Binford-Dammin Society of Infectious Disease Pathologists

The Infectious Disease Poster Award was initiated by the Binford-Dammin Society to honor the Pathologist-in-training with the best poster or presentation pertaining to infectious disease pathology. It was approved by the Academy in 1992. In 2009, it was renamed the Jerry Smith Award in honor of the always good-humored force behind the formation of the Society. The award is given annually at the US-CAP meeting to the best poster or presentation by a Pathologist-in-training as the primary author. All proffered presentations in the Infectious Disease section are considered. All posters pertaining to infectious disease in all sections are considered. To be certain of attention please nominate the poster or presentation by contacting the Secretary by email.

Previous Awardees

2008 Samantha Greene, Cedar Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA. “Clinically Undetected Invasive Fungal Disease at a Tertiray Care Medical Center: A Post-Mortem Analysis of 26 Cases”

2009 M. Saravia, Hospital General San Juan de Dios, Guatemala, Guatemala. “Abdominal Angiostrongyliasis: 24 Cases Diagnosed on Specimens from Surgical Emergencies”

2010 Cary Chisholm, Texas A&M, Temple, TX. Molecular Analysis of Clostridium difficile, C difficile 027/B1/NAP1 and Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci in Tissues with Pseudomembranous Colitis or CDAD

2010 ATIS MUEHLEBACHS, U. Washington, Seattle, WA. Pathology of Placenta Malaria in Areas of Different Endemicity: A Histologic Grading System. [Certificate of Merit]

2011 Z HU, Comparison of infectious pathogen detection in pre and postmortem specimens from lung transplant patients

2012 MATHIEU C. CASTONGUA, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN. Surgical Pathology of Native Valve Endocarditis in 310 Specimens from 287 Patients (1985-2004).

2013 NELLI LAKIS, Upstate Medical University SUNY, Syracuse, NY. New Archetypal poxvirus infection in an imunosuppresed man.

2103 JANNE RAND, Albany Medical Center, Albany, NY. Intracytoplasmic granulocytic morulae counts of confirmed sases of human granulocytic ehrlichiosis/anaplasmosis in the Northeast US. [Honorable mention]

2013 KIRSTEN THRELKELD, University of Vermont. Molecular, histologic and clinical features of persistent intestinal spirochetosis. [Honorable mention]

2014 YUYUNG JIANG, Univ of Toledo, Fungal Pathologic Diagnosis Revisited by Fungal Sequencing

2014 OMAR AHMED, Wake Forest, Splenic Granulomas: Where do they all come from? [Honorable mention]

2014 MAYA SAROUFUN and MARIO SAAB, American University of Beirut, Cutaneous Leishmaniasis outbreak (2 posters) [Special commendation for outstanding international work]

2015 Diana Ng. Grocott Methenamine Silver Stain: An Adjunct Diagnostic Tool in the Identification of Bacteria in Tissues.

2016 Jennifer Muir. Return of the “Great Mimicker”: Treponema palladium in the gastrointestinal tract.

2017 Isaac Solomon: Mycobacteria immunohistochemistry is an effective screening tool for molecular identification

2017 Zeljko Dvanajscak: Clarithromycin Antibiotic Resistance in Bariatric Surgery Patients with unsuspected Helicobacter pylori infection

2020 Melissa A. Mejia Bautista, MD (Northwestern) “Comparative Evaluation between Real-Time PCR Reaction Assay and Direct Immunofluorescence Antibody for Pneumocystis jirovecii”

2020 Julian A.Villaba, MD (MGH) “RNA in situ hybridization on paraffin embedded tissue can distinguish mycobacterium tuberculosis complex from non-tuberculosis mycobacterial.”

2021 NIBRAS FAKHRI, MD (Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center New Orleans) " Diagnostic accuracy of histochemical stains in identification of Mucormyicetes" (First place)

2021 KARA RONCIN, MD (Case Western Reserve University) “Galactomannan-negative Aspergillus fumigatus presents with unusual morphology in pediatric patient with septic emboli and `complicated medical history” (Second place).

2023 NICHOLAS A. BOIRE, MD (Mayo Clinic) “Creation of a freely available digital slide resource for vaccine-preventable and historical diseases of antiquity” (First place).

2023 JIHANE OUFATOOLE, BS (MGH) “Histological staining of whole ticks and tick-bite skin biopsies for spirochetes and Powassan virus RNA” (Second place).