Dr. Holder received this recognition for his work in the microbiology of burn infection, and specifically for his research in Pseudomonas immunotherapy. In the 1950s and 60s, with increasing and widespread use of antibiotics for the treatment of infection, Pseudomonas aeruginosa developed broad troublesome resistance to these drugs and emerged as a great infectious threat, especially to those with burns.

As the Director of Microbiology at the Shriners Hospital for Children, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, from 1967 to 2002, and working at the basic science level with the goal of developing clinically applicable immunological approaches to the prevention and treatment of P. aeruginosa infection, a difficult challenge, Dr. Holder first developed a burned mouse-Pseudomonas infection model. Using this model, he then systematically explored Pseudomonas cellular and virulence-associated factors for antigens to develop immunotherapeutic agents against Pseudomonas infections.

While no anti-Pseudomonal vaccine has been widely used in clinical practice, its applicability remains open and is being pursued in such areas as reducing P. aeruginosa infections in patients with cystic fibrosis. Dr. Holder published a review of the status of the work in this field (Pseudomonas immunotherapy: a historical review. Vaccine 2004; 22: 831-9).