Steven Q. Simpson, MD is Professor of Medicine at the University of Kansas in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine, where he previously served as Division Director, Director of three ICUs, Chair of the Sepsis Team, and Chair of Multidisciplinary Critical Care. He has done research in all areas of severe sepsis from molecular and cellular mechanisms, to translational studies, to quality improvement studies.

He was a founder, in 2005, of the Midwest Critical Care Collaborative, a multidisciplinary and interprofessional collaborative effort to improve the quality of critical care services throughout the Midwest. In 2007, he initiated the Kansas Sepsis Project, a statewide program to improve severe sepsis care and outcomes throughout the state via continuing education both in sepsis and in quality improvement principles, and via inter-professional collaboration. He is currently heading a BCBS-sponsored sepsis collaborative among Kansas City metro area hospitals and is a contributing faculty member of the ongoing Surviving Sepsis Campaign collaboratives, leading the effort in the Midwest. He is a participant in the 2016 review and update of the Surviving Sepsis Campaign Guidelines.

Dr. Simpson was the North American co-chair of the International Single Day Point Prevalence Study for Severe Sepsis and Septic Shock (IMPRESS) in the fall of 2013. During his tenure at the University of New Mexico, he contributed to the discovery of a particular form of sepsis, the Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome, and published numerous papers on the clinical description, the hemodynamic description, and the approach to supportive care for patients with the syndrome, including extracorporeal hemodynamic and oxygenation support.

Dr. Simpson received his M.D. degree from the University of Kansas in 1983. He completed residency training in Internal Medicine at KU in 1986 and fellowship training in Pulmonary Diseases at Rush Medical College in 1989. He has been a faculty member at Rush Medical College, the University of New Mexico, and the University of Kansas. He is a regular reviewer for the journals Critical Care Medicine and CHEST, and he reviews on an ad hoc basis for Shock, the Journal of Intensive Care, JAMA, Virology, and Antiviral Therapy. He is the author of over 70 peer reviewed and invited manuscripts, book chapters, and web-based articles and presentations.

Dr. Simpson was the Third Eli Lilly and Company Distinguished Scholar in Critical Care Medicine, sponsored by the American College of Chest Physicians and the Chest Foundation for his work in reducing geographic disparities for severe sepsis care (the Kansas Sepsis Project). In 2013 he delivered the Roger C. Bone Memorial Lecture at the annual international meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians, describing the Kansas Sepsis Project. Dr. Bone was Dr. Simpson’s early career mentor and was the progenitor of the criteria used throughout the world to recognize severe sepsis.

Ruth Carrico, PhD, DNP, APRN, FNP-C, CIC, FSHEA, FNAP, FAAN, is a senior consultant with Carrico & Ramirez, PLLC focused on infectious diseases, infection prevention and control, and vaccinology. She is also a Family Nurse Practitioner based in Louisville, Kentucky.  In addition, Dr. Carrico is a Professor, adjunct faculty, with the University of Louisville School of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases. Dr. Carrico has received training specific for healthcare epidemiology at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in conjunction with the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Atlanta and the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA).

Dr. Carrico has worked in the field of infectious diseases and infection control for more than thirty years. Her work in infection control began in 1994 when she assumed the position as Director of the Infection Control department at the University of Louisville Hospital. She quickly recognized this as an area of intense interest and began active collaboration, seeking mentoring from national and international experts. From 2005-2012, she served as Editor for the APIC Text of Infection Control and Epidemiology, was appointed to the National Biosurveillance Subcommittee (NBS) Advisory Committee to the Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and in 2010 became a SHEA Fellow. In 2011, Dr. Carrico was appointed by Secretary Sebelius (Health and Human Services), to the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC). In 2012, she was presented with the Carole DeMille Achievement Award by APIC, an honor for an Infection Preventionist. In 2013, Dr. Carrico began serving the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases as the Board’s Nurse Planner and in 2014 became a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Executive Nurse Fellow alumna.

Dr. Carrico served as the 2016 President of the Certification Board of Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. (CBIC). In 2018, Dr. Carrico assumed the position of President of the Kentucky Nurses Association and in 2020 was recognized as a Distinguished Fellow in the National Academies of Practice. In October 2021, Dr. Carrico was inducted as a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, the highest honor in the nursing profession. Also in October 2021, Dr. Carrico assumed the role of Executive Director, then Senior Scientific Officer of the Norton Infectious Diseases Institute (NIDI) at Norton Healthcare in Louisville, Kentucky, where she supported the scientific and educational activities of the four Centers (Clinical Research, Education & Training, Global Health, Public Health) within the Institute until early 2023. During that time, she also led the CDC-funded Kentucky Infection Prevention (KYIP) Training Center, a broad educational program for infection preventionists and partners across the healthcare continuum. Following successful launch of the NIDI Centers and the KYIP Training Center, in 2023 Dr. Carrico moved to work as a full-time consultant with healthcare organizations, public health workers, providers, and industry partners sharing interests in addressing the challenges of infectious diseases prevention. Dr. Carrico serves on numerous advisory boards focused on vaccines and improving vaccination rates.  She continues to conceptualize and implement novel immunization approaches including training and competence development for healthcare providers and healthcare workers, including an educational website supporting vaccination and international travel health (TH101.com). Dr. Carrico provides consultation and service as Medical Affairs lead for VaxCare, LLC [Orlando] and maintains a clinical practice focused on vaccines, vaccination, and immunization processes (Trifecta Medical Group, Louisville, KY).

Dr. Hudson Garrett is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine at the University of Louisville School of Medicine. He holds a Graduate Certificate in Infection Prevention and Infection Control from the University of South Florida. He has completed the Johns Hopkins Fellows Program in Hospital Epidemiology and Infection Control. He is a Fellow, the American Academy of Project Management, and a Senior Fellow and Ambassador of the Management and Strategy Institute. In 2019, he was inducted as a Distinguished Fellow and Practitioner in the National Academies of Practices. Dr. Garrett was recently selected as 1 of 20 healthcare leaders globally to participate in the 2021 13-month Global Patient Safety Fellowship with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and is a graduate of the IHI Patient Safety Executive Development Program. Dr. Garrett has been awarded the Fellowship Designation by both the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America and the Infectious Diseases Society of America. He holds graduate certificates in healthcare leadership from both Cornell and the University of Notre Dame. He is a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives, the Royal Society of Public Health, the Association of Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, and the American College of the Association of Healthcare Value Analysis Professionals. He serves as the lead faculty member for the Medical Device Safety, Infection Control Specialist, and Advanced Medical Device Safety and Risk Management Certificate Programs for the AHVAP Certification Center.

He is a frequent international lecturer in the areas of infectious diseases, healthcare-associated infections, outbreak response and prevention, vascular access, patient safety, healthcare quality and risk management, medical device-related infections and outbreaks, endoscope safety, and infection prevention and control. He holds Board Certifications in Patient Safety, Healthcare Quality, Healthcare Risk Management, Legal Nurse Consulting, Medical and Clinical Affairs, Patient Experience, Vascular Access, Antibiotic Stewardship, Infection Control, Long-Term Care Infection Control, Dental Infection Control, Designated Infection Control Officer, Flexible Endoscope Reprocessing, Critical Care Fundamentals, Ambulatory Infection Prevention, Healthcare Value Analysis, and in Healthcare Management.

He has served on international and national organizational boards in the areas of healthcare environmental services, dental infection control, infection control, acute care infection control, post-acute care infection control, healthcare value analysis, infusion nursing, and vascular access. He has served on expert panels related to disinfection and sterilization with the United States Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and the Environmental Protection Agency, most notably serving on the FDA’s Panel and Working Group for Flexible Endoscope Reprocessing. Dr. Garrett led and completed the first FDA 522 Study on Duodenoscopes evaluating human factors elements of instructions for use and microbiological contamination of flexible duodenoscopes. He presented these results to the Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other clinical partner organizations globally. He is a member of the Network of Experts for the US Food and Drug Administration. He currently is the Chairperson for the new national Association of Perioperative Registered Nurses Infection Prevention National Task Force and serves as a member of the National Guidelines Advisory Board for AORN. Dr. Garrett has lectured around the world and provided testimony to government and regulatory agencies on a variety of topics related to infectious diseases and infection prevention and control.

Vitaly Herasevich, MD, PhD, MSc, is a Professor of Anesthesiology and a Professor of Medicine in the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, Division of Critical Care at the Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minnesota. He has been involved in medical informatics for over 25 years, with a specific concentration on applied clinical informatics in critical care and the science of health care delivery.  

Dr. Herasevich joined Mayo Clinic in 2006 and co-directed the Mayo Clinic Clinical Informatics in Intensive Care Laboratory. Dr. Herasevich's applied clinical informatics in critical care work included clinical data representation, ambient decision support, and alerting systems for early detection of critical syndromes and hospital-wide surveillance. He architected data warehouses in support of clinical decision-making quality and outcomes research. With longstanding interest in information security and more recent interest in computer vision, Dr. Herasevich has coauthored over 150 scientific articles and >span class="NormalTextRun SCXW247208915 BCX0">book “Health Information Evaluation Handbook” (now in the second edition).  

Dr. Herasevich has a long mentorship record. In addition to being appointed with full faculty privileges in clinical research and artificial intelligence at Mayo Graduate School, he developed the Informatics Curriculum for Mayo Medical School, CCaTS, and the Master’s in Medical AI programs. Dr. Herasevich is principal investigator, co-investigator, and informatics expert for past and ongoing federal and industry-funded projects totaling more than $115 million in research support. Dr. Herasevich is Fellow of American College of Critical Care Medicine (FCCM), Fellow of HIMSS (FHIMSS), and President of Minnesota HIMSS Chapter. 

Ed Septimus, MD, FIDSA, FACP, FSHEA, received his medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston in 1972.  He is board certified in both internal medicine and infectious diseases. after completing his postgraduate training in internal medicine and infectious diseases also at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. 

Dr. Septimus was Vice President of Research and Infectious Diseases at HCA Healthcare until 2018. Prior to HCA, he was the Medical Director of Infectious Diseases and Occupational Health for Memorial Hermann Healthcare System. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and was on the IDSA Antimicrobial Resistance Committee, the SHEA Antimicrobial Stewardship Committee, and the IDSA Quality Measurement Committee. He is now on the IDSA Sepsis Task Force. Dr. Septimus was chair of the Healthcare Safety Advisory Committee for the Texas Department of State Health Services from 2018-2021 and was the first recipient of the IDSA Watanakunakorn Clinician Award. He was also awarded the John S Dunn Sr. Outstanding Teacher Award. Until the end of 2021, Dr. Septimus was co-chair of the NQF Patient Safety Steering Committee.  He is now vice chair of the NQF Consensus Standards Approval Committee and holds faculty positions as Adjunct Professor at Texas A&M College of Medicine, Senior Lecturer Department of Population Medicine Harvard Medical School, and as Adjunct Professor of Medicine Houston Methodist Research Institute/Weill Cornell. He has published over 140 articles and chapters.

Daniel A. Green, MD, is an Associate Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and Co-Director of the Clinical Microbiology Laboratory at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center. His work focuses on diagnostic innovation, clinical utility, and antimicrobial stewardship, with particular emphasis on ensuring that microbiology diagnostics translate into timely, actionable improvements in patient care. Dr. Green has published extensively on the clinical impact of rapid diagnostics, diagnostic stewardship, and infectious disease outcomes, and serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Clinical Microbiology and ASM Case Reports. He is Director of Columbia’s ACGME-accredited Clinical Microbiology Fellowship Program and is actively involved in national educational and professional society initiatives.

Daniel A. Green, MD, is an Associate Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and Co-Director of the Clinical Microbiology Laboratory at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center. His work focuses on diagnostic innovation, clinical utility, and antimicrobial stewardship, with particular emphasis on ensuring that microbiology diagnostics translate into timely, actionable improvements in patient care. Dr. Green has published extensively on the clinical impact of rapid diagnostics, diagnostic stewardship, and infectious disease outcomes, and serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Clinical Microbiology and ASM Case Reports. He is Director of Columbia’s ACGME-accredited Clinical Microbiology Fellowship Program and is actively involved in national educational and professional society initiatives.

Cindy Hou, DO, MA, MBA, CIC, CPHQ, FACOI, FACP, FIDSA, FAPIC, is the Infection Control Officer and Medical Director of Research for Jefferson Health – New Jersey and an Infectious Diseases specialist. She has expertise in sepsis, antibiotic stewardship, infection control, patient safety, clinical quality, equity, and language access.

Dr. Hou is the Chief Medical Officer of Sepsis Alliance and a member of its Board of Directors. She earned her M.B.A. and M.A. from Boston University, a D.O. from the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine, and her B.S. from Yale University.

Dr. Hou is the principal investigator for an Office of Minority Health grant to reduce inequities in those with limited English proficiency. She is the co-editor of the book, “COVID-19 Viral Sepsis: Impact on Disparities, Disability, and Health Outcomes.”

Dr. Hou has a Certification in Infection Prevention and Control, is a Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality, and is a Certified Professional in Patient Safety. Dr. Hou is a Fellow of the American College of Osteopathic Internists, American College of Physicians, Infectious Diseases Society of America, and Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology.

Kayla Kirby, RN, MLS, ASCP, is a global medical science liaison for BD diagnostic solutions. She is also licensed as a registered nurse in Indiana and certified as a medical laboratory scientist. Her areas of experience include clinical microbiology laboratory work, and critical care nursing. At BD, Kayla is focused on scientific education, training, and engagement for the microbiology and molecular portfolios. Kayla’s primary focuses include the BACTEC™ blood culture system and the BD MAX™ enteric and healthcare-associated infection assays.

Kayla Van Benten, BS, M(ASCP), is a Senior Manager of Medical Affairs for Waters Advanced Diagnostics and is certified as a Medical Technologist. She brings more than a decade of experience in the clinical microbiology laboratory, including six years in laboratory leadership and management roles. At Waters, Kayla leads the global post-market evidence generation strategy for the microbiology portfolio and oversees the worldwide Medical Science Liaison team. Her professional interests include ID/AST, antimicrobial resistance, and antimicrobial stewardship, with a particular focus on connecting scientific evidence with strategic decision making to support improved patient care. 

Michael McCurdy, MD, is a triple-board-certified critical care physician who has used his extensive clinical and research experience to focus on creating, developing, and deploying novel solutions to complex medical problems encountered in the inpatient, outpatient, austere, and military environments. A clinical professor of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and Emergency Medicine at The University of Maryland School of Medicine, Dr. McCurdy has authored over 130 peer-reviewed manuscripts. His clinical research primarily focuses on novel ways to identify and resuscitate sepsis and other shock states, improve acute medical care in austere environments, and provide telemedical ultrasound support to remote clinicians. His work has led to multiple inventions to assist with bedside resuscitation efforts. He serves as an advisor or board member for several companies and nonprofit organizations. 

Dr. McCurdy remains involved with Nereus Medical Solutions, which delivers critical care in various austere environments around the globe. While he enjoyed serving as the lone physician providing medical support for a National Geographic around-the-world trip to many of the globe’s most remote regions, hehas focused the bulk of his international efforts on St. Luke’s Hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. His multi-year efforts there centered on educating Haitian physicians to conduct clinical research for the purpose of establishing a long-term, sustainable medical infrastructure that seamlessly integrates low-cost technology and high-quality education and patient care. His hope is that his group’s work will serve generations of Haitians while also providing a framework for the creation of similar sustainable medical care in other resource-limited countries. 

Dr. McCurdy previously served as the Chief Medical Officer of BOA Biomedical, utilizing a DARPA-funded pan-pathogen-binding protein developed at Harvard University’s Wyss Institute to enable rapid pathogen identification and clearance. He now serves as the CMO of Clairyon, a University of California San Diego-based AI company focused on deploying: inpatient and outpatient sepsis predictive analytics tools that ingest and process multimodal data sources (e.g., EHR, wearables, symptom assessment tools), automated inpatient quality assessment and reporting, and a generative AI mobile chatbot to streamline the management of illness and predict the development of outpatient clinical decompensation, particularly from sepsis.