The Best Student Paper Award is awarded yearly to the student delivering the best presentation at the FHS Annual meeting. To be eligible for this award, students must indicate that they wish to compete for the award when registering for the annual meeting. Students are judged by a panel of FHS members. Presenters are judged on number of criteria including presentation skills and scientific merit of the reserach. Recipients of this award receive a cash award.
Past Recipients of the Best Student Paper Award
2025
Best Paper – Sarah Williamson (Alaska Pacific University, MS), “Effects of Temperature on in vitro Replication and Seawater Inactivation of Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia Virus, with Insights into the in vivo Infectivity of Temperature Inactivated Virus to Pacific Herring”, Mia Reed (UC Davis, PhD), “Immersion and Oral Immunization of Rainbow Trout With a Live Attenuated Vaccine Against Lactococcus petauri”, and Tryssa de Ruyter (Washington State University, PhD), “Phylogenomic Characterization of a Divergent Infectious Hematopoietic Necrosis Virus Isolated from Gila and Apache Trout”
Best Poster – Kim Jacobsen (UC Davis, Phd), “Development of an Edwardsiella piscicida Immersion Challenge Model in Salmonids”

2024
Hayden Krause (Oregon State University, MS), “Pathogen risk to juvenile spring-run chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) in the Upper Klamath Basin, to inform reestablishment efforts”; Nilanjana Das (Oregon State University, PhD), “The emergence of Tetracapsuloides bryosalmonae in an Oregon salmonid hatchery”; Amber Johnston (University of Maine, PhD), “Exploring genetic resistance to Infectious Salmon Anemia Virus in captive North American Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar)”

2022
Alejandro Saez (Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, In-person Presentation Award); Divya Rose (Mississippi State University, In-person Presentation Award); Amanpreet Kohli (Virginia Institute of Marine Science, USA, In-person Presentation Award), Benjamin Americus (Oregon State University, In-person Presentation Award); Abigail Armwood, University of Georgia, Virtual Presentation Award); Arun Venugopalan (Mississippi State University, Virtual Presentation Award)
2019
Taylor Heckman (UC-Davis, PhD), “10,000 Heads are Better than One: Streptococcus iniae Biofilm Formation Enhances Environmental Persistence and Resistance to Antimicrobials and Disinfectants”; and Benjamin Americus (Oregon State University, MS), “600 Million Years of Innovation: Myxozoan Adaptations to Parasitism”
2018
Darbi Jones (Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Oral Presentation Award); Elizabeth Scherbatskoy (University of Florida, Oral Presentation Award); Cuong Le (University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia, Poster Presentation Award); Rebekah Weatherhead (Aberystwyth University, UK, Poster Presentation Award)
2017
Carolyn Chang (SUNY ESF, PhD Oral Presentation and Poster Awards); Denver Coleman (UC-Davis, non-PhD Oral Presentation Award)
2016
Megan Tomamichel (University of Minnesota-Twin Cities)
2015
Carolyn Chang (SUNY ESF); Megan Schall (Pennsylvania State University)
2014
Thomas Rosser (Mississippi State University); Dien Thu Nguyen (University of Tasmania); Carissa Gervasi (Virginia Institute of Marine Science); Megan Kepler (Pennsylvania State University); Bikramjit Ghosh (University of Tasmania); Kevin Erikson (CQUniversity); Fionn Farrell (Ross University)
2008
Charles Caraguel (Atlantic Veterinary College, PEI, Canada), “Describing Infectious salmon anaemia dynamic pattern at the population level using quantitative RT-PCR” & Mark Polinski (University of Idaho) “Investigations into disease susceptibility and diagnostic tools for burbot (Lota lota maculosa)”
2007
Benjamin LaFrentz (University of Idaho), “Characterization of Attenuated Strains of Flavobacterium psychrophilum Generated by Selection for Rifampicin Resistance”
2005
Deborah Cartwright (University of Georgia), “Preliminary Study On The Identification of Bothriocephalus acheilognathi Using Species Specific Primers”
2004
Deborah Cartwright (University of Georgia), “A Field Study on the Effect of Riparian Zone and Associated Stream Substrata on Tubifex tubifex and their Infection Rates with Myxosporidian Parasites”
2001
David Gauthier (Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences), “Interaction between Mycobacterium spp. and Peritoneal Phagocytes of Striped Bass (Morone saxatilis)”
2000
Scott Snyder (University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff), “Recent Incidents of Algal Toxicosis in Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus)”, and David Geter (University of Southern Mississippi), “P-Nitrophenol Metabolism by Japanese Medaka (Oryzias latipes) Liver Microsomes and S-9 Fraction: Additional Evidence for the Existence of a CYP2E1-like Isoform in Teleost”