3rd FDLC/ATLAS Course in Clinical Fungi

Course Directors:

Kimberly Hanson, MD, MHS
Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine at the University of Utah; ARUP Laboratories
Dr. Kimberly E. Hanson is the head of Immunocompromised Host Infectious Diseases Services at the University Hospital and Huntsman Cancer Center and a professor of Internal Medicine and adjunct professor of Pathology at the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine at the University of Utah. She is also a medical director of Mycology at ARUP Laboratories. Dr. Hanson received her medical degree from Northwestern University Medical Center. She served as the chief resident during her internal medicine residency at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. Following residency, she completed an infectious diseases fellowship, received a master’s degree in health sciences, and completed a medical microbiology fellowship at Duke University Medical Center. Dr. Hanson is certified in medical microbiology by the American Board of Pathology and infectious disease by the American Board of Internal Medicine. Her research interests include the development and validation of novel cost-effective diagnostic tests for opportunistic infections.

Sean X. Zhang, MD, PhD
Johns Hopkins Hospital; Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Dr. Sean X. Zhang is the director of the Medical Mycology Laboratory at Johns Hopkins Hospital and an associate professor of Pathology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He specializes in medical microbiology, with a focus on medical mycology and fungal diagnostics. Dr. Zhang received a medical degree from the Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, China and a PhD in microbiology and immunology from the University of Turku, Finland. He completed a fellowship in medical microbiology at the University of Toronto, Canada. He is certified by the American Board of Medical Microbiology and the Canadian College of Microbiologists. Dr. Zhang is the Executive Editor of Medical Mycology, a Section Editor (Mycology) for the Manual of Clinical Microbiology (13th Edition). He is an active member of the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute antifungal subcommittee, the American Society of Microbiology Laboratory Practice subcommittee, and the College of American Pathologists Microbiology committee. His research focuses on developing rapid diagnostic tools for early detection of invasive fungal infections. He has authored 150 publications. He also co-founded the Fungal Diagnostics Laboratory Consortium (FDLC).

Sybren de Hoog, PhD
Center of Expertise in Mycology of Radboud University Medical Center, The Netherlands
Dr. Sybren de Hoog is a researcher in phylogenetic and ecological mycology at the Center of Expertise in Mycology at Radboud University Medical Center and Canisius Wilhelmina Hospital in Nijmegen, The Netherlands. He holds visiting professorships at institutions in China, Brazil, and Saudi Arabia. He received his doctoral degree from the University of Utrecht. Dr. de Hoog is the managing editor of the journal Mycoses, the scientific secretary of the Netherlands Society for Human and Veterinary Mycology, and past president of the International Society for Human and Animal Mycology. He is one of the coauthors of the “Atlas of Clinical Fungi.” Dr. de Hoog’s area of interest is the taxonomy, ecology, and evolution of fungi, with emphasis on possible lines of adaptation to the human host.

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Course Faculty:

Barbara D. Alexander, MD, MHS
Duke University Medical Center
Dr. Barbara D. Alexander is professor of Medicine and Pathology at Duke University and the director of the Transplant Infectious Diseases Service. She is also the head of the Clinical Mycology Laboratory and the director of the Medical Microbiology and Transplant Infectious Disease fellowship programs at Duke. She is the leader of the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute antifungal susceptibility testing section and an expert in both the diagnosis and treatment of invasive fungal infections in immunocompromised hosts. Dr. Alexander received her medical degree from East Carolina University School of Medicine. She completed an internal medicine residency and fellowships in clinical infectious disease and medical microbiology at Duke University Medical Center. She was awarded a master’s degree in health science after completing the Duke University Clinical Research Training Program. Dr Alexander has served as an active member of the American Society for Transplantation Infectious Disease Community of Practice and the FDA Antiviral Products Advisory Committee, in a leadership role on the Infectious Diseases Society of America Annual Meeting Program Committee, and as an associate editor for the Clinical Infectious Diseases journal. Dr. Alexander has lectured nationally and internationally and has authored more than 100 articles and book chapters.

Ben Bradley, MD, PhD
Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine at the University of Utah; ARUP Laboratories
Dr. Benjamin Bradley is an assistant professor (clinical) of Pathology at the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine at the University of Utah and a medical director of the Institute for Research and Innovation in Infectious Disease Genomic Technologies, High Consequence Pathogen Response, Virology, and Molecular Infectious Disease at ARUP Laboratories. He received a medical degree and a doctorate degree from Tulane University School of Medicine. He completed his residency in anatomic and clinical pathology at the University of Washington Medical Center as well as a fellowship in clinical microbiology at the University of Utah and ARUP Laboratories. Dr. Bradley is certified by the American Board of Pathology in anatomic and clinical pathology. His research interests include development and clinical implementation of viral diagnostics, direct-from-tissue detection of infectious organisms, and infectious disease pathology education.

Avrom S. Caplan, MD
New York University Grossman School of Medicine; NYU Langone Health
Dr. Avrom S. Caplan is an associate professor at the Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology at New York University Grossman School of Medicine, the codirector of the Sarcoidosis Program at NYU Langone Health, and clinical lead for sarcoidosis in the dermatology clinic at Bellevue. He received his MD from the University of Chicago and served in residencies at the University of Pennsylvania Health System in dermatology and internal medicine. Dr. Caplan is certified by the American Board of Dermatology. His clinical focus is on the treatment of individuals with sarcoidosis and other complex medical conditions that require interdisciplinary care.

Mariana Castanheira, PhD
JMI Laboratories
Dr. Mariana Castanheira is chief scientific officer at JMI Laboratories. She designs and oversees antimicrobial and antifungal drug development projects, surveillance studies, and molecular projects that characterize resistance mechanisms. Dr. Castanheira received her doctoral degree from the Federal University of Sao Paulo. She received additional training at the Department of Pathology and Microbiology at the University of Bristol and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Federal University of Sao Paulo. Dr. Castanheira is an editor for MSphere and is a member of the editorial boards for Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, Journal of Clinical Microbiology, Microbial Drug Resistance, and Drug Resistance Updates. She is an advisor to the Subcommittees for Antimicrobial and Antifungal Susceptibility Testing of the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute. Dr. Castanheira was elected as a fellow of the American Society for Microbiology in 2023.

Tanis Dingle, PhD
Alberta Precision Laboratories - Public Health Laboratory; University of Alberta
Dr. Tanis Dingle is a clinical microbiologist at Alberta Precision Laboratories - Public Health Laboratory. She is a clinical associate professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in the Cumming School of Medicine as well as an assistant adjunct professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at the University of Alberta. Dr. Dingle received her PhD in microbiology and infectious diseases from the University of Calgary and completed her clinical microbiology training at the University of Washington in Seattle. She is certified as a diplomate of the American Board of Medical Microbiology and is a fellow of the Canadian College of Microbiologists. Her research interests include exploring novel strategies for assessing antimicrobial activity and detecting antimicrobial resistance in the clinical microbiology laboratory. Other areas of research focus are the development of diagnostic methods and algorithms to improve the prognosis of patients with invasive fungal infections and understanding the changing epidemiology of endemic mycoses.

Shawn Lockhart, PhD
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Mycotic Diseases Branch
Dr. Shawn Lockhart is the senior clinical laboratory advisor for the Mycotic Diseases Branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He earned his BS from Bellarmine University and his PhD from the University of Kentucky and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Iowa. Dr. Lockhart is certified by the American Board of Medical Microbiology (ABMM) and is a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology. He has authored or coauthored more than 270 manuscripts and book chapters and recently coauthored the seventh edition of “Larone’s Medically Important Fungi.” His research focus is clinical mycology and antifungal resistance, with a current emphasis on international fungal laboratory capacity building.

Blaine Mathison, BS, M(ASCP)
ARUP Laboratories; University of Utah
Mr. Blaine Mathison is a research scientist at the ARUP Institute for Clinical and Experimental Pathology^® as well as the technical director of Parasitology and Technical Operations, Infectious Diseases, at ARUP Laboratories. He is also adjunct instructor in the Department of Pathology at the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine at the University of Utah. Mr. Mathison has served in roles at the Arizona State Public Health Laboratory, the Phoenix Veterans Administration, and the Division of Parasitic Diseases and Malaria at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He publishes and lectures regularly on a variety of topics related to both parasitology and entomology, including taxonomy, biology, diagnostics, pathology, and case reports. He played a significant role in the validation of ARUP’s artificial intelligence (AI) screening tool for the detection of gastrointestinal parasites. His specialties include unusual and zoonotic helminth infections, histopathology of parasitic infections, and arthropods of medical importance. In 2018, Mr. Mathison was the recipient of the American Society for Microbiology Scherago-Rubin Award, which recognizes contributions by nondoctoral-level microbiologists to the field of clinical microbiology.

Minh-Hong Nguyen, MD
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
Dr. Minh-Hong Nguyen is a professor of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh and the director of Transplant Infectious Diseases and the Antimicrobial Management Program at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. She received her medical degree from Temple University School of Medicine and completed a residency in internal medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, as well as a fellowship in infectious diseases at the University of Pittsburgh Health Center. Dr. Nguyen is certified in infectious disease by the American Board of Internal Medicine. Her research interests are medical mycology research, the mechanisms and clinical impact of antifungal drug resistance, and molecular pathogenesis of invasive Candida infections. Dr. Nguyen’s transplant infectious diseases research includes projects on the role of the microbiome in infections and outcomes among transplant recipients, the impact of rectal carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae carriage on outcomes of transplant recipients, and clinical studies and trials on opportunistic fungal, bacterial, and viral infections.

Gary W. Procop, MD, MS, MEd
American Board of Pathology/Moffitt Cancer Center
Dr. Gary W. Procop is the chief executive officer of the American Board of Pathology. He is also the medical director of Clinical Microbiology and an infectious disease pathology consultant at Moffitt Cancer Center, as well as professor emeritus of Pathology at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine. Dr. Procop received a medical degree and an MS degree from Marshall University School of Medicine. He completed residency training in anatomic and clinical pathology at Duke University Medical Center, followed by a clinical microbiology fellowship at the Mayo Clinic. He earned an MEd in health professions from Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Procop is a diplomate of the American Board of Pathology in anatomic and clinical pathology and medical microbiology. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, the College of American Pathologists, the American Society for Clinical Pathology, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, and the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Dr. Procop has given more than 800 presentations and has 261 published manuscripts, 60 chapters, and five books to his credit. He is president of the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute, a member of the board of directors of the American Board of Medical Specialties, and has held leadership positions in several other national pathology and microbiology organizations. He has received a number of awards and serves as the Belinda Yen-Lieberman, PhD, and James M. Lieberman, MD, Endowed Chair in Clinical Microbiology. His primary interests are using assessment to drive learning and developing and promoting best practices in laboratory testing, infectious disease pathology, mycology, and parasitology.

Amir Seyedmousavi, PhD, D(ABMM), F(ECMM)
National Institutes of Health Clinical Center
Dr. Amir Seyedmousavi is a board-certified clinical microbiology laboratory director for Infectious Disease Diagnostic Testing Services and the director of the Fungal and Parasitic Diagnostics Laboratories at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. He received his doctorate in medical mycology and antifungal resistance and completed his postdoctoral training in clinical microbiology and antimicrobial pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics at the Radboud University Medical Center, The Netherlands. Dr. Seyedmousavi serves as an editor for Medical Mycology and Medical Mycology Case Reports, the official journals of the International Society for Human and Animal Mycology. He is also an associate editor for IMA Fungus and sits on the editorial boards of several other peer-reviewed journals. Additionally, he serves as a voting member of the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) Antifungal Subcommittee and as a liaison for the CLSI Outreach Working Group. His research focuses on the development and evaluation of novel diagnostic assays for the detection of fungal pathogens, fungal epidemiology, and antifungal resistance, and the optimization of antifungal therapies.

Patricia Slev, PhD
Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine at the University of Utah; ARUP Laboratories
Dr. Patricia R. Slev is a professor (clinical) of Pathology at the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine at the University of Utah and a medical director of Immunology at ARUP Laboratories. Dr. Slev received her doctoral degree in immunology and laboratory medicine from the University of Florida. She then completed biology and clinical chemistry fellowships at the University of Utah. Dr. Slev is board certified in clinical chemistry by the American Board of Clinical Chemistry. She has received several awards, including a Fellow Research Presentation First Place award from the University of Utah, and was a two-time recipient of the Paul E. Strandjord Young Investigator Award. Her research interests include HIV and viral hepatitis.

Dallas Smith, PharmD, MAS
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Mycotic Diseases Branch
Dr. Dallas Smith is an epidemiologist with the Mycotic Diseases Branch in the Division of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Disease at the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He earned a PharmD from the University of Findlay and a master’s degree of applied science from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He completed two terms of service in the Peace Corps, first as a community health educator in Cambodia and then as a clinical pharmacy and pharmacognosy lecturer in Malawi, East Africa. Dr. Smith has been a member of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) since 2019 and has been featured in FIP’s podcast series for his work in public health. His research interests include fungal neglected tropical diseases, dimorphic fungal diseases, and antifungal stewardship.

George Thompson, MD
University of California, Davis, School of Medicine
Dr. George Thompson is a professor of Medicine at the University of California, Davis, School of Medicine with a joint appointment in the departments of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, and Internal Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases. He obtained his medical degree from the University of Missouri and completed his internal medicine residency and infectious disease fellowship at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center in San Antonio. Dr. Thompson has served as cochair of the National Academy of Sciences Symposium on Coccidioidomycosis and as an advisor to the World Health Organization for fungal priority pathogens. He is currently chair of the Mycoses Study Group Education Committee. He has also served on both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Special Emphasis Panels as a grant reviewer and on the FDA Antifungal and Coccidioidomycosis Advisory committees. Dr. Thompson’s focus is on the fungal diseases caused by the Aspergillus, Candida, and Coccidioides species.

Thomas J. Walsh, MD, PhD (Hon), FIDSA, FAAM, FECMM
Center for Innovative Therapeutics and Diagnostics (CITDX)
Dr. Thomas J. Walsh is the founding director of the Center for Innovative Therapeutics and Diagnostics (CITDX), the Henry Schueler Foundation Scholar in Mucormycosis, investigator of the Save Our Sick Kids Foundation, adjunct professor of Pathology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and adjunct professor of Medicine and Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He received his medical degree and completed fellowships in pathology, infectious diseases, and medical oncology at The John Hopkins University School of Medicine. He served as chief of the Immunocompromised Host Section of the Pediatric Oncology Branch of the National Cancer Institute and founding director of the Transplantation Oncology Infectious Diseases Program at Weill Cornell/New York-Presbyterian Hospital. CITDX was established to provide a powerful engine of translational research from preclinical studies to patient-oriented clinical trials for the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of life-threatening infections in immunocompromised patients with cancer.

Lars Westblade, PhD
Weill Cornell Medicine; New York-Presbyterian Hospital
Dr. Lars Westblade serves as the associate director of the Clinical Microbiology Laboratory at Weill Cornell Medicine and as a staff member at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. He is an associate professor of pathology and laboratory medicine in pediatrics and medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University. He received his doctorate at the University of Birmingham and then completed a postdoctoral fellowship in molecular biophysics at Rockefeller University and a clinical microbiology fellowship at Washington University at St. Louis School of Medicine. Dr. Westblade is certified by the American Board of Medical Microbiology. He is a coauthor of the seventh edition of “Larone’s Medically Important Fungi.” His research primarily focuses on understanding antimicrobial resistance in the immunosuppressed host and clinical and antimicrobial stewardship outcomes related to implementing rapid diagnostic tests.

Nathan Wiederhold, PharmD
Fungus Testing Laboratory, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
Dr. Nathan Wiederhold is the director of the Fungus Testing Laboratory, a professor in the Department of Pathology at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, and an adjoint associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin College of Pharmacy. He received his PharmD degree at the University of Texas at Austin and then completed residencies in pharmacy practice and infectious diseases at Barnes Jewish Hospital. Dr. Wiederhold then completed a fellowship in medical mycology research at the University of Houston and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He is a member of the American Society of Microbiology, the International Society of Human and Animal Mycology, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the American College of Clinical Pharmacy, and the Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists. He is also a voting member of the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute Antifungal Susceptibility Subcommittee. Dr. Wiederhold’s research is focused on trends in antifungal resistance, new mechanisms of drug resistance in fungi, and the evaluation of novel agents under development for the treatment of invasive fungal infections.

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Technical and Administrative Assistance:

Chérie Petersen, BA
Conference Coordinator, ARUP Laboratories

Alyssa Peña, MLS(ASCP)^CM
Conference Coordinator, ARUP Laboratories

Arthur Veenema, BA
Multimedia Coordinator, ARUP Laboratories

Warda Memon, BS
Teaching Assistance, Johns Hopkins Hospital

Rachel Green, BS
Teaching Assistance, Johns Hopkins Hospital