Assistant Professor of Biology Richard Bennett of the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology in the Division of Biology in Medicine has been named a Burroughs Wellcome Investigator in Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease.

According to the directors of the fund, Bennett is one of only 14 awardees for 2008 from a pool of 152 applicants. “The fund’s selection was based on the scientific excellence and innovation of your proposal,” the announcement noted, ”the strength of the scholarly environment at your institution, and your own accomplishments as an independent researcher.”

Bennett’s research focuses on the pathogenesis of the fungus Candida albicans, which can cause both annoying inflammations and fatal infections in humans.

A native of South Wales and an honors graduate in biochemistry from the University of Cambridge, he received his Ph.D. from the Imperial Cancer Research Fund at Clare Hall Laboratories in the UK. Before joining the Brown faculty in 2005, Bennett studied Candida with Alexander Johnson at the University of California–San Francisco.