The Alexander Fleming Award for lifetime achievement recognizes an IDSA member or fellow for a career that reflects major contributions to the acquisition and dissemination of knowledge about infectious diseases.
2023 Winner: Susan Swindells, MBBS
Susan Swindells, MBBS, has conducted many landmark studies that shaped clinical practice in HIV by defining optimal modern antiretroviral treatment strategies and developing new treatments for opportunistic infections, preventing HIV with antiretroviral therapy and preventing tuberculosis in people with HIV. Also, Dr. Swindells has contributed to national and international guidelines for the treatment of HIV, TB and COVID-19. Many of the junior investigators and students Dr. Swindells mentored are now leading HIV researchers.
Dr. Swindells is a professor of internal medicine in the Department of Infectious Diseases at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, where she served as medical director of the HIV Clinic for 28 years. She has also been a faculty member at Creighton University School of Medicine and Ohio State University Hospitals.
The National Institutes of Health, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Health Resources and Services Administration and pharmaceutical companies have all funded Dr. Swindells’ clinical trials. She led the study that described the importance of adherence to protease inhibitor-based ART and was the lead clinical investigator for the HPTN 052 trial, which demonstrated the efficacy of early ART for preventing HIV transmission.
More recently, Dr. Swindells has focused on TB treatment in patients with HIV and long-acting ART. She led the groundbreaking clinical trial of Brief TB therapy, which validated the use of a short course of INH/rifapentine to prevent TB in people with HIV. Clinical treatment guidelines include findings from this study. Dr. Swindells’ research has also led to the approval of long-acting injectable therapy to prevent TB in people with HIV. In addition, Dr. Swindells co-chairs the Phoenix study, a large multinational clinical trial of preventive therapy for MDR-TB.
Dr. Swindells has published more than 220 journal articles, editorials and review articles. Her work has an h-index of 37, with more than 18,000 citations of her articles. She holds or has held leadership roles in the NIH AIDS Clinical Trials Group, the national HIV guidelines committee and the national COVID-19 guidelines committee.
Many junior investigators and students who are now physician-scholars, medical directors, community advocates and medical educators were mentored by Dr. Swindells. She has received many awards for her coaching and advising, including the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Scientist Laureate award. This is the university’s highest honor for its researchers. Dr. Swindells is also a leader in providing clinical care to people with HIV.
The Society is proud to honor Dr. Swindells with the 2023 Alexander Fleming Award for Lifetime Achievement for her leadership in shaping clinical practice in HIV, developing treatment guidelines and mentoring rising leaders in HIV research, as well as medical directors, community advocates and medical educators.
Past Alexander Fleming Award Winners
| 2022 | Lawrence Corey, MD, FIDSA |
| 2021 | David Relman, MD, FIDSA |
| 2020 | James D. Cherry, MD, MSc, FIDSA |
| 2019 | Michael Scheld, MD, FIDSA |
| 2018 | Richard J. Whitley, MD, FIDSA |
| 2017 | Barbara E. Murray, MD, FIDSA |
| 2016 | Carol J. Baker, MD, FIDSA, FSHEA, FPIDS P. Frederick Sparling, MD, FIDSA |
| 2015 | Anne Gershon, MD, FPIDS, FIDSA |
| 2014 | Martin J. Blaser, MD, FIDSA |
| 2013 | King K. Holmes, MD, FIDSA |
| 2012 | Martin S. Hirsch, MD, FIDSA |
| 2011 | Barton F. Haynes, MD, FIDSA |
| 2010 | Herbert L. DuPont, MD, FIDSA |
| 2009 | Arnold S. Monto, MD, FIDSA |
| 2008 | Robert C. Moellering, Jr., MD, FIDSA |
| 2007 | Sherwood L. Gorbach, MD, FIDSA |
| 2006 | Merle A. Sande, MD, FIDSA |
| 2005 | John G. Bartlett, MD |
| 2004 | Stanley A. Plotkin, MD |
| 2003 | Bennett Lorber, MD |
| 2002 | Gerald T. Keusch, MD |
| 2001 | William A. Craig, MD |
| 2000 | Gerald L. Mandell, MD |
| 1999 | Anthony S. Fauci, MD |
| 1998 | Vincent Andriole, MD |
| 1997 | Andre J. Nahmias, MD |
| 1996 | Jack S. Remington, MD |
| 1995 | Jerome Klein, MD |
| 1994 | Paul Quie, MD |
| 1993 | Seymour Klebanoff, MD |
| 1992 | Sheldon Wolff, MD |
| 1991 | Theodore Woodward, MD, MACP |
| 1990 | George McCracken, Jr., MD |
| 1989 | Willy Burgdorfer, PhD, MD |
| 1988 | Samuel Katz, MD |
| 1987 | Sydney Finegold, MD |
| 1986 | Robert Austrian, MD |
| 1985 | Elisha Atkins, MD |
| 1984 | Morton Swartz, MD |
| 1983 | Wesley Spink, MD |
| 1982 | Edward Kass, MD, PhD, MS |
| 1981 | Jay Sanford, MD |
| 1980 | Thomas Weller, MD, MS |
| 1979 | Gordon Meikeljohn, MS |
| 1978 | Louis Weinstein, MD, PhD |
| 1977 | William Kirby, MD |
| 1976 | Saul Krugman, MD |
| 1975 | Harry Dowling, MD |
| 1974 | Lawrence Sherwood, MD |
| 1973 | Charles Rammelkamp, MD |
| 1972 | Paul Beeson, MD |
| 1971 | Colin MacLeod, MD |
| 1970 | K. F. Meyer, PhD, DVM |
| 1969 | Thomas Francis, MD |
| 1968 | John Dingle, MD |
| 1967 | Chester Keefer, MD |
| 1966 | Maxwell Finland, MD |
| 1965 | W. Barry Wood, MD |
| 1964 | Ellard Yow, MD |