Congratulations to Dr. Sarah Sansom, our third-year research fellow, on her extraordinary research on HIV/HCV co-infection and liver steatosis! Mentored by Dr. Gregory Huhn and in collaboration with Dr. Toyin Adeyemi and Dr. Jonathan Martin, a former RUMC ID fellow, Dr Sansom discovered that transient elastography with controlled attenuation parameter can more often detect steatosis in HIV/HCV patients than traditional liver biopsy. See links for her interview in MD Magazine and publication in Open Forum Infectious Diseases.
Congratulations to Dr. Hemil Gonzalez, our fourth-year research fellow, who was the sole recipient of the 2019-2021 AIDS Clinical Trials Group Minority HIV Investigator Mentoring Program (MHIMP) Award! Under the guidance of Drs. Beverly Sha and Lena Al-Harthi, Dr. Gonzalez will be studying the impact of antiretroviral therapy on astrocytes and their role in neuropathogenesis.
Congratulations to Dr. Aamir Kazi, one of our second-year fellows, who presented his research at the RUMC ID Research Conference on May 28, 2019, titled “Love Thy Steward – Who Does Not Love Antimicrobial Stewardship?” Mentored by Dr. Sarah Won and in collaboration with Dr. Sarah Sansom and the ID pharmacists, Dr Kazi found that levofloxacin use could be substantially decreased by active chart surveillance and interdisciplinary communication with the ID stewardship team.
Faculty Achievements
- Dr. Mary Hayden will serve as the 2019 Vice President of the SHEA Board of Trustees, with a 4-year commitment to the board (2020: President-elect; 2021: President; 2022: Past-President). She will also be giving an invited symposium talk at the June 2019 ASM annual scientific meeting, titled “Reducing Risk of CRE Infection in Colonized Patients.”
- Drs. Sabrina Kendrick and Homer Abiad presented at the Stroger Hospital of Cook County Department of Medicine Grand Rounds on February 8, 2019, titled “Let’s Talk about Sex: What Internists Need to Know about STIs.”
- Dr. Michael Lin will serve as a committee member on HICPAC, an advisory committee for DHHS and CDC.
- Dr. Latania Logan gave an invited talk at the April 2019 SHEA annual spring meeting, titled "Strategies to prevent CRE in children; Adult size fits all?"
- Under the direction of Drs. Carlos Santos and Sarah Won, multiple RUMC and CCH ID faculty participated in the creation of The Chicago Infectious Disease Board Review.
- Dr. Mariam Aziz was one of 30 nationally-selected attendees at the inaugural 2019 IDSA Leadership Institute. Participants met for 3 days in Washington, DC for a collaborative workshop focused on building effective future leaders in ID.
- Dr. Andrew Simms was awarded a Top 5 Featured Abstract in the April 2019 SHEA annual spring meeting with his oral abstract presentation, “CRE Colonization Persistence Among Patients in the XDRO Registry.”
- Dr. Yoona Rhee presented a poster at the April 2019 SHEA annual spring meeting, titled “Implications of Measuring Chlorhexidine Gluconate (CHG) Skin Concentrations Among Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) Patients Receiving CHG Bathing."
Fellows and Faculty News
June 2019 ID Fellows Wellness Outing and Graduation Dinner
How about a little Escape Game challenge to mark the end of the academic year? On Friday, June 7th, our annual fellows’ wellness outing occurred, sponsored by the Department of Internal Medicine. Our ID Fellows chose to navigate through the “Special Ops Mission” where teamwork proved successful in achieving “world security”, and then enjoyed the famous Chicago food scene with a night out at Prime & Provisions steakhouse for some surf & turf. The following day on Saturday, June 8th, we held our annual fellows’ graduation dinner - a RUMC ID Division tradition for 20+ years - held at Francesca’s on Taylor Street in Little Italy. Graduating second and third year fellows were celebrated for their accomplishments and a little fun quiz marked the defining antibiotic for each senior fellow:
- Sarah Sansom (chief fellow) - Antibiotic: Clindamycin; Future plans: 3rd year CDC Epicenter ID research fellowship at RUMC, Chicago, IL
- Will Stoecker - Antibiotic: Amoxicillin; Future plans: Metro Infectious Diseases Consultants, Arlington Heights, IL
- Marc Schulman - Antibiotic: Meropenem; Future plans: Dupont Circle Physicians Group, Washington, DC
- Lorrance Majewski - Antibiotic: Fosfomycin; Future plans: Hospitalist, Guam
- Hemil Gonzales (third-year fellow) - Antibiotic: Doxycycline; Future plans: HIV Research Fellow at RUMC, Chicago, IL
Congratulations to our graduating fellows once again for their amazingness! We will miss you and please come visit!
IDWeek 2018 - San Francisco, CA
RUMC/CCH ID had great representation at IDWeek 2018, the premier international scientific conference for ID specialists held this year in the beautiful city of San Francisco, CA (October 3-7). All second year ID fellows and approximately 20 current faculty members attended the conference. Many former fellows and faculty members joined us for a fantastic meal (e.g. Paella!) and drinks at our annual IDWeek RUMC/CCH ID reunion, which was held at Thirsty Bear Organic Brewery. Fellows and faculty presented several oral abstracts and posters on a variety of topics including infections with multi-drug resistant organisms in long-term care patients, the utility of a hospital approval pager for Clostridium difficile testing, the epidemiology of MRSA in the jail system, antimicrobial stewardship and the use of vancomycin, tools to improve HCV screening, and HIV therapy options and long-term cardiovascular outcomes. Faculty also spoke in various symposia, participated in "Meet-the-Professor" sessions, led poster rounds, and moderated scientific sessions. A few highlights are listed below. Special shout out to Teppei Shimasaki for being honored with the Robert C. Moellering Trainee Travel Award, which is awarded to a fellow for excellence in the area of antibiotic resistance research, and to Kyle Popovich for being awarded the IDWeek Investigator Award!
Fellow abstract presentations:
- The Gut: A Veiled Reservoir for Multidrug Resistance Organisms (MDROs) Below the Tip of the Iceberg (Teppei Shimasaki)
- Predictors of Cardiovascular Outcomes in Older HIV-Infected Patients: CORE50 Cohort 10 Year Follow-Up (Sarah Sansom)
Faculty oral abstract presentations:
- Impact of Mandatory Infectious Disease (ID) Specialist Approval on Hospital-Onset Clostridium Difficile (HO-CDI) Testing and Infection Rates: Results of a Pilot Study (John Segreti)
- Genomic Epidemiology of MRSA at Intake to a Large Inner-City Jail – Evidence for Community Transmission Networks? (Kyle Popovich)
Symposia:
- Infections with MDROs in Long-Term Care Patients: The Role of the Microbiome (Mary Hayden)
- Et Tu Escherichia? Multidrug Resistance in Gram-Negative Bacteria and its Impact on Children (Latania Logan)
CDC awards $26 million to counter antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Sherri Wrobell first came to RUSH following an HIV diagnosis. That was 25 years ago. Wrobell credits her physician for maintaining her health since then.
25 Institutions Receive the IDSA Antimicrobial Stewardship Centers of Excellence Designation.
In Jan 2018, Dr. Adeyemi was appointed Senior Director of HIV services for CCH. In this position, she works with leadership at the CORE Center and other ambulatory facilities across the CCH to ensure that primary HIV and subspecialty care, prevention, behavioral health and other wraparound services as provided at a uniform level of excellence. She oversees the coordination of these efforts with service providers outside CCH, advocacy groups and city and state public health entities to ameliorate the Chicago area HIV epidemic as quickly and effectively as possible. She is on the steering committee and co-chairs the health care access committee of the state’s Getting to Zero HIV Initiative.
On April 5, 2017, the Department of Medicine at RUSH held an internal medicine chief resident reunion, celebrating the legacy of Stuart Levin, MD.
Congratulations to Dr. Andy Simms for the 2018 RUMC Fellow Teacher of the Year Award!