American Society for Clinical Investigation Recognizes Duke Professor Joseph Heitman

Joseph Heitman, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the department of molecular genetics and microbiology in the Duke University Medical School, has received the Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award from the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI).

The prize recognizes Heitman’s key contributions to understanding how microbial pathogens evolve, cause disease and develop drug resistance, and for his seminal discovery of the signaling and binding proteins TOR and FKBP12 that are targeted by the immunosuppressive drug rapamycin. His work on pathogenic fungi has discovered that they have a unisexual form of reproduction and has traced their evolution and exploitation of RNA interference.

Heitman joined the faculty at Duke in 1992, was named a James B. Duke Professor in 2004 and chair of MGM in 2009.