Susan Huang, M.D., MPH; Chancellor’s Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases, Medical Director, Epidemiology and Infection Prevention, University of California Irvine; Irvine, CA

Dr. Huang’s research focuses on the clinical epidemiology of highly antibiotic-resistant organisms including estimating the risk for infection and assessing practical means for prevention. Dr. Huang’s work involves studying the risks of healthcare-associated transmission of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant enterococcus (VRE), and other multidrug-resistant pathogens, including both short and long-term sequelae due to these pathogens within and beyond the hospital stay. Her scope of research also includes an evaluation of inter-facility spread and containment of these pathogens, including the intersection of preventative measures on hospitals, nursing homes, and the post-discharge home environment. She has evaluated several strategies to mitigate transmission and disease, including active surveillance with contact precautions, enhanced environmental cleaning, and pathogen burden reduction using antiseptic soaps and nasal ointments for decolonization. Dr. Huang has conducted multiple large-scale individual and cluster randomized trials showing that decolonization successfully reduces multidrug-resistant organisms, healthcare-associated infections, and infection-related hospitalizations.

Her current collaborative work involves large-scale trials involving hospital antibiotic stewardship interventions, as well as efforts joining epidemiology, microbiology, genomics, simulation modeling, and statistical methods to impact the way we monitor and intervene in the spread and containment of antimicrobial resistant pathogens across the continuum of healthcare.