Dr. Richard Thomson received his M.S. and Ph.D. from Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pa., followed by fellowship training in medical microbiology, public health and laboratory medicine at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. He is a medical microbiologist in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, NorthShore University HealthSystem and clinical professor of pathology at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. His research interests include automation of clinical microbiology, clinical microbiology as consultative service and the laboratory’s role in infection prevention.

Thomson served as a member of the College of American Pathologists Microbiology Resource Committee, is a member of the FDA Microbiology Devices Panel, a past chair of the CLSI Expert Panel on Microbiology, a past member of ASM’s Committee on Microbial Sciences and past chair of the Clinical Microbiology Division C. He is recipient of ASM’s Sonnenwirth Award for Leadership in Clinical Microbiology, the Illinois Society for Microbiology’s Pasteur Award and the Thomas Jefferson University Annual Alumni Award.