2018 Winner: Louis D. Saravolatz, MD, FIDSA
Louis D. Saravolatz, MD, FIDSA, a widely respected clinician and researcher with a strong commitment to IDSA, is the recipient of the 2018 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.
Dr. Saravolatz is chair of the Department of Medicine at St. John Hospital and Medical Center in Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan, and a professor of medicine at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit. He developed an extensive background in bacterial infections early in his career, including descriptions of early outbreaks of Legionella. In the early 1980s, he was among the first to document the emergence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection in the community. A decade later, Dr. Saravolatz was actively involved in National Institutes of Health committees that developed treatment strategies for HIV before modern antiretroviral therapy became available. The author of more than 200 publications and book chapters, he has continued to actively pursue research interests in infection control and novel antimicrobial agents for Gram-positive bacteria, including MRSA, vancomycin-intermediate S. aureus, vancomycin-resistant S. aureus, and daptomycin-resistant isolates.
One of the most respected ID physicians in the Detroit metropolitan area, Dr. Saravolatz has made substantial contributions to IDSA through his dedicated service on multiple committees. A member of the Publications Committee for more than five years (2010-2016), he served as its chair from 2013 to 2016, leading the committee’s efforts to oversee the publication of the Society’s scientific journals. In 2015, he was chair of the search committee for the editor-in-chief of Clinical Infectious Diseases. A former chair of the Society’s Committee on Antimicrobial Usage and Clinical Trials (2000-2003) and chair of the ad hoc committee that reviewed the Joint Commission’s sepsis guidelines in 2005, he has also been a member of the Fellows In-Training Examination Writing Committee (2006-2007) and the Regional Representative National Committee (2010-2012).
Dr. Saravolatz received his medical degree from the University of Michigan Medical School, followed by an internship and residency training at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, where he also completed his ID fellowship. Invited frequently to speak at regional, national, and international meetings and conferences, Dr. Saravolatz has served on numerous hospital, regional, and state committees. An active member of the Infectious Diseases Division who regularly rounds with house staff, he continues to attend on the consult service and mentors fellows and young faculty in their own research.
An accomplished physician and researcher, Dr. Saravolatz has contributed significantly to IDSA’s mission, including through his extensive service on the Society’s Publications Committee. IDSA is delighted to add the 2018 Society Citation to his long list of achievements.
Past Society Citation Award Winners
| 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 |