Sepsis Alliance Symposium: Healthcare-Associated Infections

Cindy Hou, DO, MA, MBA, CIC, CPHQ, CPPS, 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.

John Hudson Garrett Jr., Ph.D., MPH, MBA, CPPS, FACHE, FSHEA, FNAP, FIDSA is a driven, results-oriented, and collaborative healthcare and medical executive with a proven track record of growing clinical and medical affairs strategies across a broad variety of targets including both inpatient and outpatient healthcare settings, as well as community settings. Dr. Garrett has a passion for positively impacting patient safety through meaningful collaboration with patients, regulators, accreditation bodies, healthcare professionals, clinical organizations, industry partners, and integrated healthcare delivery networks. Dr. Garrett’s specific focus has been on the prevention of healthcare-associated and community-associated infection prevention and control, and he believes in advancing global evidence-based practices to reduce healthcare-associated infections, improve patient satisfaction and occupational safety, reduce costs, and improve overall healthcare outcomes.

Charles Holland is President and Chief Executive Officer of St. Bernard Hospital, a safety-net community hospital that has served the Englewood community and Chicago’s South Side for nearly 120 years. He joined the hospital in 1998, assuming his current leadership position on January 1, 2013. He is a member of the hospital’s Board of Trustees.

Mr. Holland has been instrumental in advancing the stature of the hospital as a community leader. His focus is on programs to keep people well and help prevent disease. In 2016, the hospital opened a 70,000 square foot state of the art Ambulatory Care Center to offer comprehensive outpatient services. Also, he led the work on the hospital’s affordable housing project, establishment of the St. Bernard Hospital Dental Center and the Pediatric Mobile Health Unit program, which has delivered 20 years of service. 

Under Mr. Holland’s leadership, the hospital significantly and swiftly improved its patient safety ratings, and it has attracted critical donations of improved technology to advance patient care. An unwavering advocate for health equity, Mr. Holland is president of the board of the Center for Better Aging, and he is also a board member of the South Side Healthy Community Organization.   

Catherine Liu, MD is an infectious diseases physician and professor in the Vaccine and Infectious Diseases Division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center (FHCC) and in the Division of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at University of Washington. She serves as the Director of the Antimicrobial Stewardship and Outpatient Parenteral Antimicrobial Therapy (OPAT) Programs and Associate Director of Infection Prevention at FHCC. Her clinical and research interests focus on the implementation and evaluation of strategies to optimize antimicrobial use and infectious disease management in immunocompromised hosts with a focus on patients with cancer and hematopoietic cell transplant recipients.

Melissa Miller, MD, MS, FCCM, serves as Medical Officer with the Division of Healthcare-Associated Infections in the Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Dr. Miller is the Project Officer for the AHRQ Safety Program for MRSA Prevention. She was previously the Project Officer of the AHRQ Safety Program for Improving Antibiotic Use, which promoted antibiotic stewardship activities in multiple healthcare settings, and for the AHRQ Safety Program for ICUs: Preventing CLABSI and CAUTI. She represents AHRQ on the Presidential Advisory Committee on Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria (PACCARB) and as an ex-officio member of CDC’s Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC). She has training in internal medicine, infectious diseases, pulmonary medicine, and critical care medicine, and has a background as a critical care nurse. Prior to joining AHRQ, she held the position of Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan and Medical Director of the Medical Intensive Care Unit at the Ann Arbor VA Medical Center, and conducted research on the implementation of evidence-based multidisciplinary ICU interventions.    

Michael Richardson, MHSc, BSN, RN, CPPS, CPHRM, is the Chief Quality and Patient Safety Officer at St. Bernard Hospital. Michael has been a Registered Nurse for over 30 years with a diverse background in the nursing profession. He obtained his master's degree in health science at Nova Southeastern University. He moved into risk management and patient safety approximately 15 years ago and has held several director roles for large health systems in South Florida.

Michael moved to Chicago in the summer of 2021 and joined St. Bernard Hospital as the Chief Quality and Patient Safety Officer, where he has been instrumental in driving the safety culture at the hospital and improving the overall quality and safety of care. 

With his leadership and patient safety background, he spearheaded the efforts to move St. Bernard from an ‘F’ grade to an ‘A’ grade within two years. Michael teaches patient safety principles to medical students at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science and is a board member of the Midwest Alliance for Patient Safety (MAPS) PSO.

Nasia Safdar, MD, Ph.D,is a professor in the Division of Infectious Disease within the Department of Medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, where she is s also Associate Dean for Clinical Trials and Research Director of the Wisconsin Medicine Institute for Clinical Trials. Dr. Safdar is also Faculty Director of Investigator-Initiated and Multisite Research, Institute for Clinical and Translational Research. Dr. Safdar serves as the Associate Chief of Staff for Research at the William S. Middleton Veterans Hospital and as the Medical Director of Infection Control at UW Health. Her research, which has been funded by VA, AHRQ, PCORI, and NIH, aims to reduce and prevent healthcare-associated infections by identifying, testing, and implementing novel interventions.

Because of her work and research in this area, in 2017, Dr. Safdar received a President’s Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding scientists and engineers beginning their independent careers. In 2018, she received the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award. In 2019, she received the Oswald Avery Award for Early Achievement which honors ISDA fellows aged 45 or younger for overall outstanding achievements in infectious disease. In 2021, Dr. Safdar became an invited fellow of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society.

Frank Scannapieco, D.M.D., Ph.D. is a State University of New York (SUNY) Distinguished Professor of Oral Biology and has an international reputation in oral biology. His research interests have included studies of basic dental plaque (biofilm) formation mechanisms and implications for health and disease. His laboratory has studied the interaction between salivary proteins and bacteria, and how these influence oral biofilms. He is also a pioneer in studies connecting oral and systemic diseases such as pneumonia, COPD, diabetes, and cancer.

A member of the University at Buffalo faculty since 1991. Dr Scannapieco served as the Chair of the Department of Oral Biology from 2004 to 2022. Over his career, he has mentored numerous junior faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate, dental, and college students. He was awarded several research grants over his career, edited several books and journal supplements, and has published over 170 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters.

A fellow of the American Association of Dental Research, Scannapieco has received several awards, including the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities, Distinguished Scientist Award in Oral Biology from the International Association for Dental Research, the William J. Gies Award for Achievement from the American Dental Education Association, and the Irwin D. Mandel Distinguished Mentoring Award, from the American Association for Dental Research.

He received a bachelor’s degree in biology and doctorate in dental medicine from the University of Connecticut, a master’s degree in biology from Northeastern University, and a PhD in oral biology and certificate in periodontics from the University at Buffalo.