VCU Medical Center infectious disease expert named president-elect of international society

By Pamela DiSalvo Lepley

RICHMOND, Va. – Dr. Richard P. Wenzel, professor and chair of the Virginia Commonwealth University Department of Internal Medicine and president of MCV Physicians, has been named president-elect of the International Society for Infectious Diseases.

Wenzel will be president-elect from 2004 – 2006 and president from 2006-2008.  He is a former counselor of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and former president of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America.  In 2001, Wenzel was named the first Editor-at-Large of The New England Journal of Medicine.  He joined the faculty at VCU in 1995, having previously held positions at the University of Virginia and the University of Iowa.

The Society has 38,000 members from over 100 nations, most of whom are corresponding members from developing countries.  Major international meetings are held every two years and grants for international research and teaching are provided on a competitive basis.

The Society owns and directs ProMed, a web-based notification system for the detection of epidemics all over the world.  ProMed had postings of what was eventually called SARS (severe acute respiratory infection) weeks before the World Health Organization announced its presence in February 2003.