Diane Fleming Leadership and Mentoring Award

This award recognizes those who have served in the role of leader or mentor.

The Diane Fleming Award recognizes a current ASBA member who exemplifies outstanding leadership or mentorship within ABSA International and/or the biosafety and biosecurity profession.  This award honors individuals whose influence is demonstrated through mentorship, collaboration, and advancement of professional standards.

Nominations must be received by the ABSA Office no later than July 31, 2026.

A nominee for this award should exhibit all of the following:

• Leadership through mentoring new and established biosafety professionals
• Activity in service to the biosafety field (example: developing a training that can be used in multiple institutions)
• Collaboration with other professional organizations
• Commitment to the publication of relevant professional knowledge (as an editor, publisher, author, or reviewer)
• Visible leadership that inspires and elevates others

Diane Fleming served as mentor to many people interested in the field of biosafety. Her career began with an academic appointment in Medical Microbiology at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in 1958. Her biosafety career did not start until 1980 after accompanying her Air Force husband on eight military moves over 20 years. She was serving on the faculty of the Wright-State University School of Medicine when she was selected to be trained as an Institutional Biosafety Officer, a requirement for any facility to do research with recombinant DNA. She was a student in the first NIH sponsored course on "Control of Biohazards in the Research Laboratory" at The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. (JHMI) Diane was offered the position of Biosafety Officer for JHMI where she taught and mentored students for the next eight years, with consulting work as a new goal, she began working with pharmaceutical firms and government clients to obtain experience with large scale biosafety. After working at Frederick Cancer Research Facility in Ft. Detrick for a year, she joined the staff at Merck. She helped form what is now the ABSA Credentialing Maintenance Board and served on the committee which created the first ASM test for biosafety professional certification (CBSP).