The Oswald Avery Award for Early Achievement recognizes outstanding achievement in an area of infectious diseases by an IDSA member or fellow who is 45 or younger (on Dec. 31 of the year preceding the IDWeek at which the award is given). The award is based on overall achievement, not usually a single study.
2023 Winner: Talia Swartz, MD, PhD, FIDSA
Talia Swartz, MD, PhD, FIDSA, is an educator, mentor, advocate and physician-scientist who runs a National Institutes of Health-funded laboratory focused on the intersection of HIV-1 infection and inflammation. Dr. Swartz improves access to careers as physician-scientists by trainees from underrepresented backgrounds, sheds light on the intersection of systemic racism and COVID-19 and is an advocate for anti-racism education.
Dr. Swartz is an associate professor of medical education at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, where she is also senior associate dean for MD-PhD Education, director of the Medical Scientist Training Program (MD-PhD) and director of Graduate Research and Education.
The Swartz Laboratory seeks to identify a novel mechanism of HIV-associated inflammation through purinergic signaling, which will have broad implications for antiretroviral therapies, adjunctive anti-inflammatory therapies and prognostic measurements. Dr. Swartz has published 60 peer-reviewed articles in high-impact journals such as Cell Reports, Journal of Virology and Nature. Her work has been cited more than 2,000 times.
Through the Medical Scientist Training Program at the Icahn School of Medicine and as chair of the Association of American Medical Colleges’ GREAT MD-PhD Section Communications Committee, Dr. Swartz is developing programs to help students from diverse backgrounds bridge the gap between bench and bedside learning and become physician-scientists. As director of Graduate Research and Education, she has developed best practices in anti-racism advising and admissions for the Icahn School of Medicine.
Dr. Swartz has mentored more than 40 trainees in her laboratory and participates in national mentoring programs, including IDSA’s Mentoring Program, the National Research Mentoring Network and the International AIDS Society mentor team.
As a member of IDSA’s Inclusion, Diversity, Access & Equity Task Force, Dr. Swartz addresses structural inequities and health disparities through her scholarly work and guideline development. Her articles have shown disparate racial and geographic outcomes among patients with COVID-19 and the disparate impact of HIV and COVID-19 on the LGBTQIA+ population, and examined the gaps in diversity and equity in biomedicine.
Dr. Swartz has also served as vice chair of IDSA’s Digital Strategy Advisory Group. She organized and chaired the IDWeek session “The Impact of Social Media During a Pandemic” in 2021 and served as guest editor for a Clinical Infectious Diseases supplement on digital strategy and social media in infectious diseases. Among the many awards Dr. Swartz has received are the Master Educator award from the Institute for Medical Education and the Edward Ronan Award from the Icahn School of Medicine’s Student Council.
IDSA is pleased to recognize Dr. Swartz with the 2023 Oswald Avery Award for Early Achievement for helping students from diverse backgrounds become physician-scientists, for her anti-racism advocacy and for her research on HIV-1 infection and inflammation.
Past Oswald Avery Award Winners
| 2022 | Nadine Rouphael, MD, FIDSA |
| 2021 | Michail Lionakis, MD, ScD, FIDSA |
| 2020 | Sallie R. Permar, MD, PhD |
| 2019 | Nasia Safdar, MD, MS, PhD, FIDSA, FSHEA |
| 2018 | Susanna Naggie, MD, MHS, FIDSA |
| 2017 | William J. Steinbach, MD |
| 2016 | Susan S. Huang, MD, MPH, FIDSA, FSHEA |
| 2015 | Eric R. Houpt, MD, FIDSA |
| 2014 | Sarah E. Cosgrove, MD, MS, FIDSA, FSHEA and Rochelle P. Walensky, MD, MPH, FIDSA |
| 2013 | Cesar A. Arias, MD, MSc, PhD, FIDSA |
| 2012 | Dan A. Barouch, MD, PhD |
| 2011 | Umesh Parashar, MBBS, MPH |
| 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 and 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 |