Matthias Maiwald

BIOGRAPHY

CURRENT POSITION:
• Consultant in Microbiology, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Singapore
• Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore
• Adjunct Associate Professor, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School (Duke University and National University of Singapore), Singapore

EDUCATION:
• 2004: Diplomate, American Board of Medical Microbiology; D(ABMM)
• 2003: Fellowship of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia; FRCPA
• 1997: Habilitation (title: 'Privatdozent') in Medical Microbiology, University of Heidelberg, Germany
• 1995: Specialist qualification (board certification) in Microbiology and Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Medical Board of Germany ('Facharzt für Mikrobiologie')
• 1987: Medical doctorate (Dr med) based on thesis work, University of Heidelberg, Germany
• 1987: Medical degree (MD), University of Heidelberg School of Medicine, Germany

MEMBERSHIPS:
• German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology (DGHM). From 1990
• American Society for Microbiology. From 1990
• International Society for Human and Animal Mycology. From 1994
• German-speaking Mycological Society. From 1994
• German Society of Microbiology and Infectious Disease Specialists (BÄMI). From 1995
• German Association of University Lecturers (Deutscher Hochschulverband). From 1997
• Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia. From 2003
• Australian Society for Microbiology. From 2007
• Singapore Society of Pathology. From 2010
• Infection Control Association of Singapore (ICAS). From 2011

SELECTED AWARDS AND HONORS:
• Maiwald M BioMérieux Diagnostics Award 1996. Sponsored by BioMérieux, awarded by a committee of the German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology
• Barrell BG, Relman DA, Parkhill J, Maiwald M, Pallen MJ. Genome sequence of the enigmatic, fastidious, actinomycete associated with Whipple's disease: Tropheryma whippelii. Collaborative microbial genome sequencing project funded by the Wellcome Trust

RESEARCH INTERESTS:
• Molecular methods to diagnose and characterize fastidious pathogenic microorganisms. This includes the Whipple's disease bacterium (Tropheryma whipplei), Legionella spp. (the agent of Legionnaire’s disease) and Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (the agent of tick-transmitted Lyme disease). Further published work includes fungi (e.g. Candida spp., Aspergillus spp., zygomycetes) and Helicobacter pylori.

• Infection control and hospital epidemiology, with an emphasis on (a) hand hygiene in the healthcare setting, and (b) prevention of infections in surgery.