Manages the Infection Control Department of a 436 bed hospital. Responsible for data surveillance and reporting, implementation of infection prevention programs, and the safety of patients, visitor and staff.

I have been an Infection Preventionist at Saint Agnes, an acute care hospital with 436 licensed beds, for the last 4.5 years. I perform the majority of our Hospital Associated Infection surveillance and reporting, coordinate with our local and state Public Health Departments about communicable diseases and Tuberculosis cases, and monitor patients with resistant pathogens to ensure they are on the appropriate isolation. However, my main passion is spearheading our Emerging Infectious Disease Preparedness program, which involves training a team of nurses, organizing hospital wide full scale exercises, as well as coordinating community wide prevention efforts. In addition. I am also the co-leader of our Clostridium difficile infection prevention team and serve as a member on a similar initiative from Trinity Health. I have also been involved in various projects utilizing lean management and A3 thinking since 2014. My ultimate goal is to achieve further reductions in hospital associated infections and prepare our hospital for any newly emerging special pathogens.

- Trained in all departments of the public health laboratory (e.g. parasitology, serology, myco- bacteriology, mycology, Syphillis, virology, administration and support services)- Knowledgeable about the organisms encountered and procedures performed in the laboratory- Able to perform cell culture, serology or molecular tests to analyze specimens received- Received Public Health Microbiologist Certificate on 10/02/2012

- Analysis of raw dairy products  Sampled two raw milk brands from local grocery stores on a monthly basis  Analyzed the raw milk for presence of Bovine Leukemia Virus via solution PCR  Infected human mammary epithelial cells with Bovine Leukemia Virus from raw milk to achieve a long term transformation  Developed growth curves via an ELISA assay  Determined whether cells were transformed by an array of different tests (growth in soft agar, saturation density, increased telomerase activity, doubling level)- Protocol development  Validated three assays to test for cell transformation, using a control cell line  Implemented a telomerase assay protocol to show evidence of cell transformation  Improved PCR conditions for two sets of primers  Developed a PCR procedure to test for DNA degradation in raw milk samples  Reviewed previous techniques and improved methods to achieve cell transformation  Generated and compiled a set of ten experiment protocols for future reference- Administrative functions:  Chaired several weekly laboratory meeting to present research to colleagues.  Assisted lab manager in estimating laboratory resource needs and evaluating different vendors for best quality and pricing  Represented lab at the space functional usage survey workshop and created the functional space usage report to generate facility and administrative cost rate proposal

- Analyzed daily samples sent in by inspectors for various foodborne pathogens- Recorded analysis results in computer system and generated reports for State inspectors- Was actively involved in the analysis of samples from the Salmonella outbreak 2008- Oversaw quality assurance of media to ensure accuracy of all test results- Trained a new coworker in media preparation procedures