ASTMH - Bailey K. Ashford Medal

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Only members can submit nominations. (Nominees can be members or non-members.)

Bailey K. Ashford Medal

Nominations for 2025 will open in April or May.
For a list of previous medalists, scroll down.

"The Bailey K. Ashford Medal is presented to a member for distinguished work in tropical medicine. Customarily it is given to an individual in mid-career (within twenty years of PhD or MD)."

Please note: Members of the Awards Committee cannot nominate anyone for a medal, cannot add a supporting letter or be nominated for a medal. Not being eligible to receive a medal also extends to all sitting members of the Board/Executive Committee. The Society encourages members to look beyond elected leadership in nominating deserving candidates. Former elected leaders are eligible.

The Bailey K. Ashford Medal is awarded for distinguished work in tropical medicine. Initially the medal was to go only to workers under the age of 35, but over time the specific upper age limit was gradually increased, and eventually dropped. However, the medal still honors distinguished work in early to mid career. It is awarded every year, and more than one award may be given. Bailey K. Ashford was born on September 28, 1873 in Washington D.C., and was son of Dr. Francis Ashford, Dean of the Georgetown School of Medicine. He received his MD from Georgetown and entered the Army Medical Corps in 1897. After the Spanish American War he was sent to Puerto Rico, in command of medical department troops.

In 1899, at age 26, he recognized that hookworms caused the anemia prevalent among the rural populations and in 1904 he founded the Puerto Rico Anemia Commission to combat the disease. Except for assignments in Washington and France in WWI, he was destined to spend almost his professional career in Puerto Rico, where he died in 1934. He was instrumental in founding the School of Tropical Medicine in Puerto Rico which later transformed into the School of Medicine.

The first Bailey K. Ashford medal was awarded in 1941 to Lloyd E. Rozeboom with support from Eli Lilly and Company.

(Read the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene article about the medal by the man who created the medal's design.)

	2024 Andrew S. Azman Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
	Jonathan Juliano University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
	2023 Andrea L. Conroy Indiana University View an introduction of Dr. Conroy by nominator Dr. Chandy John.
	Manoj Theodore Duraisingh Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health View an introduction of Dr. Duraisingh by nominator Dr. David Fidock.
	Philippe J. Guérin University of Oxford, United Kingdom View an introduction of Dr. Guérin by nominator Dr. Abib Abera.
	Matt Laurens University of Maryland School of Medicine View an introduction of Dr. Laurens by nominator Dr. Stephen Hoffman.
	2022 Subash Babu NIH-NIRT-ICER, India View an introduction of Dr. Babu by nominator Dr. Thomas Nutman.
	Mohammod Jobayer Chisti icddr,b, Bangladesh View an introduction of Dr. Chisti by nominator Dr. Daniel Leung.
	Robert O. Opoka College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Uganda
	Silvia Portugal Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Germany View an introduction of Dr. Portugal by nominator Dr. Louis Miller.
	2021 Natasha Hochberg Boston Medical Center
	Makedonka Mitreva Washington University of St. Louis, School of Medicine
	2020 Mahalia Desruisseaux Yale University School of Medicine
	Christian Happi Redeemer’s University, Nigeria
	Meta Roestenberg Leiden University Medical Center, The Netherlands
	Andrew Steer Royal Children’s Hospital, Australia
	2019 Shannon Takala Harrison University of Maryland School of Medicine
	Sharon Tennant University of Maryland School of Medicine
	Joel Tarning Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Thailand
	2018 Wendy Prudhomme O’Meara Duke University
	Tyler Sharp CDC, Puerto Rico
	2017 Margaret Kosek Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
	2016 Stefan Kappe Center for Infectious Disease Research
	2015 Peter Crompton National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
	Jonathan Kurtis Brown University Medical School