Oswald Avery Award Winners
Current Winner
UMESH PARASHAR, MBBS, MPH, a physician-epidemiologist recognized for his substantial contributions to investigation and control of several emerging infectious diseases, is the recipient of IDSA’s 2011 Oswald Avery Award for Early Achievement. This honor recognizes members or fellows of IDSA age 45 or younger who have demonstrated outstanding achievements in an area of infectious diseases. Dr. Parashar’s work at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has permitted prompt understanding of new infectious disease agents and effective control of disease outbreaks, as well as the development of policies and programs that could prevent an estimated 500,000 annual deaths worldwide due to rotavirus infection.
His work with emerging infectious diseases includes investigations of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in Hong Kong, Nipah virus encephalitis in Malaysia and Bangladesh, hand-foot-and-mouth disease in Asia, and norovirus disease and anthrax in the United States. Dr. Parashar was instrumental in the development of the CDC’s guidance for severe respiratory infections for public health officials. His focus on reducing the burden of diarrheal diseases has led him to many accomplishments: characterizing the burden of rotavirus in the U.S., developing generic protocols for establishing burden internationally, and setting up international surveillance networks in the Americas, Asia, and Africa.
He received his medical degree from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi in 1994. In 1996, he obtained his master’s of public health degree from Emory University in Atlanta. He then served as an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer for two years and later as resident in preventive medicine at the CDC. Since 2006, Dr. Parashar has led the Enteric Viruses Team at CDC’s Division of Viral Diseases. Dr. Parashar has published more than 150 original research articles, 21 chapters and reviews, and 18 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports. He authored the pivotal article on global mortality estimates for rotavirus that is used to direct prevention programs in low resource settings. He has served in several committees, including the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice’s Rotavirus Vaccine Working Group, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Diarrheal and Enteric Vaccine Advisory Committee, and the WHO Technical Advisory Group for Diarrheal and Respiratory Disease, South East Regional Office. He is also a member of the Subcommittee on Rotavirus of India’s National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization.
IDSA is proud to honor Dr. Parashar with the 2011 Oswald Avery Award for Early Achievement.
Past Oswald Avery Award Winners
| 2010 |
Eleftherios Mylonakis, MD, PhD, FIDSA |
| 2009 |
Jean-Laurent Casanova, MD, PHD |
| 2008 |
Vance G. Fowler, Jr., MD, MHS |
| 2007 |
Pablo C. Okhuysen, MD, FIDSA |
| 2006 |
Cynthia G. Whitney, MD, MPH |
| 2005 |
James E. Crowe, MD |
| 2004 |
B. Brett Finlay, PhD |
| 2003 |
Joseph Heitman, MD, PhD |
| 2002 |
Matthew K. Waldor, MD, PhD |
| 2001 |
David A. Relman, MD |
| 2000 |
Michael S. Donnenberg, MD |
| 1999 |
William A. Petri, Jr., MD, PhD |
| 1998 |
Joseph W. St. Geme, III, MD |
| 1997 |
Samuel I. Miller, MD |
| 1996 |
David D. Ho, MD |
| 1995 |
Michael Osterholm, PhD, MPH |
| 1994 |
Mark Klempner, MD |
| 1993 |
Claire Broome, MD |
| 1992 |
Martin Blaser, MD |
| 1991 |
Marcus Horwitz, M.D. |
| 1990 |
Jerrold Ellner, MD |
| 1989 |
Henry Murray, MD |
| 1988 |
Walter Stamm, MD |
| 1987 |
John Gallin, MD |
| 1986 |
Charles Dinarello, MD |
| 1985 |
Dennis Kasper, MD |
| 1984 |
Adel Mahmoud, MD, PhD |
| 1983 |
Anthony Fauci, MD |
| 1982 |
George Miller, PhD |
| 1981 |
Gerald Keusch, MD |
| 1980 |
Robert Purcell, MD |
| 1979 |
Stanley Falkow, PhD |
| 1978 |
King Holmes, MD, PhD |
| 1977 |
Lowell Glasgow, MD, MS |
| 1976 |
Sheldon Wolff, MD |
| 1975 |
Kenneth Warren, MD |
| 1974 |
Malcolm Artenstein, MD
Emil Gotschilch, MD |
| 1973 |
Frank Austen, MD |
| 1972 |
Zanvil Cohn, MD |
| 1971 |
Jonathan Uhr, MD |
| 1970 |
Hans Mueller-Eberhard, MD, DMSc |
| 1969 |
Robert Chancock, MD |
| 1968 |
Robert Good, MD, PhD |