SPEAKER BIOS T. Brian Callister, MD, FACP, FHM Dr. Callister is a board-certified internal medicine specialist and hospitalist and a nationally recognized expert in both acute care medicine and the post-acute continuum. He is the national medical director for LifeCare Hospitals, one of the largest long-term acute care hospital systems in the country, and has directed its medical staff leadership for 15 years. As the clinical committee chairman of the Acute Long-Term Hospital Association (ALTHA), he led the effort to develop the first LTAC industry outcome benchmark study and has been a leader in acute criteria development for both the American Hospital Association (AHA) and The Joint Commission (TJC). Dr. Callister serves on the CMS Technical Expert Panels (TEP) for readmissions, ventilator weaning, and LTAC hospital and inpatient rehabilitation facility (IRF) quality benchmark development, and also serves on the CDC s National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) Criteria and Surveillance Definition Expert Panel. In 2012, he was nominated by Modern Healthcare as one of the 50 Most Influential Physician Executives in Healthcare. In addition to his work in national acute care medicine, Dr. Callister is on the executive leadership board of the Nevada Antibiotic Stewardship Program (NV ASP) and is a past president of both the Nevada State Medical Association and the American College of Physicians (ACP) Northern Nevada District. He was the Chief of Staff or the Chief Medical Officer of several hospital systems spanning three decades and was the Nevada State Chairman for the American Medical Association s (AMA) Organized Medical Staff Section (OMSS). Dr. Callister also co-founded the Sierra Hospitalists medical group that grew into one of the nation s largest private Hospitalist physician practices. Dr. Callister is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Stanford University with a degree in economics. He received his MD from the University Of Utah School Of Medicine where he graduated Alpha Omega Alpha. He completed his specialty training in internal medicine at UCLA where he was voted the Outstanding Physician of the Year. In 2009, he was in the inaugural class of 500 physicians worldwide to be awarded the title of Fellow in Hospital Medicine. He is also a fellow of the American College of Physicians. He is an associate professor of medicine at the University of Nevada and a clinical professor of medicine at Touro University-Nevada. Dr. Callister lectures frequently around the country on multiple subjects ranging from the post-acute continuum and hospitalist programs to spirituality in health care. The American College of Physicians (ACP) Nevada Chapter named him as the 2011 Volunteerism and Community Service Award winner, and he is a recipient of the Congressional Certificate of Recognition for Outstanding Service to the community. Ihsan A. Azzam, PhD, MD, MPH Dr. Azzam is the state medical epidemiologist and has been an instructor at the University of Nevada since 1998. He oversees public health/health care surveillance, epidemiology, disease control and prevention, and provides ongoing consultations to the Nevada Department of Health. Dr. Azzam is a 1982 foreign medical graduate who completed his residency in OB-GYN in 1986, then completed oncology training at MD-Anderson Cancer Center in 1995. He completed his CDC graduate certificate in epidemiology and biostatistics at the Seattle School of Public Health and Community Medicine in 1997, and his fellowship in chronic disease epidemiology at Penn-State College of Medicine in 2001. He completed his MPH in 2002 and PhD at the University of Nevada, Reno in 2010.
Dr. Azzam is a member of the National Council for State and Territorial Epidemiologists, scholar of the Nevada Leadership Institute and recipient of several national awards, including the 2011 National Sheppard Award for Excellence in Epidemiology. Derek Drake, MSN, RN, CNML, CNL, DNP Candidate Derek is currently the Director of Emergency and Trauma Services and Nursing Manager of Cardiac ICU at Renown Health System and Nursing Manager of Sierra Neuro-Surgical, Trauma and Sierra Meadows ICU. He is a graduate of the Reno-Orvis School of Nursing, where he completed his Bachelor and Master Degrees in Nursing and, is currently pursuing, his Doctorate of Nursing Practice Degree at UNR. He has a broad range of practical nursing and managerial experience to his credit, in addition to many Academic and Professional Awards and recognition. Most recently, he presented Eliminating Catheter Associated Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTIs) in the Trauma Intensive Care Unit at the American Association of Critical Care Nurses National Teaching Institute, San Diego, CA, May 18-21, 2015. He is professionally certified as a Clinical Nurse Leader and Certified Nurse Manager Leader. Elizabeth Gonzalez, Pharm D Dr. Gonzalez is the pharmacy department clinical manager and assistant professor of pharmacy practice at Roseman University of Health Sciences College of Pharmacy. She received her bachelor s degree in biology from the University of California, Irvine, and her doctor of pharmacy degree from Roseman University of Health Sciences. She completed her pharmacy practice residency at University Medical Center of Southern Nevada. Dr. Gonzalez joined St. Rose Dominican hospitals in 2006 serving as a clinical specialist in infectious disease. Her primary clinical practice involves rounding with infectious disease, antimicrobial stewardship initiatives and precepting pharmacy students. She is a full member of the American Society of Health System Pharmacists (ASHP), the Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA), the Nevada Society of Health-System Pharmacists (NVSHP) and the Nevada Antimicrobial Stewardship Program (NV ASP). Tracy Guzman, BSN, RN, CCRN-K Ms. Guzman is an infection control nurse at Complex Care Hospital at Tenaya. She received her ADN from the College of Lake County (Ill.) in 2001 and BSN from Chamberlain College of Nursing in 2012. She has worked in various infection control positions throughout Las Vegas since 2011. Ms. Guzman is a passionate patient safety-focused infection prevention nurse who served as the APIC Chapter 35 secretary and education coordinator from 2010-2012. She is a member of the Association for Professionals in Infection Prevention, American Holistic Nurses Association, Decoding Dyslexia, Nevada Antimicrobial Stewardship (NV ASP) executive committee and American Association of Critical Care. Additionally, she has a professional certification in critical care, CCRN-K. Steven Harris, Pharm D Mr. Harris has more than 20 years of management experience in multiple areas of pharmacy practice, beginning his career in pharmacy sales and retail pharmacy. He later moved into retail pharmacy management before transitioning to hospital pharmacy and joining LifeCare in 1998 as staff pharmacist. Mr. Harris served as the director of pharmacy for LifeCare Hospitals of New Orleans from 2000 to 2006 when he was promoted to corporate director of pharmacy operations. In his current position as vice
president of ancillary services, Mr. Harris provides leadership for the pharmacy, radiology and laboratory departments. He is a graduate of Xavier University of Louisiana College of Pharmacy where he earned his doctor of pharmacy degree. Following graduation, he trained as a pharmacy practice resident at the Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas. He is an active member of MedAssets Pharmacy Advisory Committee and former member of HealthTrust Purchase Group Pharmacy Advisory Board. Saundra J. Hart, RN, CDP Saundra Hart is the coordinating RN for ATOP, a program of HealthInsight. Ms. Hart has more than 40 years of clinical experience, including in direct patient care, quality improvement, research, teaching and patient advocacy in outpatient, long-term care, mental health, hospital and correctional settings. Her specific areas of focus include quality improvement and patient-centered care for physical and mental status, and family engagement. Ms. Hart is a certified dementia practitioner, and has received HIV Train the Trainer and Nevada Infection Control for LTC training. Before HealthInsight she served as the assistant director of nursing at Life Care of Las Vegas and director of nursing at Desert Knolls Convalescent in California. She has also served as a coordinator in Las Vegas hepatology and hepatitis clinics. Ms. Hart is affiliated with the National Council of Certified Dementia Practitioners and the National Association of Directors of Nursing for Long-Term Care. Kimberly D. Leuthner, Pharm D Dr. Leuthner received her doctor of pharmacy degree from the University of New Mexico in 2002. She went on to complete an ASHP-accredited pharmacy practice residency at University Medical Center of Southern Nevada (UMC), and an ACCP-recognized Infectious Disease Pharmacotherapy fellowship at Wayne State University in Detroit focusing on antibiotic resistance. She returned to Las Vegas as the infectious disease clinical specialist at UMC where she developed relationships with the infectious disease physicians, infection preventionist and microbiology. In 2007, she initiated the formal Antimicrobial Stewardship Program (ASP) at UMC which includes proactive audit and feedback on targeted medications, minimizations of duration of antimicrobial use, IV to PO assistance as well as pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic dosing of medications to ensure optimization of drug activity. Her first results of the ASP were published at the Interscience Conference of Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) in 2011 which demonstrated significant improvements in multiple markers of antibiotic use, including average length of antibiotic therapy (decreased ~3-5 days); decreased rates of pathogenic isolates (decreased between 15-30 percent depending on organism) and overall cost of antimicrobial expenditures (decreased ~40 percent). Since 2011, ASP activities have expanded to include pharmacy resident participation to instill and ensure understanding of ASP. Sarah Lopez, RN, BSN Ms. Lopez is an infection control nurse and provides staff development for HealthSouth Desert Canyon Rehabilitation Hospital. She has a bachelor s degree in nursing and a minor in psychology. Ms. Lopez serves as treasurer for her local APIC Chapter, allowing her the opportunity to bring experts and new ideas into her work, ultimately improving her facility. Rochelle E. Neilson, RN, BSN, MSHCA
Ms. Neilson is the infection prevention director at Saint Mary s Regional Medical Center in Reno. She is Joint Commission-accredited and a member of the State of Nevada Committee for HAI Plan Review. She is also a Nevada State Bureau of Health consultant, APIC Sierra Nevada board member and NSHN data administrator. Ms. Neilson is responsible for the oversight, coordination and implementation of the IP Program, HAPU initiatives, Infection Prevention Committee and Hand Hygiene Task Force. Annette Patellos, RN, Ed. MBA Ms. Patellos is the Director of Clinical Services at Carson Tahoe Regional Hospital, where she has worked for the past 25 years. Twelve of those years have been at the Director level. She currently oversees ICU/CVIVC, ED, invasive cath labs and non-invasive cardiology. In addition to a Bachelor of Science in Education from UNR, Ms. Patellos received her Nursing degree from Contra Costa College and an MBA from the University of the Pacific. Christine Pham, Pharm D Ms. Pham is an infectious diseases/antimicrobial stewardship pharmacist lead for MountainView Hospital in Las Vegas. She completed her ASHP-accredited pharmacy practice residency at MultiCare HealthCare System in Washington and continued on to complete her ASHP-accredited infectious diseases residency training at the University of California Davis Medical Center. Ms. Pham leads the MountainView Antimicrobial Stewardship Committee and actively collaborates with the Sepsis, Infection Prevention and Critical Care committees at MountainView. She is in charge of the prospective audit and feedback on targeted antibiotics and has been able to observe a significant decrease in antimicrobial expenditures. She has helped develop clinical guidelines and protocols, actively provides ongoing education to the staff, and runs the training for pharmacy in the Code Sepsis initiative and in other clinical areas. She presented a research poster in the 2014 ID Week Conference focusing on characterization of antibiotic use following changes in antimicrobial stewardship strategies. Eric Ramos, MD, FAAP Dr. Eric Ramos is chief medical officer of HCA Far West Division. He began his medical career as an RN in 1979. He received his medical degree from the University of Southern California and completed his residency in family medicine in 1982. For 20 years, Eric worked in private practice in Modesto, Calif. He has held many hospital, county, state and national leadership positions for Stanislaus County Medical Society, California Academy of Family Physicians, California Medical Association and the American Academy of Family Physicians. As the past president of both the California Academy of Family Physicians and the Stanislaus County Medical Society, he has collaborated with many health care leaders. Eric is a consensus builder and served as an elected physician representative to both state and national bodies. He was recognized for leadership and honored as California s "Family Physician of the Year" in 2010 and "Family Physician Hero of the Year" in 2012. He created a program, Club FIITNESS (Fostering Individual Improvement Through Nutrition, Education and Student Specialist), to address the growing epidemic of childhood obesity when he served as the medical director of Del Puerto Health Center. As CMO, Dr. Ramos has oversight over three Las Vegas HCA facilities and works with every department to improve all aspects involving patient s quality of care and outcomes. Dr. Ramos convened two Las Vegas antimicrobial stewardship program meetings in 2014 that included many stakeholders. The
purpose of the meeting was to build relationships among various professions and work collaboratively to address this growing public health crisis and address the consequences of antibiotic overuse. The program was voted by the community to become the Nevada Antimicrobial Stewardship Program. Ann Savin, RN, MS, CPHQ Ms. Savin is the Senior System Director for Quality and Patient Safety for the Valley Health System in Las Vegas. Ms. Savin directs the patient safety initiatives and oversees all regulatory compliance at the five hospitals within the system. Previously, Ms. Savin worked in the Chicagoland area with Advocate Health Care, one of the top 100 hospitals in the U.S. Ms. Savin was a member of HealthInsight Nevada Board of Trustees for six years and board vice chair of the Management Corp Board of Directors, the Quality Improvement Organizations (QIO) of Nevada and Utah. In 2007-2008, Ms. Savin was selected by the Agency of Health Research & Quality (AHRQ) to represent the state of Nevada in the Patient Safety Improvement Corp (PSIC). She holds a master s degree in nursing from Northern Illinois University and is a Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality (CPHQ). Tuan Tran, PharmD, BCPS Mr. Tran is a board-certified, infectious disease (ID) pharmacist with oversight of the Antimicrobial Management Program at eight acute care facilities in HCA Far West Division. He completed his ID pharmacotherapy training at the University of Southern California following a pharmacy practice residency at the University of New Mexico Hospitals. Prior to a career in pharmacy, Tuan also spent several years as a research chemist in anti-viral drug discovery and development.