CLSI 2022 Excellence Awards

Malvern, Pennsylvania, USA—The Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute announces the recipients of its 2022 Excellence Awards. These awards celebrate the achievements of CLSI volunteers who have helped improve the quality of medical care worldwide.

Russell J. Eilers Memorial Award

Nancy L. Anderson, MMSc, MT(ASCP)

CLSI’s highest award, the Russell J. Eilers Memorial Award is presented to Nancy L. Anderson, MMSc, MT(ASCP). Ms. Anderson’s sustained and meaningful contributions to CLSI standards development span more than 20 years. Ms. Anderson’s entire career has focused on advancements in the field of laboratory medicine. Through her tenure at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) she has been a steady guiding advocate for the full breadth of laboratory best practices.

Ms. Anderson has chosen CLSI as an organization to dedicate countless hours to for much of her career. Throughout, she has been an unwavering proponent of CLSI’s important mission and supporting role in laboratory medicine. In support of CLSI’s vision and mission, she unfailingly provides her vital broad-based and integrative perspectives gleaned from her senior roles in support of CDC Division of Laboratory Systems, CLIAC, and inter-governmental agencies.

John V. Bergen Excellence Award

Barbara Zehnbauer, PhD, FACB, FACMG

The John V. Bergen Excellence Award is presented to an outstanding volunteer or group of volunteers in recognition of advances in CLSI organizational directives and objectives, through unique and significant contributions. This year’s John V. Bergen Excellence award is presented to Barbara Zehnbauer, PhD, FACB, FACMG.

Dr. Zehnbauer’s clinical laboratory career spans over three decades, most notably in the field of molecular diagnostics testing, oncology, and human genetics and genomics.  She has been active with CLSI for over 14 years, playing a significant role in the development of the organization’s molecular diagnostics documents through her involvement with the Expert Panel on Molecular Diagnostics, the former Consensus Committee on Molecular Methods, and various document development committees. She has also contributed to the overall success of CLSI through participation in organization-level committees and as a member of the Kaizen team for CLSI’s Process Improvement Project.

Excellence in Standards Development Award

Virginia R. Fajt, DVM, PhD, DACVCP
Paula Ladwig, MS, MT(ASCP)
and Barbara L. Zimmer, PhD

The Excellence in Standards Development Award is presented to volunteers who make a significant contribution to the development of a consensus standard, guideline, or other work product. Such an individual is dedicated and committed to CLSI consensus development and an enthusiastic participant throughout the consensus process. This year’s winners of the Excellence in Standards Development award are Virginia R. Fajt, DVM, PhD, DACVCP, Paula Ladwig, MS, MT(ASCP), and Barbara L. Zimmer, PhD.

Dr. Fajt led the multi-year effort to develop the CLSI document VET09, Understanding Susceptibility Test Data as a Component of Antimicrobial Stewardship in Veterinary Settings, 1st Edition. Published in 2019, this document is designed to enhance communication between veterinary microbiology laboratories and their veterinarian clients. Dr. Fajt recruited a team of veterinarians, pharmacologists, epidemiologists, and microbiologists to contribute to the document. Dr. Fajt is a veterinarian and clinical pharmacologist who has been active in CLSI through the Veterinary Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing Subcommittee (VAST) as an observer, advisor, and previous voting member. Dr. Fajt has also chaired the VAST Working Group on Education.

Ms. Paula Ladwig has been actively involved with CLSI for over a decade. In her many roles, Paula has been incredibly effective in working with the evaluation protocols volunteers and has instilled the concepts of consensus into a challenging technical area.

As the Chairholder of the Expert Panel on Evaluation Protocols, her strong leadership and organizational skills are apparent as she has been instrumental in helping to manage the completion of evaluation protocol documents. In addition, she has expressed the need for and taken action to mentor new volunteers in this area. Recently, on her recommendation, the Consensus Council approved expansion of this important committee to enable more efficient management of the document library.

Dr. Barbara Zimmer has been actively involved with CLSI for nearly two decades and has made many significant contributions. She has served as an appointed voting member and an appointed advisor to the CLSI AST Subcommittee representing industry and has participated in many working groups. In addition, Barbara was appointed by CLSI to serve as a delegate to the CEN/ISO/TC WG 212-4 for Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing and remained on this committee from 2004–2012. She participated in ISO 20776-1 and 20776-2 Working Groups, and also served as Chair of the Writing Group for Standardization of Mueller-Hinton Medium, ISO/CD 16782. Her significant contributions helped advance these important documents. Among her most noteworthy contributions to CLSI is her service as Chairholder of the Intrinsic Resistance Working Group and more recently Co-Chairholder of the Methods Development and Standardization Working Group. Barbara has served as a voting member for several breakpoint working groups, as well as the M23 Working Group. She has been a member of CLSI’s Board of Directors since January of 2020.

Excellence in Member Organization Leadership

University of Washington Medical Center
and Mayo Clinic Health System

This year, the Awards Committee is proud to give this honor to the University of Washington Medical Center and the Mayo Clinic Health System.

The University of Washington Medical Center has been an active and longstanding professions constituency member of CLSI for close to 40 years and has supported CLSI with a health system membership across seven locations since 2018. By providing system-wide access to CLSI documents, the health system has close to 60 active users within CLSI’s eCLIPSE document library, with users accessing over 100 standards. The UW Medical Center has been continually active in supporting CLSI document development. In the past few years, they have provided volunteers across seven committees in the areas of Automation, Chemistry, Microbiology, Molecular Diagnostics, and Newborn Screening.

The Mayo Clinic Health System has been an active and longstanding professions constituency member of CLSI since the late 1970s. Since 2020, the organization has supported CLSI with a health system membership across six locations. With system-wide access to CLSI documents, the health system has close to 125 active users within CLSI’s eCLIPSE document library, with users accessing over 200 standards. The health system is one of the top ten most active users of the document library. The Mayo Clinic has been continually active in supporting CLSI document development. In the past few years, they have provided close to 40 volunteers participating on over 50 committees. These individuals have provided volunteer hours in support of projects and development work across each of CLSI’s specialty areas, as well as participation in expert panels and governance committees.

For a list of past award winners, visit the CLSI website here. For more on the awards or the nomination and selection process, visit the CLSI website here.

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CLSI sets the standard for quality in medical laboratory testing. A not-for-profit membership organization, CLSI brings together the global laboratory community for the advancement of a common cause: to foster excellence in laboratory medicine.  For over 50 years, our members, volunteers, and customers have made CLSI a respected, transformative leader in the development and implementation of medical laboratory testing standards. Through our unified efforts, we will continue to set and uphold the standards that drive quality test results, enhance patient care delivery, and improve health care around the world.   

By using CLSI standards, laboratorians can improve process quality, speed the development of standard operating procedures, and implement safer practices with greater ease and efficiency.