FACULTY BIOGRAPHIES

Dale N. Gerding, MD, FIDSA, is Professor of Medicine at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine in Maywood, Illinois and Research Physician at Hines Veterans Affairs Hospital. Prior to his present position, Dr. Gerding was Associate Chief of Staff for Research and Development at the Hines Veterans Affairs Hospital, Chief of Medicine at Lakeside VA Hospital in Chicago, and Professor of Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Dr. Gerding received his undergraduate degree in physics from St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota, attended graduate school in physics at UCLA in Los Angeles, California, and received his MD from the University of Minnesota Medical School. He was a medical intern at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston and, following two years at the National Institutes of Health, completed his medical residency and infectious diseases fellowship at the University of Minnesota and Minneapolis VA Medical Center. He is board certified in internal medicine and infectious diseases.

Dr. Gerding is an infectious diseases specialist and hospital epidemiologist, past president of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America and past chair the antibiotic resistance committee of SHEA. He is a fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and past chair of the National and Global Public Health Committee and the Antibiotic Resistance Subcommittee of IDSA. He served as a member of the board of directors of IDSA from 2005-2008. He is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and a member of the American Society for Microbiology.

Dr. Gerding’s research interests include the epidemiology and prevention of Clostridium difficile disease, antimicrobial resistance, and antimicrobial distribution and kinetics. He has been a Merit Review funded research investigator in the VA for over 35 years and is the author of over 300 peer-reviewed journal publications, book chapters, and review articles. He holds patents for the use of non-toxigenic C. difficile for the prevention and treatment of this disease. He is a member of the editorial boards of Clinical Infectious Diseases, Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, Gut Microbes, and Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, and is an ad hoc reviewer for numerous other medical journals.

Dr. Stephen M. Brecher has been the Director of Microbiology at the Boston VA Healthcare System for 28 years and holds academic appointments at the Boston University School of Medicine and at the University of Massachusetts/Dartmouth. Dr. Brecher is on the editorial board of the Journal of Clinical Microbiology.

Dr. Brecher has been honored as an American Society of Microbiology (ASM) Foundation Speaker and has convened and lectured at numerous symposia and workshops at the ASM annual meetings (the general and "infections meetings"). Dr. Brecher is well known and respected for his work and lectures on methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), C. difficile infections (CDI), and multi-drug resistant bacteria. He has lectured from Boston to Beijing and, as an accomplished and highly acclaimed speaker, Dr. Brecher is appreciated for his ability to make you laugh while he is telling you that bacteria are the dominant species on earth and that your days are numbered. CD infections are particularly important to him because of the poor outcomes, treatment difficulties, diagnostic dilemmas, and unexplained community cases.

Kathleen M. Mullane, DO, PharmD, is Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois. Following graduation from the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine at Midwestern University, Dr. Mullane completed her residency in internal medicine at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center and her fellowship in infectious diseases at the University of Illinois/University of Chicago Combined Program.

Dr. Mullane’s clinical interest is in infectious diseases and antimicrobials. She has co-authored numerous original articles and abstracts on investigational treatments for infectious diseases including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C, as well treatment of skin, soft tissue, and fungal infections. Dr. Mullane has also participated in numerous lectures and grand rounds on topics such as HIV, West Nile virus, tuberculosis, fungal infections, and sexually transmitted diseases.

Dr. Mullane currently holds positions on the American Journal of Transplantation and Transplant Infectious Diseases journal review panels. She is the Director of Infectious Diseases Clinical Trials, Chairman of the Antibiotic Subcommittee, and a member of various BSD committees at the University of Chicago. In 2004, she was the recipient of the Inspirational Attending of the Year at Loyola University Medical Center.

Stuart Johnson, MD, DTM&H, is a professor of medicine at Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Illinois and the Deputy ACOS for Research at the Hines VA Hospital. Dr. Johnson received his MD from the University of Minnesota Medical School and completed his internal medicine residency and infectious disease fellowship training at the University of Minnesota Hospital and the Minneapolis VA Medical Center. He received a diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene at Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand and a Career Development Award from the Department of Veterans Affairs. He is the past president of the Anaerobe Society of the Americas.

His main research interest and focus has involved the epidemiology and pathogenesis of Clostridium difficile infections. He is actively studying variant strains of C. difficile and the role of the various toxins in the pathogenesis of C. difficile disease. He also has been involved in clinical research on the parasite, Angiostrongylus cantonensis, responsible for most cases of eosinophilic meningitis, world-wide.