboratory workflow. She has membership in the American Society for Microbiology, South Central Association for Clinical Microbiologists, and the Illinois Society for Microbiology (serving 2 years as secretary and 4 years as clinical councilor). Ms. Rekasius has coordinated the Chicago Micro Director’s Roundtable Organization for the past 13 years, has participated in the CLSI Outreach Working Group, and has contributed bench resource insights to the ASM Clinical Portal. Moreover, she is recognized as an outstanding teacher to pathology residents, infectious disease fellows, medical students, and clinical laboratory science students.

In her nomination letter, Dr. Harrington also speaks of Ms. Rekasius’s leadership traits and her humility. “Violet is the undeclared caretaker of the lab—that person who organizes the birthday or condolence cards, fun festivities, and the going-away celebrations. These may seem like trivial efforts, but this consistently holds our laboratory together, and I’m convinced it translates to better patient care at the end of the day. A fun and supportive environment has lasting effects, and Violet is at the heart of all of it.” At the same time, “for all her hard work, she never seeks the spotlight for herself … too often the technologists who are truly the foundations of our laboratories and are essential for us to provide excellent clinical care are hidden behind the scenes because they are too busy getting the job done.” Dr. Harrington summarized Ms. Rekasius’s overall contributions to clinical microbiology laboratory operations by paraphrasing language from a former colleague, Dr. Paul Schreckenberger (2): “Every lab needs a Violet and every director needs a Violet.”

The recipient of the 2020 ASM Award for Research and Leadership in Clinical Microbiology is Carey-Ann D. Burnham, Ph.D., D(ABMM), FIDSA, F(AAM). Dr. Burnham is professor of pathology and immunology, molecular microbiology, pediatrics, and medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO. She also serves as medical director of clinical microbiology for Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, MO. Dr. Burnham received her baccalaureate and doctoral degrees in medical laboratory science and medical sciences, respectively, from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. She completed an ASM Committee on Postgraduate Educational Programs (CPEP)-approved fellowship program at Washington University in St. Louis under the tutelage of Dr. Mike Dunne (3).

Eligibility criteria for the Award for Research and Leadership in Clinical Microbiology stipulate that the nominee (a scientist at any career stage) demonstrate outstanding accomplishment in research and leadership in the clinical microbiology profession, with the nominee being actively engaged in research and clinical laboratory service. The nomination is based on an aggregate of exemplary achievements. Dr. Burnham’s nominator for the award, Dr. Romney Humphries, chief scientific officer of Accelerate Diagnostics, stated simply that Dr. Burnham “is a superstar in the field of clinical microbiology.” Dr. Humphries continued that one of the first things to appreciate about Dr. Burnham is “her vast dedication to our field through service to the American Society for Microbiology, the American Society of Clinical Pathology, her local microbiology professional group (SWACM), and the Academy of Clinical Laboratory Physicians and Scientists, to name a few. She serves on or has served on the ASM’s Clinical and Public Health Microbiology Committee, Professional Development Committee, and various Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute ad hoc working groups and committees, among others. In having worked with Dr. Burnham on several of these committees, I have been impressed by her work ethic and attention to detail.”

Beyond current editorial appointments for Journal of Clinical Microbiology (as section editor for the Brief Case feature [4]) and Clinical Microbiology Newsletter, Dr. Burnham has demonstrated a strong desire to promulgate knowledge and publications in microbiology. She has served on the editorial board of Clinical Chemistry, as section editor for the 12th edition of Manual of Clinical Microbiology, as associate editor for the sixth edition of Tietz Textbook of Clinical Chemistry and Molecular Diagnostics, and as coeditor for the book entitled The Dark Art of Blood Culture (ASM Press). Furthermore, in 2010 she founded and coedited the educational website “Medical Microbiology Questions” (https://pathquestions.com/cgi-bin/q.fpl?c=2). This forum, with an estimated enrollment of more than 6,000 worldwide, is focused on microbiology fellows, infectious diseases fellows and faculty, microbiology laboratory directors, and clinical laboratory scientists. She has also coauthored guidance documents (5, 6) as well as a definitive review article on the laboratory diagnosis of Clostridioides difficile infection (7). Dr. Burnham is also very invested in education and working with trainees and is the CPEP director at Washington University.

Further contributing to this award is an excellent body of research. Dr. Humphries wrote, “Dr. Burnham has focused on evaluating diagnostic testing challenges, including the evaluation of novel technologies and development of best-practice standards for the laboratory. Dr. Burnham collaborates widely both nationally and internationally on these projects, and many of her studies form the foundation for our day-to-day practices in both clinical microbiology and infectious diseases.” Dr. Burnham’s supplied curriculum vitae lists 14 successful funding proposals through governmental agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, and USAID/National Academy of Sciences in which she takes on the role of coinvestigator and an additional five as collaborator. In addition, she has amassed 23 funded proposals through nongovernmental sources (in fields such as susceptibility testing, molecular diagnostics, and pharma) with the role of principal investigator.

Please join in congratulating these two microbiologists for their respective achievements.

The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of the journal or of ASM.