Barbara Alexander, M.D., FIDSA, Named IDSA President

Four New Members Join Board of Directors to Continue to Fight COVID-19 and Promote Field of Infectious Diseases

Arlington, Va. – Oct. 8, 2020 – The Infectious Diseases Society of America is pleased to announce Barbara Alexander, M.D., FIDSA, as the society’s new president beginning Oct. 25. Dr. Alexander will be joined by dedicated, experienced board members as well as newly elected representatives who will lead IDSA’s commitment to promoting excellence in patient care, education, research, public health, and prevention relating to infectious diseases.

“The critical role of infectious diseases physicians and scientists has never been more apparent as it is today, in the midst of a global pandemic. ID is at the center of efforts to containing COVID-19, including preventing its spread, treating its victims and finding a cure. Concurrently, these same professionals are also anticipating the next outbreak and fighting infections in every community around the globe. I am honored to lead this society at such a pivotal time,” said Dr. Alexander.

In addition to leading the society through the pandemic, Dr. Alexander will also work with the Board of Directors to continue the implementation of the society’s strategic initiatives. These include leading the fight against antimicrobial resistance and advocating for increased awareness of the value of the ID physician with the aim of achieving fair compensation and attracting young physicians and scientists to the field.

Dr. Alexander is Professor of Medicine and Pathology at Duke University School of Medicine where she also serves as Director of Transplant Infectious Diseases Service; Head of Clinical Mycology Laboratory and Director of the Transplant Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program. She is principal investigator of the Duke University NIHT32-funded Transplant Infectious Diseases Interdisciplinary Research Training Program.

Dr. Alexander’s research interests include clinical and translational research related to infectious complications of solid organ and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, with a particular interest in the prevention and rapid diagnosis of invasive fungal infections. She has served as Chair of the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute Subcommittee on Antifungal Susceptibility Tests, Associate Deputy Editor of the Clinical Infectious Diseases journal, consultant to the FDA Antimicrobial Drugs Advisory Committee, and as faculty mentor to the NIH T32-funded Tri-insitutional Molecular Mycology and Pathogenesis Training Program.

She has served IDSA on numerous committees, including the ID Training Program Directors Committee; the Education Committee, the Annual Meeting Program Committee, which she chaired in 2011; the Transplant ID & Compromised Hosts Working Group and the ID Recruitment Task Force. She also served on the Board of Directors from 2013-2016.

New IDSA Board Members

Dr. Alexander is pleased to be working with newly elected IDSA Board members including:

Cesar A. Arias, M.D., MS, PhD, FIDSA, is a Professor of Medicine, Microbiology and Molecular Genetics and Director of the Center for Antimicrobial Resistance and Microbial Genomics at UTHealth McGovern Medical School at Houston. He is also the Herbert L. and Margaret W. DuPont Chair in Infectious Diseases and Director of the Center for Infectious Diseases at the UTHealth School of Public Health. Dr. Arias’ research focuses on basic, translational, and clinical aspects of antimicrobial resistance. He has been active in IDSA for many years, namely with IDWeek, serving as its chair in 2019, and with guideline development, including serving on the panel for the COVID-19 Diagnostics Guideline. As a physician-scientist he is dedicated to applying basic science discoveries into tools to help our most vulnerable patients infected with multidrug-resistant organisms. He is also committed to expanding the international reach of the society.
Rana Chakraborty, M.D., MSc, PhD, serves as Professor of Pediatrics at Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine and Senior Associate Consultant at Mayo Clinic. He is an experienced physician-scientist and educator in perinatal, pediatric and adolescent infectious diseases. His lab has unique expertise in placental and fetal immunology. The past several months of witnessing the field of ID take a front and center role in containing the COVID-19 pandemic have motivated him to expand his research portfolio to SARS-CoV-2 infection in the mother-infant dyad, and to further promote and advocate for IDSA’s priorities, including advancing lab-based and clinical research to improve population health globally. Dr. Chakraborty is committed to addressing health equity in medicine having served as Chair of the Diversity Committee in Pediatrics and Chair for the Section of International Medical Graduates at the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Carlos del Rio, M.D., FIDSA, was elected to serve as the board’s Vice President and a member of the Executive Committee. Dr. del Rio is a Professor of Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine, Professor of Global Health and Epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health of Emory University and the Executive Associate Dean of Emory at Grady Health System. He is also Principal Investigator and Co-Director of the Emory Center for AIDS Research and Co-Principal Investigator of the Emory-CDC HIV Clinical Trials Unit and Emory Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit. He has served the society throughout his career, including serving as Chair of IDSA’s HIV Medicine Association and as a past member of the IDSA Board. He is an astute and experienced leader with a great deal of experience communicating about and implementing a strategic vision. He is deeply committed to resident and fellow education and the development of the next generation of ID and HIV leaders and is passionate about recruiting more underrepresented minorities into the field and eliminating gender disparities in salary and opportunities.
Jasmine Marcelin, M.D., FACP, is Assistant Professor of Medicine at University of Nebraska Medical Center and an Attending Physician in the Nebraska Medicine Division of Infectious Diseases. Dr. Marcelin is particularly focused on ambulatory and diagnostic stewardship, health disparities and equity, diversity in medicine and infectious diseases, and social media use in health care. Dr. Marcelin is an inaugural member of the IDSA Inclusion, Diversity, Access and Equity Taskforce and the inaugural Vice-Chair of IDSA’s Digital Strategy Advisory Group. She is driven by her own mission statement, “to create and support a health care workforce and graduate medical education environment that strives for excellence and values inclusion, diversity, access and equity as not only important, but necessary, for excellence (success),” which aligns with the priorities of the society.

In addition to Drs. Alexander, and del Rio, the IDSA Executive Committee includes: President-Elect Dan McQuillen, M.D., FIDSA, Beth Israel Lahey Health, Lahey Hospital & Medical Center; Past President Thomas File, Jr. M.D. FIDSA, Summa Health; Secretary Angela Caliendo, M.D., FIDSA, Alpert Medical School of Brown University and Treasurer Helen Boucher, M.D., FIDSA, Tufts Medical Center.

Members continuing their service on the board include:

Wendy Armstrong,D., FIDSA, Emory University School of Medicine and Ponce de Leon Center, Grady Health System, Atlanta, Ga.
Jeffrey Duchin, M.D., FIDSA, Seattle & King County and University of Washington, Seattle, Wa.
Kim Hanson, M.D., MHS, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Ut.
John B. Lynch, III, M.D., MPH, University of Washington School of Medicine and Harborview Medical Center, Seattle, Wa.
Ann MacIntyre, D.O., MHS, FIDSA, Nova Southeastern University, Palmetto General Hospital, and Mercy Hospital, Miami, Fla.
Jeanne Marrazzo M.D., MPH, FIDSA, University of Alabama, Birmingham, Birminghan, Ala.

About the Infectious Diseases Society of America

The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) is an organization of physicians, scientists, and other health care professionals dedicated to promoting health through excellence in infectious diseases research, education, prevention, and patient care. The society, which has over 12,000 members, was founded in 1963 and is based in Arlington, Va. For more information, see www.idsociety.org.