Position/Organization: media relations manager, American Society for Microbiology

Jim Sliwa is manager of media relations at the American Society for
Microbiology. A graduate of the Journalism School at the University of
Maryland, College Park, he worked in the Public Information Office in
the Office on Smoking and Health under Surgeon General C. Everett Koop
before joining the ASM in 1990. He received his masters degree in
public relations from the University of Maryland in 2001.

For over 20 years he has been involved in all aspects of organizing and
managing the press rooms for the Society's two major scientific
conferences: The ASM General Meeting and the Interscience Conference on
Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC). Known as the preeminent
world meeting for presenting new information on clinical and basic
research in infectious diseases and anti-infective therapy, ICAAC has
also traditionally served as a forum for the introduction of new
antimicrobial agents. It is the largest infectious disease meeting held
in the United States.

He has also organized press rooms for the annual meeting of the American
Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, the Conference on Human
Retroviruses and Related Infections and the International Conference on
Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Jim is a member of the NASW and served on the Board of the DC Science
Writers Association as Membership Chair for 4 years. He has recently
received the designation of Certified Associated Executive (CAE) from
American Society of Association Executives (ASAE)