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Joseph W. St. Geme III, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics and director of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, has received the 1998 Squibb Award from the Infectious Disease Society of America.
"Joe St. Geme is an outstanding clinician-scientist-educator," said Alan L. Schwartz, M.D., Ph.D., the Harriet B. Spoehrer Professor and head of pediatrics. "His deep commitment to understanding the molecular pathogenesis of Haemophilus influenzae disease in children will have a long-term impact on child health. We are delighted that his achievements to date have been recognized by the 1998 Squibb Award."
This award recognizes outstanding achievement in an area of infectious diseases by a fellow or member of the organization who is 45 or younger. The award is based on overall achievement, not a single study.
St. Geme, also associate professor of molecular microbiology, is being recognized for his continuing research on the genetic and molecular basis of virulence by H. influenzae. This bacterium initiates infection by colonizing the upper respiratory tract, where it may hide inside epithelial cells for months. St. Geme has identified a series of proteins that enable the organism to interact with these cells, and his work has laid the foundation for development of vaccines to prevent middle ear and other respiratory tract infections caused by H. influenzae.
A physician at St. Louis Children's Hospital, St. Geme also teaches microbiology and infectious diseases to preclinical students at the medical school.
Among his numerous awards are the American Heart Association Established Investigator Award, the Pediatric Infectious Disease Society Young Investigator Award, the 1995 and 1998 St. Louis Children's Hospital Attending Teacher of the Year Award and the March of Dimes Foundation's Basil O'Connor Award. He serves as associate editor of Concise Reviews in Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Seminars in Pediatric Infectious Diseases.
He joined the University in July 1992 as an instructor of pediatrics and of molecular microbiology. He became an assistant professor of pediatrics and of molecular microbiology in September 1992 and was promoted to associate professor in 1997.
After receiving a bachelor's degree from Stanford University in 1979 and a medical degree from Harvard Medical School in 1984, St. Geme completed residency training in pediatrics at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He served as chief resident in pediatrics at the same institution from 1987 to 1988 and was a postdoctoral fellow in infectious diseases and microbiology at Stanford University from 1988 to 1992.
