Named to honor the late past-president Walter E. Stamm, MD, FIDSA, this award was created to recognize individuals who have served as exemplary mentors and is presented to an IDSA member or fellow who has been exceptional in guiding professional growth of infectious diseases professionals.
2020 Winner: George W. Counts, MD, FIDSA
George W. Counts, M.D., FIDSA, an inspiring advocate for diversity and gender equity in the field of infectious diseases, is the recipient of IDSA’s 2020 Walter E. Stamm Mentor Award. Named to honor the memory of a former IDSA president who was renowned for nurturing the careers of others, this award recognizes individuals who have served as exemplary mentors and who have been exceptional in guiding the professional growth of infectious disease professionals.
During his long career, Dr. Counts has demonstrated a tireless dedication to trainees. His unselfish sharing of expertise, time, and resources has advanced the careers of hundreds of minority students, trainees, microbiologists, and ID physicians. An innovative leader committed to improving diversity, with an emphasis on gender equity, he has served on or led numerous committees, task forces, and councils devoted to these issues for IDSA, the American Society for Microbiology, and the National Institutes of Health.
A former chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, Dr. Counts has held faculty positions at the University of Miami in Florida and at the University of Washington in Seattle, where he became professor of medicine, and served as a special advisor for the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center until his retirement in 2004. He held several positions at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, including chief of the Clinical Research Management Branch in the Division of AIDS, director of the Office of Research on Minority and Women’s Health, and associate director for clinical research in the Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, he served as coordinator of the national plan to eliminate syphilis.
The author of more than 100 publications, with interests in antimicrobial therapy, infections in immunocompromised patients, HIV/AIDS, public and global health, and bioethics, Dr. Counts has received many honors, including the Champion of Diversity Award from NIH and an IDSA Society Citation. For his substantial contributions to advancing the careers of underrepresented minority physicians and scientists, IDSA is delighted to recognize him with the 2020 Walter E. Stamm Mentor Award.
Past Walter E. Stamm Mentor Award Winners
| 2020 | George W. Counts, MD, FIDSA |
| 2019 | David L. Thomas, MD, MPH, FIDSA |
| 2018 | Carol A. Kauffman, MD, FIDSA, FSHEA |
| 2017 | Stephen B. Calderwood, MD, FIDSA |
| 2016 | Steve M. Holland, MD |
| 2015 | David R. Snydman, MD, FIDSA |
| 2014 | G. Ralph Corey, MD, FIDSA |
| 2013 | Lucy Tompkins, MD, PhD |
| 2012 | Robert A. Weinstein, MD, FIDSA |
| 2011 | Jane E. Koehler, MA, MD and William Schaffner, MD, FIDSA |
| 2010 | Jack S. Remington, MD, FACP, FRCP, FIDSA |
| 2009 | Richard L. Guerrant, MD, FIDSA |
| 2008 | Gerald Medoff, MD, FIDSA |
| 2007 | Stanley Falkow, PhD, FIDSA and Neal H. Steigbigel, MD, FIDSA |
| 2006 | Kathryn Edwards, MD, FIDSA |
| 2005 | Donald Kaye, MD |
| 2004 | Gene H. Stollerman, MD |
| 2003 | George H. McCracken, Jr., MD |
| 2002 | Leon G. Smith, MD |
| 2001 | Martin S. Hirsch, MD |