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.
Nominations
Nominees may work in any field of infectious diseases; be involved in patient care, education, or research; and be in private practice, academia, or public health. Nominees may mentor medical students, doctoral and post-doctoral students, residents, fellows, or those early in their professional careers. Current trainees of a nominee are not eligible to write nomination letters for the Mentor Award.
Requirements for the award include:
- Availability to provide counsel, assistance, and encouragement
- Willingness to make serving as a mentor a priority
- Ability to assist in identifying and achieving goals, and developing important skills
- Ability to assist in solving problems and overcoming obstacles impeding career development
- Important role model characteristics, such as integrity and compassion
- Well-established record for training and mentoring academic and IDSA leaders over a sustained period of time
2019 Winner: David L. Thomas, MD, MPH, FIDSA
David L. Thomas, MD, MPH, FIDSA, a gifted and selfless mentor who has supported the successful careers of many trainees and junior faculty, is the recipient of IDSA’s 2019 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.
Dr. Thomas is the Stanhope Bayne Jones Professor of Medicine in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where he also serves as chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, and is a professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. He has played a large role in mentoring many of the current ID leaders in the field of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, where his own important contributions have advanced our understanding of the disease’s epidemiology and natural history. Forming training plans collaboratively with those he mentors based on their interests, Dr. Thomas has helped numerous trainees and junior faculty at his own institution and elsewhere achieve their goals by providing support, guidance, honest advice, and opportunities.
His trainees have received more than $100 million in National Institutes of Health-funded awards and have authored more than 1,200 peer-reviewed publications in journals including Science, Lancet, the New England Journal of Medicine, and JAMA. They include those now serving as tenure-track faculty, full professors, or in other leadership roles at institutions across the country. Dr. Thomas has also served as director of research at the Infectious Diseases Institute in Kampala, Uganda, which in addition to providing free medical and social services for HIV-infected patients also offers training for physicians and nurses from across sub-Saharan Africa.
The recipient of a 2014 Society Citation from IDSA, Dr. Thomas co-led the joint panel of specialists representing the Society and the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases to develop timely, evidence-based, consensus recommendations for HCV screening, treatment, and management. After earning a medical degree from West Virginia University School of Medicine, he completed his internship and residency training at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and a fellowship in infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins. He also received a master of public health degree from the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.
A leader in the field of viral hepatitis who strongly believes in the importance of fostering the next generation of ID clinicians and researchers, Dr. Thomas has nurtured the careers of numerous trainees with his skilled mentorship. IDSA is delighted to recognize him with the 2019 Walter E. Stamm Mentor Award.
Past Walter E. Stamm Mentor Award Winners
| 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 |