Richard Wenzel to Deliver Opening Address at 2011 APIC Annual Meeting

World-renowned healthcare epidemiologist, Richard P. Wenzel, MD, MSc, of the Medical College of Virginia, will deliver the opening address during the 38th annual Educational Conference and International Meeting of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC). The meeting, which is the largest annual gathering of infection preventionists from around the world, takes place June 27-29, 2011 in Baltimore.

Wenzel is one of the worlds leading infectious diseases epidemiologists, having established his reputation in the field of infection control in hospitals. His work has focused on the epidemiology of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), especially bloodstream infections and sepsis. He is a nationally recognized expert on antibiotic resistance and its impact and was named one of the 10 "Great Teachers" in the category of Clinical Medicine Service by the National Institutes of Health in 2001.

APIC annual conference attendees will also hear a closing keynote address from Laurie Garrett, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author on global health and disease prevention. Garrett will sign copies of her books, The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance and Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health.

The 2011 APIC Annual Conference features more than 60 educational sessions focusing on a wide range of infection control topics, from management of multi-drug resistant organisms, to standardization of clinical processes, to legislation and public policy issues impacting the profession. The meeting is designed to help attendees translate the latest science into practical strategies for the reduction of healthcare-associated infections.

"We are excited to offer such a robust educational program at this years conference," says APIC 2011 president Russell Olmsted, MPH, CIC, epidemiologist in Infection Prevention & Control Services, St. Joseph Mercy Health System, Ann Arbor, Michigan. "APIC 2011 will help infection preventionists apply the research that appears in the scientific literature to practices that prevent HAIs at the bedside. We believe attendees will come away with clear strategies they can use to improve patient safety at their own facilities."

Another new event this year is the APIC Film Festival, which will feature videos sharing best practices in infection prevention. Film entries will be highlighted during the opening plenary session on Monday, June 27.

Additional highlights of the conference agenda include:

Disinfection and Sterilization: Current Issues and New Technologies, Bill Rutala, PhD, MPH, University of North Carolina Hospitals

Advances in Hand Hygiene and Hand Hygiene Monitoring, John Boyce, MD, Hospital of St. Raphael

Pertussis: Whooping It Up, David Weber, MD, MPH, University of North Carolina

Case Studies in Culture Change, Jonathan B. Perlin, MD, PhD, Hospital Corporation of America (HCA)

CMS Tool for ASC and Model for Infection Control in Ambulatory Care, Melissa Schaefer, MD, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Management of Multi-Drug Resistant Gram Negative Rods Across the Continuum, David Calfee, MD, MS, New York Presbyterian Hospital; Ebbing Lautenbach, MD, MPH, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine

Changing Epidemiology of MRSA, Luke Chen, MBBS, FRACP, Duke University Medical Center

Healthcare Design and Construction: Implementing Evidence-based Solutions to Build for Patient Safety and Sustainability, Linda Dickey, RN, MPH, CIC, University of California Irvine Medical Center

Control & Prevention of C. difficile Infection, Steve Parodi, MD, Kaiser Permanente