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January 1, 2025
CLSI Announces Recipients of the 2025 Excellence Awards, Recognizing Expert Volunteer and Member Achievement
Malvern, Pennsylvania, USA — The Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2025 CLSI Excellence Awards. These awards recognize the achievements of CLSI volunteers and member organizations that are committed to CLSI’s mission to promote the use of international standards to improve the quality of medical care worldwide. Recipients are recognized for dedicating significant time and effort to the development, implementation, and promotion of CLSI standards.
Russel J. Eilers Memorial Award
This year’s recipient of CLSI’s highest honor, the Russell J. Eilers Award, is Joseph Passarelli. The CLSI president selects this award to recognize an individual volunteer who has made exceptional contributions to CLSI’s success over extended periods of time.
Joe Passarelli retired in 2024 after nearly forty years at Roche Diagnostics, where he served as a scientific liaison to professional societies and standard-setting organizations globally. With extensive experience in research, development, laboratory management, and market commercialization, he developed immunoassays for homogenous laboratory-based testing platforms and is recognized in substance use testing and therapeutic drug monitoring. He has been active with CLSI, participating in document development committees (DDCs) and serving on the Consensus Committee on Clinical Chemistry and Toxicology and the CLSI Consensus Council. He has also held leadership roles with the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (IFCC) and the Association for Diagnostics and Laboratory Medicine (ADLM) and is passionate about promoting standardization and harmonization in the field.
John V. Bergen Excellence Award
The John V. Bergen Excellence Award is presented annually to an outstanding volunteer or group of volunteers in recognition of unique and significant contributions to advance CLSI's organizational directives and objectives.
The 2025 John V. Bergen Excellence Award recipient is Susan Sharp, PhD, D(ABMM), F(AAM). Dr. Sharp is the Scientific Director at Copan Diagnostics and a past president of the American Society of Microbiology. She currently serves on the CLSI Microbiology Expert Panel, the CLSI Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (AST) Subcommittee, and several CLSI ad-hoc working groups. She previously served on the CLSI Board of Directors. Dr. Sharp is also a past member of the US CDC’s Board of Scientific Counselors for the Office of Infectious Diseases and the Microbiology Resource Committee for the College of American Pathologists (CAP). Dr. Sharp has delivered over 180 scientific presentations and authored more than eighty published manuscripts and thirteen book chapters.
This year, CLSI has presented the Excellence in Standards Award to two volunteers, Michelle Campbell, MS, MLS(ASCP)CM, MBCM, SCCM and Ribhi M. Shawar, PhD, D(ABMM), F(AAM), both of whom have made significant contributions to the development and management of CLSI standards and guidelines.
Michelle Campbell is the Senior Developer for the Department of Laboratory and Medicine at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. She is also an adjunct instructor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine. Michelle serves an active role on the DDC for CLSI EP44 and has become the chairholder for the CLSI EP21 and EP46 DDCs. She also serves as the Vice-Chair of the Evaluation Protocol Expert Panel.
“Michelle is extremely dedicated to the field of laboratory medicine and CLSI has certainly benefited from her expertise and willingness to volunteer her time to grow and improve guidance in the field. For her dedication, expertise, accomplishments, and time spent contributing to and leading working groups on behalf of CLSI,” Michelle Dina, MS, MB (ASCP)CM noted.
Dr. Shawar is a distinguished scientist and leader with a strong commitment to clinical microbiology and infectious disease therapeutics and diagnostics. Currently, Dr. Shawar serves as the branch chief of the Division of Microbiology in the Office of In Vitro Diagnostic and Radiological Health (OIR) at the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH), specializing in antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) and resistance detection. He is also a member of the CLSI Expert Panel on Microbiology and advises several CLSI Sub-Committees, including the AST Sub-Committee. Dr. Shawar was appointed as a member of the CLSI Consensus Council, providing valuable input on various strategic aspects for CLSI.
“We all should be celebrating the existence of an organization like CLSI which allows me and others to contribute towards advancing the practice of laboratory medicine, keeping the interest of patients in mind. This is also recognition for our Center and Office, whose mission is to advance public health in our own unique ways.”Dr. Shawar said.
Excellence in Member Organization Leadership Award
The Awards Committee is proud to give this honor to Kaiser Permanente — California, a nationally recognized health system that has been a strong proponent of CLSI dating back to 1995. Currently, Kaiser Permanente — California, has 18 active sites and volunteers contributing to 23 CLSI committees, with engagement and usage continuing to grow.
“Kaiser Permanente — California, is a highly regarded health care system and the support and involvement of Kaiser reflects positively on the importance and value of CLSI standards and the credibility of our expertise and authority,” note Lisa Arone, Vice President of Global Communications and Brand for CLSI.
For a list of past award winners, visit the CLSI website. For more on the awards of the nomination and selection process, visit the CLSI website here.