The Joel Meyers Endowment Scholarship was established to honor the pioneering legacy of Infectious Disease Sciences Program founder, Dr. Meyers.
In the early days of bone marrow transplantation, Dr. Meyers was among the first to study infectious diseases that affect transplant recipients and other individuals with compromised immune systems. He was committed to eliminating the life-threatening infections that afflicted his patients. His work led to improved survival rates for transplant patients, through important advances in the treatment and prevention of infectious diseases including the herpesvirus cytomegalovirus (CMV). Dr. Meyers was also renowned as a devoted mentor for young physician-scientists.
Since his passing in 1991, the scholarship founded in his honor has helped create leaders in the field by supporting promising, early-career scientists as they gain more expertise in order to advance scientific knowledge and develop innovative strategies to prevent, treat and control infections. The Joel Meyers Endowment Scholarship fosters rigorous, interdisciplinary, innovative and collaborative training and research in the transplant setting and in other known and emerging areas of immunosuppression.
The scholarship provides a critical link in the chain of trainee support and a platform for successfully initiating independent careers, directly ensuring the impactful, life-saving work of our trainees. Past recipients have established independent careers in the United States and around the world, advancing the field through prestigious positions at universities, medical centers, public research institutions and in industry.
Supporting Pioneering Research
Outside support is the backbone of the Joel Meyers Endowment Scholarship. Donations are our most important resource for advancing the field and training the next generation of scientists who will contribute to it for years to come. Scholarship recipients study aspects of infectious diseases that affect immunocompromised patients, including epidemiology, risk, diagnosis, pathogenesis and disease burden. These are all critical areas of research for improving detection and treatment for these serious illnesses. It is thanks to generous contributions that we are able to create leaders who are poised to make the bold discoveries that will ultimately improve the lives of countless patients and their families.
A Visionary Leader
Dr. Joel Meyers founded the Infectious Disease Sciences Program at Fred Hutch as an integral part of the bone marrow transplantation group established by E. Donnall Thomas more than four decades ago. A pioneer in the study of infectious diseases that affect transplant patients and others with compromised immune systems, Dr. Meyers sought ways to eliminate infection-related deaths in these patients. His work increased survival rates for transplant patients by improving treatment and prevention of infectious diseases including cytomegalovirus (CMV); his critical contributions included writing the first chapters on CMV epidemiology in the hematopoietic cell transplant population and establishing the critical role of viremia in the pathogenesis of CMV disease. An international leader in his field, Dr. Meyers worked tirelessly to develop and share critical advances that continue to save the lives of patients worldwide.
Scholars Making an Impact
Joel Meyers Endowment Scholarship recipients have gone on to create lasting impact on the field, through prestigious positions in universities, public institutions and industry organizations worldwide.
Featured Scholars
For more than 25 years, the Joel Meyers Endowment Scholarship has provided critical resources to our transplant infectious disease fellows at a key point in their careers. The ongoing support honors Dr. Meyers’ passion and commitment and serves as a platform for recipients’ successful transitions to independent, impactful careers preventing infectious disease and saving lives.
Jim Boonyaratanakornkit, MD, PhD
Dr. Boonyaratanakornkit received the Joel Meyers Scholarship in 2019 working in the Infectious Disease Sciences Program within Fred Hutch’s Vaccine and Infectious Diseases Division. Utilizing his expertise in humoral immunogenicity and antibody neutralization, he contributed to work to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, investigating monoclonal antibodies for the prevention of COVID-19.
Dr. Boonyaratanakornkit is an assistant professor in the Immunology and Vaccine Development Program in Fred Hutch’s Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division and an assistant professor in the Division of Allergy and Infectious Disease at the University of Washington. He studies the epidemiology and immunology of respiratory viral infections and is currently focused on developing diagnostics, vaccines, and therapeutics against respiratory viruses. In his lab, Dr. Boonyaratanakornkit leverages innovative immunologic approaches to study B cell and antibody responses to respiratory viruses. Dr. Boonyaratanakornkit works to develop new vaccines and treatments, such as immunotherapies, by using information obtained through sensitive laboratory techniques to identify the immune system’s natural protective responses against viruses.
Elizabeth Gulleen, MD
Dr. Gulleen received the Joel Meyers Scholarship in 2020-2021. She worked as a Senior Infectious Disease Fellow with the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program at Fred Hutch, striving to improve clinical outcomes and prevent the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistant pathogens among cancer patients and transplant recipients by optimizing antibiotic use. Her research focuses included assessing healthcare worker knowledge of antimicrobial stewardship and improving guidelines for antibiotic selection in sub-Saharan Africa.
Dr. Gulleen is currently an assistant professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases and International Medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School. Her research interests include global health, epidemiology, implementation science, and immunocompromised infectious diseases. Dr. Gullen’s research focuses on the microbiology, diagnosis, and management of febrile illness among patients receiving cancer treatment in sub-Saharan Africa, with the goal of developing locally relevant infection management guidelines that will decrease infection-related mortality in this patient population. She has longstanding research collaborations with colleagues at the Uganda Cancer Institute.
Recent Scholars
Alicja Sadowska-Klasa, MD
Dr. Sadowska-Klasa is an assistant professor in the Department of Haematology & Transplantology at the Medical University of Gdánsk in Poland. Her research focuses on infectious diesases, such as CMV, in hematopoietic cell transplantation recipients.
Danniel Zamora, MD
Dr. Zamora is an associate and attending physician in Fred Hutch's Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division and acting assistant professor in the Division of Allergy and Infectious Disease at the University of Washington. His current research focuses on identifying epidemiologic risk factors for CMV infection, defining viral kinetics, and improving prevention, diagnosis and treatment strategies in immunocompromised patients.
Chikara Ogimi, MD
Dr. Ogimi is an affiliate investigator in the Infectious Disease Sciences Program in Fred Hutch’s Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division and Division Chief of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the National Center for Child Health and Development in Tokyo, Japan. His research is focused on the impact of respiratory viral infections on clinical outcomes, as well as the interaction between respiratory viral infections and antibiotic use in transplant recipients.
Jonathan Golob, MD, PhD
Dr. Golob is an assistant professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Michigan and an affiliate investigator in the Infectious Disease Sciences Program in Fred Hutch's Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division. His research is focused on how the human microbiome is affected by treatments in immunocompromised patients, and in turn, how the microbiome can affect patient outcomes.
Joshua Hill, MD
Dr. Hill is an associate professor in the Infectious Disease Sciences Program in Fred Hutch's Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division, associate professor in Fred Hutch's Clinical Research Divsion, and associate professor in the Division of Allergy and Infectious Disease at the University of Washington. He specializes in epidemiology, diagnosis, and treatment of viral infections in immunocompromised patients.
Cynthia Fisher, MD, MPH
Dr. Fisher is an associate professor in the Division of Allergy and Infectious Disease's Solid Organ Transplant ID program at the University of Washington and an affiliate investigator in the Infectious Disease Sciences Program in Fred Hutch's Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division. Her research is focused on invasive fungal infections and respiratory viral infections in cancer patients and transplant recipients.