The Society Citation is a discretionary award given in recognition of exemplary contribution to IDSA, and outstanding discovery in the field of infectious diseases, or a lifetime of outstanding achievement. More than one award may be given each year.
2020 Winners: Adarsh Bhimraj, MD, MS, FIDSA & Christopher Ohl, MD, FIDSA
Adarsh Bhimraj, M.D., FIDSA, who has been instrumental in IDSA’s efforts to rapidly develop clinical guidelines for COVID-19, is the recipient of a 2020 IDSA Society Citation. First awarded in 1977, this is a discretionary award given in recognition of exemplary contribution to IDSA, an outstanding discovery in the field of infectious diseases, or a lifetime of outstanding achievement.
While caring for patients during the initial COVID-19 surge at the Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Bhimraj led IDSA’s multidisciplinary panel of experts who assembled the rapidly evolving evidence and, in April 2020, released the Society’s treatment and management guidelines for patients with COVID-19. Continually updated as more evidence emerges, the guidelines, of which Dr. Bhimraj is the first author, have set the standard for treating patients with COVID-19. The living document has provided clinicians with a much-needed framework for managing patients, supporting only those interventions for which the data has suggested safety and efficacy. Additional IDSA guidelines on COVID-19 infection prevention, diagnostics, and serology have followed, serving as important references in the ongoing response to the pandemic.
An associate staff physician and head of the Neurologic Infectious Diseases Section in the Department of Infectious Diseases at the Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Bhimraj is an active IDSA member and has served on several committees, including the panel that developed clinical practice guidelines for health care-associated ventriculitis and meningitis. Creator of the popular ‘ID BugBowl’ quiz game at IDWeek, he has been a member of the meeting’s program committee for the past five years and has led several meeting subcommittees.
For his leadership, creativity, and tireless dedication in leading IDSA’s efforts to rapidly develop and continually update clinical guidelines for COVID-19, which have been essential in the care of patients and the support of caregivers during this pandemic, the Society is delighted to recognize Dr. Bhimraj with a 2020 Society Citation.
Christopher A. Ohl, M.D., FIDSA, who has provided a tremendous service to IDSA and its members through the Education Committee, is the recipient of a 2020 IDSA Society Citation. First awarded in 1977, this is a discretionary award given in recognition of exemplary contribution to IDSA, an outstanding discovery in the field of infectious diseases, or a lifetime of outstanding achievement.
As the chair of IDSA’s Education Committee from 2014-2017, Dr. Ohl ensured that the interests of the Society’s members were represented during the restructuring of the American Board of Internal Medicine’s maintenance of certification program. His leadership and guidance were instrumental throughout this complicated process, which required diplomacy, perseverance, and determination to ensure that members’ needs were met and that their voices were heard. A member of the Education Committee from 2009-2014 before leading the group as chair, he has served on several additional IDSA committees, including the maintenance of certification question writing committee and the guideline committee for antimicrobial stewardship. He has been IDSA’s liaison to the American Board of Internal Medicine since 2015.
A professor of medicine and associate program director for the ID Fellowship Program at Wake Forest School of Medicine, Dr. Ohl is medical director of the Center for Antimicrobial Utilization, Stewardship, and Epidemiology at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, where is also an attending physician. His research interests include antimicrobial stewardship, health care-associated infections, and emerging infections. He has served as a consultant for several state and federal agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Society is pleased to recognize Dr. Ohl with a 2020 Society Citation for his important contributions, including his leadership in ensuring that IDSA members’ interests were represented during the restructuring of ABIM’s maintenance of certification program.
Past Society Citation Award Winners
| 2020 | Adarsh Bhimraj, M.D., FIDSA |
| 2020 | Christopher A. Ohl, M.D., FIDSA |
| 2019 | Brian S. Schwartz, MD |
| Steven K. Schmitt, MD, FIDSA | |
| 2018 | Louis D. Saravolatz, MD, FIDSA |
| 2017 | Wendy S. Armstrong, MD, FIDSA Patrick Joseph, MD, FIDSA Dean, L. Winslow, MD, FIDSA |
| 2016 | Mark A. Leasure Bruce G. Gellin, MD, MPH, FIDSA Martin G. Myers, MD, FIDSA, FPIDS |
| 2015 | Helen W. Boucher, MD, FIDSA |
| 2014 | David L. Thomas MD, MPH, FIDSA |
| 2013 | Marguerite A. Neill, MD Catherine M. Wilfert, MD |
| 2012 | Myron S. Cohen, MD, FIDSA N. Cary Engleberg, MD, FIDSA Alan D. Tice, MD, FIDSA, FSHEA |
| 2011 |
Carol J. Baker, MD, FIDSA |
| 2010 |
John G. Bartlett, MD, FIDSA |
| 2009 | Warren D. Johnson, Jr., MD, FIDSA |
| 2008 | Russell Petrak, MD |
| 2007 |
Gary P. Wormser, MD, FIDSA |
| 2006 |
Larry J. Strausbaugh, MD, FIDSA |
| 2005 |
George G. Jackson, MD |
| 2004 |
Stanley Falkow, PhD |
| 2003 | Morton N. Swartz, MD Julie Gerberding, MD, on behalf of the CDC staff |
| 2002 | Marvin Turck, MD C. Douglas Webb, PhD |
| 2001 | George W. Counts, MD |
| 2000 | Dennis George Maki, MD Dennis L. Stevens, MD, PhD |
| 1999 | Sydney Finegold, MD |
| 1998 | Porter Anderson, PhD John Robbins, MD Rachel Schneerson, MD David Smith, MD |
| 1997 | Johan Septimus Bakken, MD |
| 1996 | Donald A. Henderson, MD |
| 1995 | King Holmes, MD, PhD |
| 1994 | David Rogers, MD Edward Hook, III, MD |
| 1993 | Dorothy Horstmann, MD Samuel Katz, MD Harold Neu, MD |
| 1992 | Robert Austrian, MD Jay Sanford, MD |
| 1988 | Martha Yow, MD |
| 1987 | Margaret Pittman, PhD, MS |
| 1986 | Victor Nussenzweig, MD |
| 1985 | Robert Gallo, MD Luc Montagnier, CNRS Sheldon Wolff, MD |
| 1984 | Allen Steere, MD |
| 1983 | Maurice Hilleman, PhD Saul Krugman, MD |
| 1982 | James Todd, MD |
| 1981 | Don Brenner, MS, PhD William Cherry MS, PhD and Colleagues James Freeley, PhD Joseph McDade, PhD |
| 1977 | Edward Kass, MD, PhD, M |