Posted on January 5, 2001 at 10:21 a.m.

BIRMINGHAM, AL — Two scientists at UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) have been elected to Fellowship in the American Academy of Microbiology. They are William E. Dismukes, M.D., professor of medicine, and Ken B. Waites, M.D., professor of pathology.

The American Academy of Microbiology is the honorific leadership group for the American Society for Microbiology (ASM). Academy Fellows are elected by their peers based on their records of outstanding contributions to microbiology, scientific achievement and leadership. Dismukes and Waites join an elite group of only 1700 scientists elected to Academy Fellowship in the history of the organization.

ASM recognized Dismukes for his knowledge of chemotherapy and general management of patients with systemic mycoses, and for his guidance of the Mycoses Study Group of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, which has become the world’s foremost clinical trial unit for investigation of antifungal compounds.

Waites was selected for his distinguished career in infectious disease research and important work on sexually transmitted diseases. Waites' research has explained mechanisms used by bacterial infections like mycoplasma and ureaplasma to infect the human urethra and reproductive system.

ASM is the world’s oldest and largest life science organization and has more than 42,000 members worldwide. ASM’s mission is to advance the microbiological sciences and promote the use of scientific knowledge for improved health, economic and environmental wellbeing.