When Kathy Bischoff retired, she had plans to live out her dreams to travel and settle down in the Ozark Mountains. That dream quickly turned into a nightmare when she experienced her first diagnosis of Clostridioides difficile.  

As C. diff Awareness Month comes to a close, the IDSA Foundation is sharing the journey of a courageous C. diff survivor. Bischoff faced seven reoccurrences of this life-threatening disease and is now a volunteer for the C Diff Foundation. She shares her story to educate, advocate and bring hope to patients across the country. 

Bischoff shared her personal story with more than 170 people during the IDSA Foundation’s C. diff Talk, the inaugural webinar of the new Dr. John G. Bartlett Education Series. In addition to Bischoff’s testimonial, the event, supported by Seres Therapeutics, featured IDSA Foundation board member Eliot Godofsky, MD, FACP, FIDSA, and Mark Wilcox, MD, FRCPath. 

Read more about Bischoff’s journey, and watch C. diff Talk today. 

As we begin to close 2021, we enter a time of gratitude and reflection. Because of your generous contributions, the IDSA Foundation has helped to advance research, mentorship and career opportunities in the field of ID.      

For 2022, we have exciting new projects in development, and your support will help us cultivate a more diverse ID workforce of future leaders and sustain interest in ID research and medicine among historically marginalized populations.  
 
Can we count on your additional support this Giving Tuesday to help jumpstart our 2022 work? Thanks to our partners at Ferring Pharmaceuticals, your gift this Giving Tuesday will go THREE times as far with a match of up to $20,000 in honor of the Foundation’s 20th anniversary. Don’t miss this special match opportunity. Give today! 

We are excited to announce the 2022 IDSA Foundation Board of Directors. We look forward to continuing to work with those who previously served, and we welcome our new members! Thank you for giving your time and leadership to the Foundation. Learn more about our board of directors. 

Sometimes you choose your career path, and other times your career path chooses you. That statement is certainly true for Anne Gershon, MD, FIDSA, a pediatric infectious diseases specialist at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. Heavily influenced by fate, Dr. Gershon landed in pediatrics, infectious diseases and vaccinology, and the impact of her work with the varicella-zoster virus (commonly known as chickenpox) has been felt on a global scale. The IDSA Foundation is proud to honor Dr. Gershon as a 2021 Women of ID honoree. 

To support the Women of ID — past, present and future — please consider making a gift to the Foundation today. 

Apply for the IDSA Foundation/HIVMA Clinical Fellowship Program   

Apply now for the 2022-2023 HIVMA Clinical Fellowship Program. This program supports physicians who are not yet trained in infectious diseases in pursuing one year of HIV clinical training under the mentorship of an HIVMA member at clinical sites serving medically underserved populations.  Applications close Dec. 13.   

Apply for the 2022 G.E.R.M. Program   

Applications for the 2022 Grants for Emerging Researchers/Clinicians Mentorship (G.E.R.M.) Program are now open. HIVMA and the IDSA Foundation developed this program to provide grants to medical students interested in a career in ID or HIV medicine. Awardees will receive a $4,000 stipend to complete their project and will be paired with an IDSA or HIVMA member who will serve as a mentor. Medical students from populations underrepresented in medicine are encouraged to apply.  

Interested students can register for the G.E.R.M. Program Proposal Writing Workshop, taking place at 3:30 p.m. ET on Dec. 10.   

The deadline to apply for the program is Feb. 7, 2022. Email HIVMA staff with questions. 

Are you caught up on the IDSA Foundation’s latest blogs? We are committed to sharing insights from ID specialists across the country and providing the latest IDSA Foundation news.

• ID workforce shortage: Why it’s crucial to support tomorrow’s ID leaders – today  

• COVID-19 stories from the front lines: Vaccine and therapeutics development for diseases with pandemic potential 

• COVID-19 stories from the front lines: The grueling pace of public health in a pandemic 

The IDSA Foundation’s Industry Partners ensure our work continues for years to come. Thanks to our generous supporters, we can support life-saving research, fund innovative programs and cultivate the next generation of diverse infectious diseases professionals. We’re proud to highlight our Industry Partners to showcase what they do best. This month, we’re putting the spotlight on Seres Therapeutics:

Seres Therapeutics is a late-clinical-stage biotechnology company with a strong development pipeline and rigorous scientific underpinning, working to revolutionize treatment of a wide range of diseases by modulating the function of the human microbiome.