Marlene L. Durand, MD, FIDSA, is a gifted clinician and teacher with unique expertise in infections of the eyes, ears, nose and throat in addition to deep knowledge in general ID. She is renowned for generously sharing her time and wisdom with patients, colleagues and trainees.
Dr. Durand is a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and an infectious diseases physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, where she has served on the inpatient ID consult service for over 25 years. For much of that time, she was also the director of the ID service at Massachusetts Eye and Ear, and in that capacity cared for thousands of patients with eye or ENT infections.
Dr. Durand is known internationally for her expertise in this area of ID, and she has developed innovative approaches to the prevention and treatment of these complex infections. For example, she has developed antibiotic prophylaxis protocols to successfully reduce the incidence of post-traumatic endophthalmitis and keratoprosthesis-associated endophthalmitis, evaluated the efficacy of newer antifungal agents to treat invasive fungal sinusitis and techniques for the earlier diagnosis of this infection, compared the presentations and outcomes of RPR-negative versus RPR-positive ocular syphilis, described risk factors and prevention strategies for surgical site infections following major head and neck surgery, and developed treatment regimens to save vision in eyes with acute retinal necrosis or mold endophthalmitis refractory to standard therapy.
In addition to her many clinical responsibilities, Dr. Durand has served as a member of the IDSA Standards and Practice Guidelines Committee and as the only ID physician member of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. She has given over 130 invited lectures on eye or ENT infections, many at national or international forums such as IDWeek, published over 160 papers and textbook chapters, written reviews for renowned medical journals, and authored or edited over 20 topics for the online resource UpToDate. She is also the primary editor of two textbooks, one on endophthalmitis and the other on ENT infections.
Dr. Durand has been heavily invested in educating generations of ID fellows. She is always happy to share her expertise with trainees and colleagues at MGH and at other institutions nationally. Her warmth and humility make her approachable and leave a lasting impression on both patients and colleagues. Highlighting her excellence in teaching and clinical practice, she has received the MGH and Brigham and Women’s Hospital ID Fellowship Faculty teaching award as well as the Massachusetts ID Society 2022 Kenneth Kaplan Award for Clinician of the Year.
The Society is pleased to honor Dr. Durand with a 2025 Watanakunakorn Clinician Award for her compassionate commitment to patients and innovative approaches to the prevention and treatment of complex infections.