2023 Founders Day Ceremony at Washington University celebrated honorees on Saturday, November 4. William G. Powderly, MD, J. William Campbell Professor of Medicine and Associate Dean for Clinical and Translational Sciences, was honored during the celebration with the Carl and Gerty Cori Faculty Achievement Award.
The Carl and Gerty Cori Faculty Achievement Award recognizes faculty members from the School of Medicine for outstanding achievement in research and scholarship; recognized prominence within the community of scholars; service and dedication for the betterment of Washington University; and respected accomplishments in teaching. This award is given annually by the chancellor and the Washington University Faculty Senate Council.
Powderly, MD, is a gifted administrator and educator whose scholarship and clinical practice address the ways in which social inequities amplify health disparities.
Powderly holds several prominent leadership positions at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, including that of co-director of the Division of Infectious Diseases, where he oversees the department’s research enterprise, clinical operations, and educational programs. As the Larry J. Shapiro Director of the Institute for Public Health and director of the university’s Institute for Clinical and Translational Sciences, he leads efforts to build clinical and translational research from bench to bedside and beyond including community partnerships, economic and policy research, and influencing global health through scientific discovery.
Powderly completed his medical education at University College in Dublin in 1979 and a fellowship in infectious diseases at WashU in 1987. He joined the faculty at the School of Medicine and was promoted to Professor of Medicine in 1997, having been appointed as co-director of the Division of Infectious Diseases in 1995. In 2004 Powderly became dean of medicine and head of the School of Medicine at University College Dublin in Ireland, returning to WashU in 2013. In 2017, he served as president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
Powderly has studied HIV-related health issues for over 30 years, authoring more than 500 original manuscripts, reviews, and book chapters. The AIDS Foundation of St. Louis and the St. Louis Effort for AIDS are among many organizations that have formally recognized his research contributions.
His many honors include being named a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland; of the Royal College of Physicians in London; of the Infectious Diseases Society of America; and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
In 2016, Washington University’s Academic Women’s Network recognized Powderly with the Pillar of Support Award. He received the Distinguished Graduate Award in 2019 from the University College Dublin Medical Graduates Association.
Founders Day is an opportunity to reflect upon the university’s many milestones and accomplishments—and the people who helped make them possible.