Amsterdam, the Netherlands, November 14-15, 2008.  On the 8 th of May 1808 King Louis Napoleon (brother of Napoleon Bonaparte) founded the Royal Institute of Science, Letters and Fine Arts, later to become the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. In celebration of the bicentennial the Academy organized a series of different events to take place throughout 2008. Each of the academies was given the opportunity to organize a special symposium.

The CBS Fungal Biodiversity Centre of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences organized a symposium “ Fungi and Health ” on the 13–14 November 2008 at the Trippenhuis in Amsterdam The aim of this symposium was to highlight the important role that microbes play in the environment, touching many aspects of our lives, from industry, to health and agriculture. The symposium consisted of six sessions covering Fungi and Human Health, Food Safety, Living in Healthy Environments, Culture Collections, DNA Barcoding and Biosecurity, Yeasts and Health, and Fungi and Healthy Plants. A total of 150 participants from 18 different countries attended the symposium including New Jersey Medical Mycologist MJ Dumanov.

This meeting recognized  Dr. Kurtzman the Josef Adolf von Arx Award  for his   contribution to taxonomic research of fungal biodiversity, marking a distinguished career in mycology.

Dr. Simmons received the Johanna Westerdijk Award  for his service in mycology including appointments  as head of the U.S. Army Quartermaster Culture Collection of Fungi, his major contributions to the CBS culture collection and many other associations over a lifetime. His recent book, “ Alternaria : An Identification Manual”, published in 2007 in the CBS Biodiversity Series, represents some of his most recent work. 

Program and abstracts from "Fungi and Health"

Photos from the symposium “Fungi and Health” hosted at the Royal Dutch Academy for Arts and Sciences (13-14 Nov. 2008).