CDC Deputy Director to Speak at AHE's Annual EXCHANGE Conference

The Association for the Healthcare Environment (AHE) of the American Hospital Association announces that Michael Bell, MD, deputy director of division of healthcare quality promotion at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as general session speaker for  its annual conference, EXCHANGE, being held September 21-23, 2015 in Grapevine, Texas. Bell’s address is scheduled for September 23 and is currently titled, "A State of the State on HAIs from the CDC: An Environmental Perspective.

AHE’s EXCHANGE 2015 will cover issues in infection prevention, environmental hygiene, management and leadership. Special topics include building a culture of accountability to prevent HAIs, and infection prevention in healthcare laundry.

A 20-year agency veteran and expert in drug-resistant pathogens and healthcare-associated infections, Bell’s career has focused on investigating and preventing transmission of healthcare-associated illnesses for hospital patients and staff alike as well as developing evidence-based infection control guidelines. He has been instrumental in advancing programs for prevention of antimicrobial resistance and improvements in safe medical practices.

Bell served for four years as executive secretary for the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He has authored more than 20 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters.

Bell earned a Bachelor of Science in biology and microbiology and his Doctor of Medicine from the University of Washington in Seattle. He completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver. He completed a clinical fellowship in infectious diseases at the University of California San Francisco as well as a postdoctoral fellowship in virology and immunology. Bell is board certified in infectious disease and internal medicine.

Source: AHE