Infectious Disease Pharmacist
VA WNY Healthcare System
Disclosure(s): No financial relationships to disclose
I am the Associate Chief of Clinical Pharmacy, and Infectious Diseases pharmacist, and clinical researcher utilizing biomedical informatics at the VA WNY Healthcare System. I am also the residency director for the PGY1 pharmacy residency program and the PGY2 Infectious Diseases pharmacy residency program. I have been the senior author of 70 peer review publications. These include a study detailing how methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) nares screening can be used to safely deescalate patients on broad spectrum antibiotics. This paper has had worldwide implications. The VA has seen a decrease in the total utilization of vancomycin, a drug used to treat MRSA. . Another recent study, which has gained considerable media attention, demonstrated that in patients who have had previous Clostridioides difficile (C. difficile) infections, doxycycline, over azithromycin, decreases the incidence of C. difficile recurrence in patients admitted and treated for community acquired pneumonia.