Kathleen (Kathy) Glass, Ph.D., will receive Food Safety Magazine's Distinguished Service Award for 2024. The award will be presented at the 2024 Food Safety Summit, taking place May 6–9 in Rosemont, Illinois. 

Dr. Glass was nominated and selected as the recipient of the award by the food safety community for her work at the Food Research Institute (FRI) at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, which has enabled her to influence and promote food safety in academia, in industry, among the public, and to the government. Notably, her work in challenge studies for products with vegetative pathogens and spore-forming organisms, such as Clostridium botulinum, has led to safer products, better understanding of shelf life, and improved product development.

Dr. Glass joined the FRI as a food safety researcher in 1985 and currently serves as Associate Director, assisting the food industry in assessing and developing formulation-safe foods. In addition, she trains and oversees undergraduate and graduate student independent study research, and is a regular instructor at workshops on food microbiology, preventive controls, Listeria control methods, processed meat and processed cheese safety, and dairy HACCP. 

Her research interests include the safety of low-acid refrigerated foods, ready-to-eat meats, processed cheese, and other dairy foods, focusing on the control of various bacterial pathogens. Dr. Glass earned her Ph.D. in Food Microbiology and Safety at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She is a Past President of the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) and its Wisconsin affiliate. 

In addition to receiving the 2024 Distinguished Service Award from Food Safety Magazine, Dr. Glass is a recipient of the 2023 IAFP Honorary Life Member Award, the 2020 University of Wisconsin–Madison Academic Staff Award for Excellence, the 2019 Wisconsin Meat Industry Hall of Fame, the 2017 National Cheese Institute (NCI) Laureate Award, and the 2011 IAFP Fellow Award. 

In addition, Dr. Glass served four terms on the National Advisory Committee for the Microbiological Criteria of Foods (NACMCF), including two terms as Co-Chair; as an academic advisor for the Food Microbiology Committee of the Institute for the Advancement of Food and Nutrition Sciences (IAFNS); and is an active member of several professional associations and advisory committees.

Past recipients of the Food Safety Magazine Distinguished Service Award include (in alphabetical order by last name): Reginald Bennett, M.Sc., Dane Bernard, M.Sc., Larry Beuchat, Ph.D., Robert L. Buchanan, Ph.D., Frank Busta, Ph.D., John N. Butts, Ph.D., Darin Detwiler, Ph.D., Keith Ito, Allen Katsuyama, Connie Kirby, M.Sc., John W. Larkin, Ph.D., Huub Lelieveld, Barbara Masters, D.V.M., Ann Marie McNamara, Ph.D., Theodora Morille-Hinds, M.Sc., William Sperber, Ph.D., Joe Stout, R.S., Michael R. Taylor, J.D., Steve Taylor, Ph.D., David Theno, Ph.D., Bruce Tompkin, Ph.D., and Don L. Zink, Ph.D.