Dr. Abdul-Mutakabbir completed her Doctorate in Pharmacy at the University of Saint Joseph School of Pharmacy, located in Hartford, CT. Following pharmacy school, she completed her pharmacy residency at the Howard University Hospital in Washington, DC. She also completed an Infectious Disease Pharmacokinetics/Pharmacodynamics (PK/PD) Research Fellowship under the tutelage of Dr. Michael J. Rybak PharmD, MPH, PhD, and went on to earn a Masters of Public Health at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI. Her research in mitigating antimicrobial resistance has led her to be recognized by the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases as one of their 30under30 outstanding young scientists for their ECCMID 2021 31stannual meeting. Dr. Abdul-Mutakabbir is also dedicated to magnifying and rectifying health inequities in minoritized communities. To that point, she currently serves as the Lead Pharmacist and Educator for Congregations Organized for Prophetic Engagement-Health Equity Collaborative. Her dedication to improving public health has been recognized by the United States Public Health Services, as she was the 2017 recipient of the USPHS Outstanding Service Award and named as the awardee of the 2022 American Pharmacists Association-Immunization Champion (Honorable Mention) award. She was also the 2021 recipient of the Society of Infectious Disease Gita Patel Best Practice Award, and the 2021 recipient of the Wayne State University Warrior of Distinction of Alumni Award. Dr. Abdul-Mutakabbir continues to be an active member of several professional organizations including the American Society of Microbiology (ASM), Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), and the Society of Infectious Disease Pharmacists (SIDP).

Dr. Aitken is a Clinical Pharmacist Specialist in Infectious Diseases at Michigan Medicine and Adjunct Clinical Professor at The University of Michigan College of Pharmacy. Dr. Aitken’s research and clinical practice focus on infections in immunocompromised hosts with a special interest in multi-drug resistant bacterial infections. He is an author of the Infectious Diseases Society of America Guidance on the Treatment of Antimicrobial-resistant Gram-Negative infections and the American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy guidelines for the prevention of cytomegalovirus infections after hematopoietic cell transplantation. Dr. Aitken is president-elect of the Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists.

Dr.  Alexander obtained his medical degree from the Central University of Venezuela and trained as a Medical & Public Health Microbiologist.

He is board certified by the American Board of Medical Microbiology (ABMM) and a Fellow from the Canadian College of Microbiologists; he is also certified as Specialist in Microbiology and Molecular Biologist by the American Society for Clinical Pathologists (ASCP).  Dr Alexander is Board-Certified in Infection Control and Epidemiology (CBIC) and Board-Certified Medical Affairs Specialist by the American Council for Medical Affairs (ACMA).

He currently is the Clinical & Technical Director of the Infectious Diseases Laboratories at AdventHealth Orlando, focusing on antimicrobial resistance & molecular diagnostic including Next Generation Sequencing (NGS). He also assists clinicians on interpreting and understanding of the NGS in diagnostic and microbiome.

Dr. Casapao specializes in patient health outcomes research and is responsible for co-educating pharmacy students on their foundational infectious disease knowledge at the college. He mentors pharmacy residents at the University of Florida Health Jacksonville medical center.

If he isn’t teaching, mentoring, or advising future ID specialists he would be cooking at home trying to “perfect” his next meal scientifically.

Dr. Davis is a Clinical Professor and Associate Dean for Pharmacy at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI.  For 16 years she maintained a clinical appointment as an Infectious Diseases Pharmacy Specialist at Henry Ford Health System.   She is a graduate of the University of Michigan, completed her residency training at Detroit Receiving Hospital, and a fellowship in Infectious Diseases Outcomes Research at Wayne State University.

Dr. Davis has published over 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts.  Her awards for practice, teaching and research include the American Society of Health System Pharmacists New Preceptor of the Year, the SIDP Clinician of the Year, the Wayne State University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences Research Excellence Award, and the WSU Board of Governors Faculty Recognition Award.

Dr. Davis is a board member of Making a Difference in Infectious Diseases, having participated in MAD-ID since 2003. She is a past president of the Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists and active member of many other professional and academic societies.  When not in meetings she enjoys working with pharmacists, fellows, and students to enhance antimicrobial stewardship, implement practice-based research, and advance the pharmacy profession.

Dr. DeSear is a clinical specialist in infectious diseases at UF Health Shands Hospital. She is also a clinical assistant professor at the University of Florida College of Pharmacy and serves as the program director of the Infectious Disease residency program.  She currently serves on the executive board as Treasurer for the Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists (SIDP).

Dr. DeSear received her Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of Florida. She completed her pharmacy practice residency at Bay Pines Veterans Affairs Hospital and a specialty residency in infectious diseases at the University of Florida Shands Hospital.

Her areas of interest include gram-negative resistance, novel stewardship measures relating antimicrobial use to clinical or process outcomes.

Dr. Feola is a Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and serves as Director of Graduate Studies for the Pharmaceutical Sciences Graduate Program at the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy.  He received his Doctor of Pharmacy and Philosophy degrees from the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy and completed residencies in pharmacy practice and infectious diseases pharmacotherapy at the UK Chandler Medical Center.

His primary research focus is immunology and infectious diseases pharmacotherapy, with specific projects investigating immunomodulatory and immunotoxic properties of drug exposure in animals and humans.  Dr. Feola has built a translational research program through which he utilizes animal models and molecular and cellular investigations to generate investigator-initiated clinical trials.

His research program focuses on mechanistic and translational investigations to define the role of alternatively activated macrophages in the pathophysiology of pulmonary fibrosis.  He additionally collaborates across UK and beyond to study macrophage function in the setting of acute myocardial infarction, spinal cord injury, and other pathologies.

Dr. Feola also teaches infectious diseases pharmacotherapy for the Doctor of Pharmacy Program and serves as the Director of Graduate Studies for the College of Pharmacy.  He has a passion for enhancing pharmaceutical sciences graduate education and is a leader in efforts to do so at a national level.

Dr. Ha is manager of antimicrobial stewardship with the Stanford Antimicrobial Safety and Sustainability Program at Stanford Health Care and lecturer in infectious diseases at the Stanford University School of Medicine in Palo Alto, CA.

He also serves as PGY2 infectious diseases pharmacy residency program coordinator at Stanford Health Care. His professional and research interests include antimicrobial stewardship, infectious diseases pharmacotherapy, and public health.

Dr. Hicks is a Captain in the U.S. Public Health Service with over 17 years of experience at CDC.  Dr. Hicks attended medical school at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and completed her internal medicine and chief medicine residencies at the University of Connecticut.  This was followed by a 2-year position as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer at CDC in the Respiratory Diseases Branch.

After completing a postdoctoral fellowship in infectious diseases at Brown University, Dr. Hicks returned to CDC.  Her areas of expertise include antibiotic resistance, antibiotic stewardship, respiratory diseases, and outbreak response.  Dr. Hicks has published over 150 scientific publications and has guided national antibiotic stewardship policy and guideline development.  She has held several leadership positions within the CDC’s COVID-19 response.

Dr Hogue is Dean and Professor of Pharmacy Practice at Loma Linda University School of Pharmacy, where he is also Professor of Preventive Medicine in the School of Medicine and Director of the Center for Interprofessional Education and Practice.

Dr. Hogue has nearly 3 decades of expertise in vaccines and vaccine-preventable infectious diseases, having served on the original faculty development team for the CDC recognized American Pharmacists Association’s national certificate training program for pharmacists, student pharmacists and pharmacy technicians on immunizations.

Dr. Hogue is the APhA Liaison representative and only pharmacist member of the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).  He serves CDC on both the COVID-19 vaccine and Adult RSV vaccine workgroups.  He is a past board member of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases and is a past president and past board member of APhA.

Dr. Hutton is an infectious diseases and antimicrobial stewardship pharmacist at Utah Valley Hospital, which is a part of Intermountain Health.  She got her Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from Middle Tennessee State University in 2012, then completed her Doctor of Pharmacy at the University of Tennessee College of Pharmacy in 2016. She completed her postgraduate year one (PGY1) pharmacy residency and postgraduate year two (PGY2) infectious diseases residency at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan.  She has been in her current position for 4.5 years and her current research and career focus in antimicrobial stewardship.

Dr. Jeffres graduated from the University of Wyoming School of Pharmacy,  completing a pharmacy practice residency with Intermountain Healthcare in Salt Lake City, UT, and a specialty residency in infectious diseases at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, MO.  Now at University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy, she teaches infectious diseases and clinical problem solving.   Her practice site is the University of Colorado Hospital where she precepts learners on internal medication and infectious diseases rotations.  Her areas of research include antibiotic stewardship, antibiotic adverse reactions and allergies, and active learning.

Dr. Jeffres is a past board member of the Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists where she is the Director of Education.  She is a cofounder of the Infectious Diseases Educator Network and Chair of the Teaching Innovations and Active Learning workgroup.

Find her on Twitter @PharmerMeg

Dr. Khanna completed medical School at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi; Post Doctoral Research at University of California San Diego, CA; Residency in Internal Medicine and Fellowship in Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN before joining the Faculty.  He also completed Masters in Clinical and Translational Sciences at Mayo Clinic.

Dr. Khanna’s interests include Epidemiology, Outcomes and Emerging Therapeutics for Clostridioides difficile, an arena in which he has had over 150 publications and numerous presentations.  He is directing the Consultative Gastroenterology Interest group, C. difficile Clinic, Fecal Microbiota Transplantation program and C. difficile related Clinical Trials at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN.

He has won numerous awards including the Miles and Shirley Fiterman Award, Mayo Brothers Distinguished Fellowship Award, Donald C. Balfour Mayo Clinic Alumni Association Research Award, amongst others.

Dr. Klepser received his Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of Michigan College of Pharmacy in 1992.  He completed a pharmacy practice residency at Detroit Receiving Hospital and University Health Center and a fellowship in Infectious Diseases at Hartford Hospital in Hartford, CT.

Dr. Klepser has been a Professor of Pharmacy at Ferris State University since 2001. Prior to joining Ferris, he was an Associate Professor at the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy (1995-2001).  Dr. Klepser’s research interests include use of CLIA-waived point-of-care tests in community pharmacies and community-based antimicrobial stewardship.

He has published extensively on these topics and has more than 150 peer-reviewed manuscripts to his credit. Dr. Klepser is a founder and content advisor for the “Community Pharmacy-Based Point-of-Care Testing” certificate program.  He is also the Senior Director for the Collaboration to Harmonize Antimicrobial Registry Measures (CHARM) program.

Dr. LaPlante is an infectious diseases pharmacist, researcher, and policy adviser.  She is an internationally recognized expert on antibiotic use and antimicrobial resistance.  She is on the frontline of the antimicrobial resistance public health crisis, leading statewide initiatives and providing analysis of key frontline issues as an advisor to the Centers of Diseases Control and Prevention, PEW Research Center and The Joint Commission.

Dr. LaPlante has published over 130 peer-reviewed publications in high impact journals and has given over 100 invited lectures nationally and internationally.  She is the pharmacist expert on the recent American College of Gastroenterology Clostridioides difficile treatment guidelines.  She has led the implemented of over $21.5 million in grant funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and Investigator-Initiated Research.

She currently serves as department chairperson at the University of Rhode Island College of Pharmacy.  She is an adjunct professor of medicine at Brown University, a fellowship director and research program director at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Providence, RI.  She is a past president of the Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists (SIDP), current vice-president for Making a Difference in Infectious Diseases (MAD-ID), and an elected Fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, American College of Clinical Pharmacy and SIDP.  She serves as an editor for Pharmacotherapy, and Clinical Infectious Diseases.  Dr. LaPlante is also the appointed chairperson for the Rhode Island Department of Health’s Antimicrobial Stewardship and Environmental Task Force.  During the COVID-19 pandemic, she was appointed to the COVID-19 vaccine subcommittee by the governor of Rhode Island.

She was born and raised in Buffalo NY where she earned her Bachelor of Science in biology, with a psychology minor at Canisius College.  She worked in community pharmacy, and a Health Maintenance Organization before she moved to Detroit Michigan in 1997 to pursue Bachelor of Science in biopharmaceutical sciences, and her Doctor of Pharmacy from Wayne State University.  She completed her fellowship in infectious diseases pharmacotherapy at the Anti-Infective Research Laboratory.

Mr. Lillis, along with his brother Liam, co-founded the Peggy Lillis Foundation for C. diff Education and Advocacy (PLF) following the death of their mother from a Clostridioides difficile (C. diff) infection in April 2010. PLF envisions a world where C. diff is rare, treatable, and survivable.  In pursuit of its vision, PLF is building a nationwide C. diff awareness movement to educate the public, empower advocates, and shape policy.

As head of PLF, Christian has led six national convenings of C. diff Advocates, built a 50-person volunteer Advocates Council, coordinated the first-ever C. diff Lobby Day on Capitol Hill, and produced the first-ever public service announcement on C. diff infections.  In 2013, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recognized Christian with its Excellence in Partnership award.

Christian has presented to state hospital associations, quality improvement organizations, healthcare systems, and industry leaders, including Mount Sinai Health, National Quality Forum, and the Presidential Advisory Council on Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria.  He has also testified at Congressional briefings and Food and Drug Administration Advisory Committee meetings.

Christian’s writing has appeared in the Baltimore Sun, Cleveland Plain Dealer, and the CDC’s Safer Healthcare Blog.  He has also co-authored articles for journals, including Advances in Therapy and the American Journal of Gastroenterology.  PLF’s work has been featured in Consumer Reports, USA Today, Reuters, and on CNN and CBS Evening News with Nora O’Donnell.  Peggy’s story has been featured in Dr. Martin Blaser’s Missing Microbes: How the Overuse of Antibiotics Is Fueling Our Modern Plagues (2014) and Bryan Nelson’s Flush:  The Remarkable Science of an Unlikely Treasure (2022).

Christian has over two decades of experience as a fundraiser and strategist for nonprofits, including the National LGBTQ Task Force and NYU Langone Medical Center.

Christian holds a B.A. in Political Science from Brooklyn College-City University of New York.  A native Brooklynite, he lives in its Kensington neighborhood with his husband, Chris, and their beagle, Maggie Anne.  Christian enjoys running, reading, cooking, watching too much television, and striving to be the world’s best “Guncle” for his four-year-old nephew.

Dr. McCreary received her PharmD from the Auburn University Harrison School of Pharmacy and completed her PGY1 Pharmacy and PGY2 Infectious Diseases residencies at the University of Wisconsin Health.  Dr. McCreary co-chairs the UPMC COVID-19 Therapeutics Committee and served as a co-investigator for the REMAP-CAP trial, a global, adaptive, clinical trial evaluating multiple therapies for COVID-19.  She currently directs the Office of Quality and Research Innovation, leading multiple clinical trials.

Dr. McCreary has led system-wide implementation of multiple infectious diseases and antimicrobial stewardship initiatives and published numerous peer-reviewed manuscripts in these areas. She also served on the Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists Executive Board and is currently a host of Breakpoints—The SIDP Podcast.

Her practice and research interests include infectious diseases and antimicrobial stewardship in immunocompromised hosts, gram-negative resistance, and antimicrobial pharmacokinetic/ pharmacodynamic optimization. She is also passionate about professional leadership, mentorship, and preceptorship.

You can find her on Twitter @erinmccreary

Dr. Moehring is an Infectious Diseases physician, hospital epidemiologist, and Associate Professor working in the Duke Center for Antimicrobial Stewardship and Infection Control at Duke University in Durham, NC. She is Medical Director of the Duke University Hospital Antimicrobial Stewardship and Evaluation Team. She also serves as the Co-Director for Research of the Duke Antimicrobial Stewardship Outreach Network, a network of over 36 community hospitals that share data infrastructure with routine feedback, educational materials, and consultation services focused on the growth and development of Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs in each member hospital.

Her research interests include development of meaningful metrics to guide decisions about antimicrobial stewardship program design and strategy. Her research awards have included funds from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Dr. Pogue spent just over a decade at the Detroit Medical Center (DMC) as an Infectious Diseases Clinical Pharmacist at Sinai-Grace Hospital and as the co-chair of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Committee at the DMC.

Dr. Pogue received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Gannon University, before obtaining his Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Pittsburgh. He then completed a PGY-1 pharmacy residency at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center followed by an infectious diseases PGY-2 residency at the University of Michigan Health Systems. His research interests focus on epidemiology and management of multi-drug resistant Gram-negative organisms and antimicrobial stewardship.

Dr. Pogue is a recognized leader in Gram-negative resistance and antimicrobial stewardship as evidenced by his significant contribution of over 125 peer-reviewed articles, over 125 abstracts, multiple book chapters, and presentations at numerous national and international conferences. Dr. Pogue has served as clinical pharmacy lead for multiple NIH funded studies addressing optimal use of polymyxins for extensively drug-resistant (XDR) Gram-negative pathogens.

Dr. Pogue is a past president of the Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists (SIDP) and currently serves as Chair of the Executive Committee of The United States Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (USCAST).

Dr. Rybak is also Adjunct Professor of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, School of Medicine at Wayne State University, and Adjunct Clinical Professor at the University of Michigan College of Pharmacy. He is affiliated with the Detroit Medical Center and is a member of their antimicrobial stewardship committee.

His research focus is antimicrobial pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics (PK/PD) and the assessment of infectious diseases health outcomes including their relationship to bacterial resistance.

Dr. Rybak is funded by the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and via several investigator-initiated grants from the pharmaceutical Industry. He has published more than 400 manuscripts and authored more than 20 book chapters on antimicrobial PK/PD resistance, and antimicrobial stewardship. He is the editor-in-chief of the journal Infectious Diseases and Therapy, scientific editor for Infectious Diseases for the journal Pharmacotherapy, and editorial board member for the journal Antibiotics and for Contagion.

Dr. Rybak is the recipient of a number of scholarship awards including the ACCP and ASHP awards for sustained contributions to the literature, the ACCP Therapeutics Frontiers Lecture award, and the ACCP Infectious Diseases Practice Network Distinguished Investigator award.

Dr. Sakoulas earned his medical degree from Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, and completed his postgraduate training in internal medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in 1998. From 1998-1999 he served as chief medical resident in the Department of Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.  From 1999 to 2002, he was a fellow in infectious diseases at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center where he developed interests in Gram-positive infections.  He is an active infectious diseases clinician in the Sharp Healthcare System in San Diego.  His academic affiliation is Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, Division of Host-Microbe Systems and Therapeutics where he is part of the Collaborative to Halt Antibiotic-Resistant Microbes (CHARM).

His current interests are developing novel strategies for the treatment of difficult bacterial infections in the healthcare and community setting, particularly by uncovering unrecognized properties of currently available antibiotics and repurposing non-antibiotics in modulating the host response to infection. He is also interesting in understanding the host immune response to infection, particularly as a risk stratification tool on which to select antimicrobial therapy.

Dr. Vaughn is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and the Director of Hospital Medicine Research at the University of Utah School of Medicine.  Her research focuses on improving the safety of hospitalized patients with common infections, particularly pneumonia and urinary tract infection. To do so, she has focused on combating diagnostic error and overuse, particularly antibiotic overuse at transitions of care.

As a practicing hospitalist, Dr. Vaughn works to understand the role hospitalists play in inappropriate antibiotic prescribing related to common infections.  These interests span various areas, including understanding drivers and appropriateness of use, physician decision-making and cognitive error, and organizational culture.

She has authored over 60 peer-reviewed papers including in JAMA, BMJ, JAMA Internal Medicine, and Annals of Internal Medicine with funding from AHRQ, NIH, CDC, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.  She also serves as hospitalist lead for the Antimicrobial Use Initiative within the Hospital Medicine Safety Consortium (HMS) which helps hospitals use their own data to improve the care of patients with infection.  As Director of Hospital Medicine research at the University of Utah, Dr. Vaughn runs the Utah Quality Advancement Laboratory (UQuAL) which includes a research mentorship program, UQuAL Scholars, to improve the care of hospitalized patients.

Dr. Venugopalan received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy.  Following graduation, she completed her pharmacy practice residency and infectious diseases specialty residency at the University of Kentucky Medical Center.  As a board-certified pharmacist with added qualifications in infectious diseases pharmacotherapy, Dr. Venugopalan has developed and maintained antimicrobial stewardship programs at large academic centers as well as community teaching hospitals.  She joined the faculty at the University of Florida College of Pharmacy in 2016 and is currently a Clinical Associate Professor in the department of Pharmacotherapy and Translational Research.  She serves as the infectious diseases clinical specialist at UF Health Shands Hospital.

Her research and patient care activities focus on health care associated infections, multidrug resistant gram-negative infections, antimicrobial stewardship, and beta-lactam therapeutic drug monitoring.  Her work has been published in peer-reviewed journals, and she has been presented at national and international conferences.