Hospital Epidemiology and Infection Control Facing Emerging Pathogens

Yehuda Carmeli, MD, MPH

Professor Carmeli is Chief of the Division of Epidemiology at the National Center for Antibiotic Resistance and a Professor of Medicine at Tel Aviv University. He is also on the research staff at the Division of Infectious Diseases, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA. Professor Carmeli received his MD degree from Ben Gurion University, Israel and his MPH degree at Harvard School of Public Health. He served his residency at Hadassah Medical Center, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, and then served as a fellow in Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston. Professor Carmeli completed his fellowship in Infectious Diseases at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA. His primary research interest is the epidemiology of resistance to antibiotics. He is the author of over 200 research articles, the recipient of multiple research grants and awards, and member of editorial board of major journals in the fields of Infectious Diseases and antibiotic research.

Mitchell Schwaber, MD, MSc

Dr. Mitchell J. Schwaber is the director of the National Center for Infection Control of the Israel Ministry of Health and an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine. Originally from Boston, MA, he received his BA from Princeton University, pursued his medical studies at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and completed his internship at Massachusetts General Hospital. He made Aliyah in 1992 and did his medical residency at Hadassah University Hospital, Jerusalem. Upon completion of his military service in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), he trained in infectious diseases and epidemiology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. In addition to his duties with the Ministry, he practices internal and infectious diseases medicine at the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center and Maccabi Healthcare Services. He is an officer in the IDF Medical Corps Reserves, in which capacity he was called upon to serve in the IDF Field Hospital in Haiti following the January 2010 earthquake. 

Jonathan Zenilman, MD

Co-Director of the Summer Institute

Jonathan Zenilman, MD is Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Infectious Diseases Division at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. He also serves as Executive Medical Director for the Business Development and Strategic Alliances Division of Johns Hopkins Medicine, and holds joint appointments at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the Department of Population and Family Health Sciences and the Department of Epidemiology.

Dr. Zenilman is known internationally for his work in infectious disease epidemiology. Prior to coming to Johns Hopkins in 1989 he was a medical epidemiologist at the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) where he conceived, developed, and implemented the National Gonococcal Isolate Surveillance Program (GISP). GISP operated continuously since 1987, and has been responsible for identifying multiple types of resistant strains before they became large clinical problems. In July 2013 Dr. Zenilman was awarded the Distinguished Career Award from the American Sexually Transmitted Diseases Association. The award, ASTDA’s most prestigious, recognizes an honoree’s contributions over time in STD research and prevention. Zenilman served as ASTDA’s president from 2003 to 2007.

In Baltimore, his activities have included directing the Baltimore City Health Department Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) program and developing the multi School Johns Hopkins Center for STI Prevention and Training. He was one of the first to apply GIS technology to public health, and his syphilis mapping project was highlighted in Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Tipping Point”. In addition to being a productive researcher and clinician, he has been active in health policy has served as a was a Senior Medical Advisor for the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (DHHS) 1995-1997, and has testified before Congress and the Maryland legislature on infectious diseases related issues.

He became Chief of the Infectious Diseases Division at Johns Hopkins Bayview in 2003. Under his leadership, the Bayview Division has increased from 1.5 to 9 faculty members, and developed major clinical and research programs in STIs, hospital epidemiology, antibiotic stewardship and skin and soft tissue infections, and has established a clinical trials unit which is very active in Phase 1-3 trials for new antimicrobials.

​Dr. Zenilman has >300 publications and is can active teacher, and has mentored >50 fellows and residents during his career. He is board-certified in internal medicine and infectious diseases, and is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

Geeta Sood, M.D.

Geeta Sood, M.D., instructor of medicine and hospital epidemiologist, completed medical training, a residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in infectious diseases, at Temple University Medical School.

Dr. Sood previously worked at Albert Einstein Medical Center, a 500-bed community hospital affiliated with Thomas Jefferson University, where she started an antibiotic stewardship program, and was actively involved in medical education as an associate program director for the Internal Medicine Residency Program and a clerkship director second-, third- and fourth-year medical students. She also served as hospital epidemiologist at Abington Memorial Hospital, a 600-bed community hospital outside of Philadelphia. While there, she chaired the Infection Control Committee, and CLABSI and VAP process improvement committees.