Oct. 22, 2013 | Oct. 22, 2013 | Manish Joshi, M.D., an associate professor in the UAMS Department of Internal Medicine’s Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care, was invited to attend the Canadian Thoracic Society annual convention earlier this year to receive 2013 Norman L. Jones Award for his outstanding research article published in the Canadian Respiratory Journal.

The Norman L. Jones Award is given annually by Pulsus Group in honor of the founding editor-in-chief of the Canadian Respiratory Journal to the first author of a paper deemed to have the greatest potential impact on respiratory medicine. The award is selected through a vigorous peer-review process.

The article, published in the March/April 2012 edition of the journal, is entitled, “Use of interferon-gamma release assays (IGRA) in a health care worker screening program.” Joshi and co-authors had discovered flaws in a widely-used test for exposure to tuberculosis (TB). This widely-promoted new test for TB exposure was poorly understood and could lead to false positives – thinking that people with no exposure had been exposed and were at risk for developing overt TB, according to the article. Because of the article’s significance in the field, the journal published an editorial alongside it.

Joshi’s co-authored research paper has led to changes in current understanding and practice of TB testing. Apart from changes effected in Canada, where the article played an important role in the revision of guidelines, it led to a change in TB testing policy at the Veterans Administration hospital. The article has been cited frequently in medical journals and has rapidly penetrated current thinking, as evidenced by its incorporation into one of the most popular medical texts, an online resource called UptoDate.

Joshi was not prepared for the honor. “I was completely surprised,” he said. “Many prominent people have received this award in the last few years. It’s an honor to get such an award early in my career.”

Joshi went to Quebec City, Quebec in April to receive the award. It was presented during the annual Canadian Respiratory Conference. Joshi received $1,000 and a piece of Canadian art, “Loon in the Mist,” that was sculpted by David General. The award picture has been recently published in the current issue of Canadian Respiratory Journal.

Joshi joined UAMS in 2007. He earned his medical degree from the SMS Medical College in Jaipur, India. He went on to complete his residency in chest disease and tuberculosis at SMS Medical College Affiliated Hospital in Jaipur, India. He then completed another residency in Internal Medicine at Saint Joseph Hospital in Chicago followed by a a fellowship in pulmonary and critical care medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.

Joshi has a special interest in tuberculosis as well as sarcoidosis. Even with his successful research, Joshi definitely sees himself more of a clinician than a researcher, but he does enjoy research and other scholarly activities that has a direct impact on clinical practice such as this one.