Weill Medical College of Cornell University

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Hospital Epidemiology and Infection Control:

Healthcare-Associated Infections. Calfee. The Hospital Epidemiology Program at New York Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell Medical Center has research activities ranging from traditional epidemiologic studies of infection control risk factors and outcomes to intervention trials of infection control policies and procedures. The primary goal of the research program is to improve patient safety by reducing the risk of healthcare-associated infections. Observational studies can be carried out utilizing infection control surveillance data, clinical microbiology data, and a robust hospital-based clinical database, which can be queried electronically. Previous and ongoing projects have studied patient-oriented and systems-based factors associated with transmission of multidrug-resistant organisms, device-related infections, and procedure-related infections. In addition, the program has the potential for performing individual and cluster randomized trials of infection control interventions at Weill Cornell and in collaboration with Columbia University Medical Center. Fellows, residents, and students interested in epidemiologic research can choose from a wide variety of large or small projects depending on their needs. For fellows interested in a career in hospital epidemiology, there is opportunity to receive intensive training in this exciting field by participating in the Masters of Science in Clinical Investigation Program, or the Graduate Program in Clinical Epidemiology and Health Services and through direct participation in the Hospital Epidemiology Program.

• Calfee DP. Crisis in hospital-acquired, healthcare-associated infections. Annu Rev Med 2012; 63:359-71.
• Calfee DP. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycinresistant enterococci (VRE) and other gram-positives in health care. Curr Opin Infect Dis; epub ahead of print.
• Calfee DP, Jenkins SG. Use of active surveillance cultures to detect asymptomatic colonization with carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae among intensive care unit patients. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2008; 29:966-68.
• Morgan DJ, Weisenberg SA, Augenbraun MH, Calfee DP, Currie BP, Furuya EY, Holzman R, Montecalvo MC, Phillips M, Polsky B, Sepkowitz KA. Multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii in New York City � 10 years into the epidemic. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2009; 30:196-97.
• Patel G, Huprikar S, Factor SH, Jenkins SG, Calfee DP. Outcomes of carbapenemresistant Klebsiella pneumoniae infection and the impact of antimicrobial and adjunctive therapies. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2008; 29:1099-06.
• Patel G, Jenkins SG, Mediavilla JR, Kreiswirth BN, Radbill B, Salgado CD, Calfee DP. Clinical and molecular epidemiology of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus among patients in an ambulatory hemodialysis center. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2011; 32:881-89.
• Satlin MJ, Kubin CJ, Blumenthal JS, Cohen AB, Furuya EY, Wilson SJ, Jenkins SG, Calfee DP. Comparative effectiveness of aminoglycosides, polymyxin B, and tigecycline for clearance of carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae from the urine. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 2011; 55:5893-99.