Tsuji receives 2020 SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities

Recipients of this award are university faculty members who consistently go above and beyond their teaching and professional duties to make extraordinary contributions to their respective fields.

Tsuji is an international expert on antimicrobial pharmacology. His superbug research, which has been continuously funded by the NIH since 2008, investigates optimizing drug combinations to maximize antibacterial activity and minimize resistance and toxicity. His unique approach integrates clinical pharmacology, microbiology, bacterial genetics and pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics.

He is a highly active scientific reviewer and serves as journal reviewer and/or editorial board member for 17 peer-reviewed journals including Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, Journal of Infectious Diseases, Clinical Infectious Diseases, and Clinical Microbiology and Infection. Additionally, Tsuji serves on the editorial boards of Infectious Diseases and Therapy, and Annals of Pharmacology and Pharmaceutics.

He is a grant reviewer for the Pharmacokinetic Section of the Antimicrobial Leadership Group, and an ad hoc reviewer for U.S. Military Infectious Disease Panel, Broad Agency Announcement for Extramural Research, U.S. Department of Defense, and the NIH/NIAID Clinical Research and Field Studies Study Section.

Tsuji’s international research leadership is exemplary. He is president of the International Society for Anti-Infective Pharmacology, a 200-member worldwide organization, where he guides the fostering of research among young members, organizes annual meetings and spearheads partnership development. He co-chairs the Polymyxin Consensus Clinical Guidelines International Working Group, composed of leading researchers from the American College of Clinical Pharmacy, Infectious Diseases Society of America and the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. In 2018, he co-chaired the 3rd International Polymyxin Conference, bringing together leading global researchers, the FDA and industry to highlight last line of defense antibiotic polymyxin B and colistin research.

He has been recognized by his peers with the 2013 New York State Chapter of the American College of Clinical Researcher of the Year, the 2015 International Society for Anti-infective Pharmacology First Place Oral Presentation for PK/PD, the 2016 Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy Program Committee Award, and the 2019 American Society of Microbiology Microbe Outstanding Abstract Award.

As a research educator and the Associate Dean for Clinical and Translational Research, Tsuji leads the School of Pharmacy’s Clinical Research Program, where he has personally mentored 17 PharmD students along with countless graduate students and postdoctoral research fellows.