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.