Sears Honored with IDSA's Alexander Fleming Lifetime Achievement Award
In a ceremony that opened IDWeek 2025, Dr. Cynthia Sears, Professor of Medicine and Oncology, was honored by the Infectious Diseases Society of America with the Alexander Fleming Award for Lifetime Achievement, which is among the most prestigious awards in the field of infectious diseases.
Dr. Sears launched her career studying diarrheal diseases, and her interest in the gut microbiome led to discoveries that have helped illuminate how microbial communities residing in the gut influence immune responses that promote tumor development. In a landmark study, Sears characterized the immune response to Bacteroides fragilis. That study found that T helper type 17 T cell responses induce inflammation that promotes tumor growth, and that this process is common across several types of cancer.
In further studies of this process, Sears made novel and important contributions to the field by identifying the association of colorectal cancer with immune responses to several types of gut bacteria, including Clostridioides difficile.
This foundational work in understanding the microbiome's role in cancer is critical for identifying biomarkers that can forecast cancer risk and can lead to development of therapeutic strategies that are tailored to individual's unique microbial makeup for more personalized treatment approaches.
Dr. Sears’ work has been published in high impact factor journals including Science, Nature, Nature Medicine, Nature Cancer, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Annals of Internal Medicine, Cancer Journal, and the Journal of Infectious Diseases.
In addition to her contributions to research, the award recognizes Sears for her leadership in the field and in the Infectious Diseases Society of America. From 2004 – 2007, she served on the society’s Board of Directors, from 2010 – 2015 she served as treasurer, and in 2019 she led the society as president. In her role, she has worked to advance antimicrobial resistance and stewardship and pandemic preparedness policies nationally. She served as associate editor of Clinical Infectious Diseases from 2000 – 2016 and she has served as editor-in-chief of The Journal of Infectious Diseases since 2022.
Perhaps her greatest imprint on the field is in her role as a dedicated mentor for dozens of junior faculty, post-doctoral fellows, and students, in which she sparks curiosity and enthusiasm and inspires early career researchers in their pursuit of rewarding and successful careers. In recognition of her commitment to career development, Dr. Sears received the Kimmel Cancer Center’s prestigious mentoring award.
Sears is an elected member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and an inducted member of the American Association of Physicians.
Melia Receives Clinical Teacher Award from IDSA
On October 20, the Infectious Diseases Society of America presented Dr. Michael Melia with the society's Clinical Teacher Award. He has dedicated his career to infectious diseases training, education, and mentoring learners and medical educators at Johns Hopkins and nationally.
Melia has served as Director of the ID Division’s ACGME Adult Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program since 2105 and was appointed this year to Vice Chair for Education in the Department of Medicine. Due to his skilled leadership and approaches, the ID Fellowship Program at Johns Hopkins remains one of the top infectious diseases subspecialty programs in the nation. He has been recognized by Osler housestaff with the Faculty Teaching Award in recognition of outstanding contributions to housestaff teaching.
In his many roles with IDSA, including as current Chair of the Medical Education Community of Practice, Melia has nurtured a culture of national collaboration. He helped establish and expand the IDWeek Clinical Educator Coach Program, pairing early career educators with senior faculty for guidance and development, and he remains one of the program’s most popular coaches. He also standardized the medical abstract review process for IDWeek, establishing reviewer training, systematized scoring, and a supportive feedback process.
IDSA’s announcement about Melia’s recognition notes that he is “A gifted teacher with the ability to translate complex concepts into relevant lessons with humility and clarity,” and that his “impact reaches far beyond his own learners as he mentors, develops and uplifts other ID educators, and he leads with vision and generosity.”
