MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (May 4, 2007) — University of Minnesota Medical School professor Henry Balfour, M.D., has been named the recipient of the Clinical Virology Award for 2007. This award acknowledges an individual whose contributions to clinical virology have had a major impact on the epidemiology, treatment, or understanding of viral diseases.
Established in 1977, the Pan American Group for Rapid Viral Diagnosis, renamed Pan American Society for Clinical Virology in 1995, now boasts more than 400 members. The society aims to aid the development of techniques for viral diagnosis, to coordinate conferences to disseminate information, and to encourage collaborative research. The Clinical Virology Award has been given annually since 1993.
Balfour graduated from medical school at Columbia University in 1966; he completed his internship and residency at the University of Minnesota and Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in 1968. He served as a pediatrician at the Wright-Patterson Air Base in Dayton, Ohio. Since completing a post-doctoral fellowship in infectious disease in 1972 at the University of Minnesota, he has been on the faculty.
Balfour is professor of laboratory medicine and pathology, and pediatrics. He currently serves as medical director at the University of Minnesota, Fairview Clinical Virology Laboratory, which he established in 1972. He is widely recognized as a leader in the field of viral infections, especially those related to herpesvirus infections and HIV.
He received the award during the 23rd Annual Clinical Virology Symposium in Clearwater Beach, Florida on April 30, 2007.