Dr. Rhoda Benham (1894-1957) was a pioneer in the study of pathogenic fungi. After earing a botany degree from Barnard College, she was appointed to work in the diagnostic laboratory in the Dermatology Department headed by Dr. J. Garner Hopkins in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York (now Columbia Medical School). Here, she gained a doctorate for a taxonomic and serological study in Candida. In collaboration with Dr. Hopkins and Bernard O. Dodge, Dr. Benham organized the first comprehensive course on medical mycology and directed the first medical mycology research laboratory in the U.S. Among the many who worked or studies in her laboratory were Chester Emmons, Arturo Carrion, Lucille Georg, Librero Ajello, and Margarita Silva – ALL previous recipients of this meritorious award for outstanding contributions to the field. Please refer to the list of previous recipients below when considering nominees:
* Awarded retroactively in 1970
1967 Jose Ignacio Baldo*
1968 Chester Emmons*
1969 Norman Conant*
1970 Juan E. Mackinnon, Roger O. Egeberg
1971 Floriano P. de Almeida, Antonio Gonzalez-Ochoa
1972 Elizabeth L. Hazen, Rachel Fuller Brown
1973 Charles E. Smith (posthumous), Arturo Carrion
1974 Lucille Georg
1975 Michael Furcolow
1976 Libero Ajello
1977 Howard W. Larsh
1978 Charlotte Campbell
1979 Roger D. Baker
1980 Jan Schwarz
1981 John F. Busey
1982 Milton Huppert
1983 William Kaplan
1984 Everett Beneke
1985 Carroll W. Dodge
1986 Margarita Silva-Hutner
1987 Leo Pine
1988 Morris A. Gordon
1989 George S. Kobayashi
1990 Angela Restrepo
1991 Dexter Howard
1992 Demothenes Pappagianis
1993 Leo Kaufman
1994 Julius Kane
1995 Norman Goodman
1996 June Kwon-Chung
1997 John P. Utz
1998 Glenn S. Bulmer
1999 David Stevens
2000 Juneann Murphy
2001 John Bennett
2002 Judy Domer
2003 No award given
2004 John Taylor
2005 Michael McGinnis
2006 Garry Cole
2007 Arturo Casadevall
2008 Thomas J. Walsh
2009 John W. Rippon
2010 Paul Staniszlo
2011 Arthur DiSalvo
2012 Glenn Roberts
2013 David Soll
2014 Thomas Kozel
2015 John Perfect
2016 Mahmoud Ghannoum
2017 Jack Edwards
2018 Joe Heitman
2019 Dimitrios Kontoyiannis
2020 Stu Levitz
2021 Anita Sil
2022 Richard Calderone