Sepsis Alliance Summit 2026 Keynote: "Blood Poison": Lessons from Sepsis History
Description:
This session was part of Sepsis Alliance Summit 2026
This keynote, Lessons from Sepsis History, will trace the evolution of sepsis from antiquity to modern medicine, exploring how historical concepts have shaped current understanding and care. Participants will examine sepsis as a complex syndrome influenced by uncertainty, quality improvement movements, and modern approaches to recognition and treatment. The session will also highlight key drivers of today’s sepsis burden, including antimicrobial resistance, health inequities, and healthcare system challenges.
Lesson Objectives:
At the end of this session, the learner should be able to:
- Appreciate how the early historical framing of sepsis as “blood poisoning,” and subsequent definitional paradigms, have shaped, and at times constrained, our current understanding of the syndrome;
- Recognize sepsis as a problem of complexity and identify key drivers of sepsis incidence and mortality, such as antimicrobial resistance, systemic faultlines within healthcare, and social determinants of health;
- Connect current paradigms of prevention, early recognition, and structured care with the broader quality improvement efforts of the twenty-first century.
Target Audience:
Nurses, advanced practice providers, physicians, emergency responders, pharmacists, medical technologists, respiratory therapists, physical/occupational therapists, infection prevention specialists, data/quality specialists, and more.
Parsa Shahinpoor, MD
Hospitalist and Quality Improvement Leader
Northwest Permanente PC
Parsa Shahinpoor, MD, is a frontline hospitalist, teaching physician, and quality improvement leader at Kaiser Permanente Northwest, where he has spent nearly two decades advancing sepsis care–, a role that has connected him with experts around the world. He completed his medical training at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, where he served as an assistant professor of medicine and directed the internal medicine medical student clerkship. He is the author of Blood Poison: The Untold Story of Sepsis (Amplify Publishing, July 2026), available at BloodPoison.com. Blending science, history, and narrative, he writes to make one of medicine's most urgent challenges vivid and accessible, bringing to life the patients and families whose stories illuminate the human cost of sepsis. Outside of medicine, Dr. Shahinpoor is passionate about playing and composing classical and modern piano. He also enjoys mountaineering, windsurfing, and stand-up paddleboarding in the Pacific Northwest.