This award honors Mark E. Shirtliff, PhD, former Professor in the Department of Microbial Pathogenesis in the School of Dentistry, and the Department of Microbiology and Immunology in the School of Medicine. The nominee must have a record of supportive graduate student mentorship.

The following items are required by the committee:

• Two separate nomination letters from individual students who have been mentored by the candidate
• The candidate’s curriculum vitae including a list of current and past students and if known, the current positions of past students

2025: Timothy D. O’Connor, PhD, Department of Medicine

2024: Julie Dunning Hotopp, PhD - Department of Microbiology and Immunology

2023: Michael Summers, PhD - Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

2022: Joao Pedra, PhD - Department of Microbiology and Immunology

2021: Mary Kay Lobo, PhD - Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology

2020: Brian Mathur, PhD - Department of Pharmacology