Professor Geraldine Butler elected Fellow of American Academy of Microbiology
Posted 18 February, 2021
(opens in a new window)UCD Professor Geraldine Butler has been elected to the (opens in a new window)American Academy of Microbiology.
A Principal Investigator in the Conway Institute, and the Professor of Genetics in the UCD School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science, the distinguished UCD researcher was among 65 newly elected (opens in a new window)Fellows of the Class of 2021.
Fellows of the American Academy of Microbiology (AAM), an honorific leadership group within the (opens in a new window)American Society for Microbiology (ASM), are elected annually through a highly selective, peer-review process, based on their records of scientific achievement and original contributions that have advanced microbiology.
Since its inception over 50 years ago, over 2,500 individuals representing all subspecialties of the microbial sciences have been welcomed into AAM.
This year's Fellows were represented from 11 different countries, including Australia, Canada, China, France, Ireland, Sweden, Slovenia, Mexico, and Singapore, the UK and the United States.
Foundered in 1899, the ASM is one of the largest life science societies in the world with over 30,000 members across the globe.
Professor Butler was recognised by the AAM for her research, which uses a combination of next generation sequencing, comparative genomics and gene editing approaches to study evolution and virulence in pathogenic fungi, particularly Candida species.
She has had her work published extensively in international journals, and has participated in assessment panels for the Medical Research Council (UK) and the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (France).
Alongside serving as academic editor for the journals PLoS Genetics and mSphere, she is Chair of the International Scientific Advisory Board (ISAB) of the MRC Centre for Medical Mycology at the University of Aberdeen.
Professor Butler led the introduction of the single honours degree in Genetics in UCD in 2006, and acted as Head of Subject until 2017.
Elected Fellow of the Society of Biology in 2011, and member of the Royal Irish Academy in 2015, she was elected to the UCD Governing Authority in 2019.
By: David Kearns, Digital Journalist / Media Officer, UCD University Relations
