Washington, DC—June 6, 2012 Joanna B. Goldberg, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Cancer Biology, University of Virginia and Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, has been presented with the 2012 ASM Graduate Microbiology Teaching Award. This award recognizes an individual for distinguished teaching of microbiology and mentoring of students at the graduate and postgraduate levels, and for encouraging students to subsequent achievement. "Goldberg is truly deserving of this award," describes Sara Cassidy, University of Michigan, and a former student of Goldberg's. "Through years of practice, she has developed an uncanny ability to detect and address the needs of individual students—a quality of mentorship that is difficult to teach."
Goldberg received her B.A. in Biology from Boston University, and her Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of California, Berkeley. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, San Francisco and the University of California, Berkeley. Goldberg then took a faculty position at in the Channing Laboratory at the Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School. She decided that a faculty position at a strictly academic institution might allow her to have a greater impact on teaching and training the next generation of scientists, so she joined the faculty at the University of Virginia as an Associate Professor where her research program continues to focus on bacterial physiology and pathogenesis.
Goldberg has mentored thirteen graduate students in her own laboratory and has formally advised over seventy-five students throughout her time at UVA. "I have interacted with virtually all of her graduate students at various local meetings," says nominator Dennis Ohman, her former mentor at Berkeley. "Her students are always enthusiastic and knowledgeable about their research projects, and very eager to share ideas and take suggestions. It is obvious to me that this positive confident attitude comes directly from Goldberg's approach to science." Goldberg now directs the Microbial Pathogenesis course and is Graduate Advisor for the Department and for UVA's Infectious Diseases and Biodefense Training Grants from the NIH. "More than any one individual, Goldberg is responsible for the evolution of the now superb graduate program in Microbial Pathogenesis at UVA, where graduate students and M.D. and Ph.D. Fellows interact with and learn from each other," describes William Petri, University of Virginia.
Goldberg's activities and service record reflect her interest and enthusiasm for mentoring and training graduate students and—through this effort—the entire scientific community. She is a member of UVA's Academy of Distinguished Educators, has chaired numerous local, national, and international meetings, and is an active volunteer for the ASM. She has been a Division Councilor to the National ASM and President of ASM's Virginia Branch. Currently, Goldberg serves as chair of the ASM Career Development Committee and a member of the ASM Conferences Committee and the Committee on Awards. "Despite her international stature and undeniable intellect, there is never a hint of arrogance in Joanna—actually, just the opposite," summarized Petri. "When I picture Joanna in my mind it is of her broadly smiling, with twinkling eyes full of energy and enthusiasm. Graduate students learn science rigorously from her, and just as importantly have a role model for collegiality and mentoring that is second to none. Goldberg is an absolutely spectacular mentor and teacher for graduate students, the epitome of what this award was designed to recognize."
To view Dr. Goldberg's biosketch, please visit: http://www.asm.org/index.php/awards-grants/current-asm-graduate-microbiology-teaching-award.html
The ASM Graduate Microbiology Teaching Award will be presented during the 112th General Meeting of the ASM, June 16 - 19, 2012 in San Francisco, California. ASM is the world's oldest and largest life science organization and has more than 40,000 members worldwide. ASM's mission is to advance the microbiological sciences and promote the use of scientific knowledge for improved health and economic and environmental well‐being.