Contact: Steven Lee, 210-450-3823, lees22@uthscsa.edu
SAN ANTONIO – Nathan Wiederhold, PharmD, professor of pathology and laboratory medicine and director of the Fungus Testing Laboratory at UT Health San Antonio, received the Medical Mycological Society of the Americas Billy H. Cooper Award for continued outstanding contributions to the practice of diagnostic clinical mycology.
Wiederhold is highly involved in preclinical studies of antifungal agents and assays for the diagnosis of invasive fungal infections. He has served as principal or co-principal investigator for millions of dollars in grants and contracts from the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and industry, to provide in vitro and in vivo preclinical resources to the research community for the evaluation of novel antibiotic and antifungal agents.
The Fungus Testing Laboratory, which he has directed since 2013, is an academic reference mycology laboratory that receives fungal specimens from institutions across the U.S. and internationally for clinical diagnostic testing.
“This is a prestigious honor as it recognizes the most outstanding contributors to the practice of diagnostic clinical mycology,” said Thomas Patterson, MD, chief of infectious diseases at UT Health San Antonio who introduced Wiederhold as the award recipient at a recent presentation. He noted that Wiederhold followed three of his predecessors at the lab in receiving the award, adding, “Nathan has superbly continued the tradition and outstanding reputation of the Fungus Testing lab.”
In addition to his clinical and research responsibilities, Wiederhold is a prolific author of more than 300 manuscripts, reviews, books and chapters, Patterson said.
He serves as an associate editor for the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy and is on the editorial boards for Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy and the Journal of Fungi.
He is also a member of the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) Antifungal Susceptibility Subcommittee and participates in the Epidemiologic Cut-Off Values, Intrinsic Resistance and Clinical Breakpoint working groups for this subcommittee.
The Billy H. Cooper Award is named for a past president of the presenting organization who in 1983 was the first recipient of the outstanding clinical mycologist award, renamed in his honor after his passing.
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