Dr. Thomas Walsh
Dr. Thomas Walsh delivered the opening lecture at the 82nd Annual Southern California American Society of Microbiology (ASM) Meeting in October of 2018 as the ASM and Waksman Foundation Distinguished Lecturer for the 2018-2019 cycle. His lecture was entitled, “Advances in the Laboratory Diagnosis of Invasive Candidiasis & Their Therapeutic Implications.”
For more than three decades, Dr. Walsh has been at the forefront of scientific breakthroughs that have led to significant improvements in patient care for immunocompromised children and adults. He continues to develop new strategies for molecular diagnosis, immunopharmacology, pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics, treatment, and prevention of life-threatening invasive mycoses and emerging multidrug resistant bacteria. His research objectives are being achieved through laboratory investigations using parallel in vitro systems, and robustly predictive in vivo animal model systems, leading to phase-I, phase-II, and phase-III clinical trials.
The ASM’s Distinguished Lectureship Program was established by Nobel Prize recipient, Dr. Selman Waksman. Each year, the program selects a scientifically diverse group of distinguished lecturers to deliver lectures at ASM Branch meetings throughout the country. The ASM holds a competitive nomination process and only the most distinguished lecturers and researchers are chosen to participate in the program. The ASMDL states that an important component of its program is to provide opportunities for students, postdoctoral fellows, and other early career scientists to interact with prominent lecturers who represent a wide range of scientific interest areas.
In addition to serving as a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases, Dr. Walsh is also a Professor of Pediatrics and a Professor of Microbiology & Immunology at Weill Cornell Medicine. After serving as the Chief of the Immunocompromised Host Section of the Pediatric Oncology Branch of National Cancer Institute for 23 years, Dr. Walsh was recruited to the Division of Infectious Diseases to build the first Transplantation-Oncology Infectious Diseases Program housed at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. He directs a combined clinical and laboratory research program dedicated to improving the lives and care of immunocompromised children and adults. Dr. Walsh’s current targeted laboratory investigations and clinical trials in medical mycology include invasive candidiasis, pulmonary aspergillosis, mucormycosis, fusariosis, and phaeohyphomycosis. Dr. Walsh has mentored more than 180 students, fellows, and faculty, many of whom are emerging leaders in the field of medical mycology and infections in immunocompromised patients throughout the world.