March 1
@
11:00 AM
–
12:00 PM
Healthcare-associated infections are common and are costly to treat from an institutional perspective and the demands placed on impacted patients’ health and seeking treatments to stabilize and foster the best possible outcomes. Dr. Safdar has led research and quality improvement projects with a particular emphasis on reducing the burden of multi-drug resistant infections.
Most healthcare-associated infections are preventable yet still persist. Clostridium difficile, in particular, is a multi-drug resistant pathogen that Dr. Safdar has led research efforts and has received international recognition for prevention methods and quality improvements with C. diff infection.
Through infection prevention and antibiotic stewardship, the number of healthcare-associated infections can be reduced. Issues in effective implementation and assessment require ongoing education for medical practitioners and medical facilities and providing practical steps to patients and communities for better health. Researching the microbiome in connection to infectious disease continues to reveal new insights about paths to reduce HAIs.
The Safdar research group focuses on taking evidence and proactively using a systems engineering lens. In this ISyE session, Dr. Safdar will talk about how she and her team efforts have reduced C. diff in facilities with a focus on both stewardship and infection prevention as integrated approaches.
Bio:
Dr. Nasia Safdar 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 also Associate Dean for Clinical Trials and Research Director of the Wisconsin Medicine Institute for Clinical Trials. Dr. Safdar is 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 was the recipient of the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award. In 2019, she received the Oswald Avery Award for Early Achievement that honors ISDA fellows age 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 and a American Society for Microbiology Distinguished Lecturer in 2023.