Eric Skaar, Ph.D., MPH, the Ernest W. Goodpasture Professor of Pathology, has been elected to fellowship in the American Academy of Microbiology.
Skaar is one of seven current Vanderbilt faculty members who are AAM fellows. The 2,400-member academy is an honorific leadership group within the American Society for Microbiology, the world’s oldest and largest life science membership organization.
He and the other 78 fellows elected this year by their peers will be recognized May 30 during the society’s 115th general meeting in New Orleans.
“I am honored to join this prestigious society that counts so many distinguished scientists as its members,” said Skaar, who directs the Program in Microbial Pathogenesis and the Division of Host-Pathogen Interactions, both in the Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology.
“I feel that this recognition is in part an acknowledgement of the outstanding environment that exists at Vanderbilt for microbiological research,” he said.
In the 10 years that Skaar has been at Vanderbilt, he has brought a diverse array of methodologies to his investigations of microbial pathogenesis and the body’s response to infection. Last year, he received the Stanley Cohen Faculty Award for Research Bridging Diverse Disciplines.
Skaar joins Timothy Cover, M.D., professor of Medicine and of Pathology, Microbiology & Immunology, who was elected last year as fellow of the academy. Other fellows currently on the Vanderbilt faculty are: James E. Crowe Jr., M.D.; Mark Denison, M.D.; Terence Dermody, M.D; Jacek Hawiger, M.D., Ph.D.; and Charles Stratton, M.D.
