Dominique Godfrey-Johnson is an Infection Prevention Consultant with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion (DHQP) Surveillance Branch (SB) where she is a member of the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) Protocol and Training Team. In this role, she provides consultation and technical assistance regarding surveillance for healthcare-associated infections using NHSN. She also serves as a subject matter expert for inquiries related to the application of CDC's NHSN Bloodstream Infection criteria. She earned a Bachelor of Science in environmental health from the University of Georgia and Master of Public health with a concentration in Infectious Diseases from the University of South Florida. Dominique has more than 10 years of experience as an epidemiologist which encompasses surveillance, data management, and outcome measures. Prior to joining the NHSN Protocol and Training Team, she practiced as an Infection Preventionist at community hospital in West Georgia. She is certified in Infection Control (CIC).

LaTasha Boswell is a Nurse Infection Preventionist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion (DHQP) Surveillance Branch where she is a member of the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) Protocol and Training Team. In this role, she provides consultation and technical assistance regarding surveillance for healthcare-associated infections using NHSN. She also serves as a secondary subject matter expert for clinical inquires related to the application for CDC’s NHSN Bloodstream Infection criteria and Late Onset Sepsis and Meningitis (LOS/MEN). She is a registered nurse with 19 years of nursing experience including Medical-Surgical, Public Health, and Infection Prevention. She earned her BSN from Old Dominion University and Master of Public Health from the University of New England. She is certified in Infection Control (CIC).

Jennifer Watkins is a Nurse Infection Preventionist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion (DHQP) Surveillance Branch (SB) where she is a member of the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) Protocol and Training Team. In this role, she provides consultation and technical assistance regarding surveillance for healthcare-associated infections using NHSN. She also serves as a subject matter expert for Ventilator-associated Events (VAE), Pediatric Ventilator-associated Events (PedVAE), and Pneumonia (PNEU) surveillance and reporting, and central line insertion practices (CLIP) adherence monitoring and reporting. She is a registered nurse with over 20 years of professional nursing experience, primarily focusing on critical care and infection prevention. She earned a Bachelor of Science in psychology from the University of Arizona, a Bachelor of Science in nursing from Russell Sage College, and a Master of Public Health with a concentration in epidemiology from the University of Arizona.

Denise Leaptrot is an Infection Preventionist/Epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion (DHQP) Surveillance Branch (SB) where she is a member of the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) Protocol and Validation Team. In this role, she provides consultation and technical assistance regarding surveillance for healthcare-associated infections using NHSN criteria and definitions.

Denise serves as a subject matter expert for Multidrug Resistant Organism /Clostridium difficile (MDRO/CDI) surveillance and reporting and Surgical Site Infection (SSI) surveillance and reporting. She has 25+ years of combined experience encompassing healthcare epidemiology, infection control and prevention, information technology, and educational efforts within public & private healthcare arenas as well as public health sectors. Denise holds a master’s degree in Healthcare Administration with focus on management and statistics, a Specialty in Microbiology and a bachelor’s degree in Medical Technology with minors in Biology and Chemistry. She has authored and published multiple journal articles focusing on HAIs, MDROs and CDI and is certified in Infection Control (CIC).

Victoria Russo is an Infection Prevention Consultant with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion (DHQP) Surveillance Branch (SB) where she is a member of the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) Protocol and Training Team. In this role, she provides consultation and technical assistance regarding surveillance for healthcare-associated infections using NHSN. Victoria serves as primary subject matter expert for the Patient Safety Surgical Site Infection Event (SSI) Protocol surveillance and reporting. She also provides subject matter expertise for inquiries related to Operative-Procedure Codes. She holds a Bachelor of Science in health communication from Grand Valley State University and Master of Public Health with a concentration in epidemiology from Indiana University School of Medicine. Prior to joining the Protocol and Training Team, Victoria practiced as an Infection Preventionist at large teaching hospitals in Michigan. Victoria is certified in Infection Control (CIC) and is a published author in the field of infection prevention and

Maggie Dudeck MPH, is an Epidemiologist and Lead for the NHSN Acute Care Analytics Team in the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion at CDC. She has more than eighteen years of experience and expertise in the surveillance, science, analysis, and interpretation of healthcare-associated infections and healthcare-related surveillance system data. Maggie is a nationally recognized consultant in the field of healthcare associated infections (HAIs) epidemiology and the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) surveillance system, making significant contributions to the complex development and implementation of surveillance protocols and analytic products. She leads activities related to the analysis of extensive surveillance data and assesses impact of surveillance protocol changes. Maggie earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Northern Illinois University and her Masters of Public Health in Epidemiology from Emory University.

Vaishnavi Pattabiraman MSc, MS, MPH is a Public Health Analyst in the Methods and Analytics Team, at the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) in the CDC Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion (DHQP). She received her MPH in Epidemiology from Georgia State University in 2018, MS in Genetics and Molecular Biology from Emory University in 2011. She has been a Public Health Professional for over nine years, with a recent transition from a Public Health Microbiologist to a Public Health Analyst. In her current role, she serves as the subject matter expert (SME) for VAE/PedVAE and LOS/MEN analytic activities, co-leads Data Quality (DQ) activities for the Patient Safety Component of NHSN, develops NHSN Analysis training content as required, conduct analysis for the annual VAE progress report among other things. Additionally, she provides user support to the NHSN users by responding to inquiries through the NHSN mailbox.

Melinda NeuhauserPharmD, MPH, FCCP, FASHP, FIDP is Pharmacist and Acute Care Lead for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Office of Antibiotic Stewardship in the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion. Melinda earned a Doctor of Pharmacy from University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy and a Master in Public Health from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She also completed an infectious diseases residency at Detroit Receiving Hospital and infectious diseases fellowship at University of Illinois at Chicago.

Prior to joining the CDC, Melinda worked as the National Clinical Pharmacy Program Manager in Infectious Diseases for the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) Pharmacy Benefits Management Services and Co-Chair of the VA National Antimicrobial Stewardship Task Force. She also previously worked as clinical pharmacy specialist in infectious diseases at National Institute of Health Clinical Research Center as well as University of Houston College of Pharmacy/MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Malissa Mojica is a Subject Matter Expert for Subject Matter Expert and Analyst for the National Health Surveillance Network’s (NHSN) Antimicrobial Use and Resistance Module. She conducts quality assurance checks of the NHSN application, assists with testing defects, change requests, and responds to facility questions. Mojica also assists vendors testing synthetic data sets, and host calls for both the AR and AU options. She has experience working in the health care analytics field with her healthcare knowledge. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from New Mexico State University, her Bachelor of Arts in Music Therapy at Arizona State University, and her master’s in Public Administration with a focus on Healthcare Management.

Amy Webb is a Public Health Analyst with the Lantana Consulting Group, a contractor for NHSN, within the Surveillance Branch of the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion (DHQP) at CDC. Amy has been with the NHSN Team for over 10 years and is currently a subject matter expert for the NHSN Antimicrobial Use and Resistance Module working with facilities and software vendors to support the submission of antimicrobial use and resistance data into NHSN. Amy earned a Master of Public Health in Behavioral Science and Health Education from Emory University, a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Luther College and is a Certified Health Education Specialist.

Bonnie Norrick is an Infection Prevention Consultant with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion (DHQP) Surveillance Branch (SB) where she is a member of the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) Protocol and Training Team. In this role, she provides consultation and technical assistance regarding surveillance for healthcare-associated infections using NHSN. She also serves as a subject matter expert for HAI Data Validation and is the primary subject matter expert of Catheter Related Urinary Tract surveillance and reporting. She earned a

Emily Witt MPH, is a Public Health Analyst with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion (DHQP) Surveillance Branch (SB) where she is a member of the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) Protocol and Training Team. In this role, she provides consultation and technical assistance as a secondary subject matter expert for the Ventilator-associated Events (VAE), Pediatric Ventilator-associated Events (PedVAE), and Multidrug Resistant Organism and Clostridium difficile (MDRO/CDI) Events. She also assists with the development and coordination of education and training activities for NHSN Patient Safety Component users, including webinar events and self-paced computer-based training materials. Emily earned a Master of Public Health from Emory University with an MPH concentration in Health Education.

Melissa Otis is a Nurse Infection Prevention Consultant with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion (DHQP), Surveillance Branch where she is a member of the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) Protocol and Training Team. In this role, Melissa provides consultation and technical assistance regarding surveillance for healthcare associated infections using NHSN. She serves as a secondary subject matter expert for the NHSN Outpatient Procedure Component for Ambulatory Surgery Centers as well as for Surgical Site Infection (SSI) surveillance and reporting for the Patient Safety Component. In addition, she serves as a secondary subject matter expert for the NHSN Pneumonia (PNEU) surveillance and reporting and serves as a subject matter expert for the NQF (National Quality Forum) endorsement activities. Melissa has over 20 years of combined healthcare experience in a variety of leadership roles, many of which focused on Infection Prevention. She has been a Registered Nurse for over 15 years and earned her Bachelor of Science in nursing from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Prachi Patel , MPH, is a Scientific Data Analyst within the Surveillance Branch of the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion (DHQP) at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Before coming to work at the CDC, she worked at the Virginia Department of Health as an Epidemiologist. She was responsible for conducting disease surveillance to monitor the incidence and prevalence of diseases in her districts. At the CDC, she provides support to NHSN healthcare facilities on reporting their CMS required data and their NHSN data analysis and interpretation. She holds a BS in Microbiology and Molecular Biology from University of Central Florida and an MPH in Epidemiology from Florida International University.

Rebecca Konner MPH, is a trained epidemiologist with experience in conducting disease surveillance to monitor the incidence and prevalence of disease in communities. She has experience in evaluating public health surveillance systems and activities for the detection of and response to disease outbreaks in different populations. Rebecca has performed data collection and analysis using public health surveillance systems, such as NHSN, or other statistical tools for several years. Rebecca holds a master’s degree in Public Health from the University of Kentucky.

Sunny Xu is a Public Health Analyst with CACI (subcontractor to Leidos) for the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) in the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In this role, she is a subject-matter expert in the analysis of MDRO/CDI laboratory-identified healthcare-associated data, and Targeted Assessment for Prevention (TAP) analysis. Sunny earned her Master of Public Health from Emory University with a concentration in Global Epidemiology, and Bachelor of Science from the University of Michigan.

Scott Decker is a Public Health Analyst within the NHSN Acute Care Analytics Team (ACAT). In this role, he focuses on data analysis and reporting from the Outpatient Procedure Component (OPC). In addition, he provides direct user support for the OPC. In the past, he’s served as a Subject Matter Expert for the NHSN Patient Safety Component with a focus on location mapping and annual surveys. Prior to joining the Methods and Analytics team he served as a community health extension volunteer for the United States Peace Corps in Zambia. Scott earned his BA from Western Michigan University and his Master of Public Health from Emory University.

Karen Jones, PhD, MSPH, is a Public Health Analyst with CACI (subcontractor to Leidos) for the NHSN Acute Care Analytics Team (ACAT) in the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion at CDC. In this role, she is a subject matter expert for the analysis of laboratory-identified health care-associated data as reported to NHSN; in addition, she is responsible for data quality queries, and providing technical assistance to users. Karen started her career at CDC as an infectious disease surveillance epidemiologist in 2007. As a surveillance epidemiologist for a national outbreak reporting system, Karen was responsible for coordinating multiple reporting systems, preparing data analysis for publication, and establishing reporting guidelines for health departments. Karen earned her Doctor of Philosophy in health services policy and management from the University of South Carolina, her Master of Science in public health from Emory University, and Bachelor of Science from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.

Kathryn Haass, MPH, is a Health Scientist with the Surveillance Branch of the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). She is one of the subject matter experts for the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) Patient Safety Component (PSC), specifically the Annual Facility Survey and Antibiotic Resistance for HAI events. She has worked with NHSN for seven years - more than two years with the PSC team. Before joining CDC, Kathryn worked as a Clinical Laboratory Scientist in clinical microbiology and blood banking. Kathryn earned her MPH from the University of South Florida and holds undergraduate degrees in clinical laboratory science and health sciences.

Laura Blum Laura Blum is a Public Health Analyst with Lantana Consulting Group, a contractor for the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN), within the Surveillance Branch of the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). She is one of the subject matter experts for the NHSN Antimicrobial Use and Resistance (AUR) Module working with facilities, healthcare systems, and software vendors to support antimicrobial use and resistance reporting. She has worked with the NHSN AUR Module for four years – one as a healthcare-associated infections epidemiologist at a state health department and three with the NHSN Team at CDC. Laura earned her MPH in epidemiology and biostatistics from University of California Berkeley and BS in mathematics and economics from University of California San Diego.

Scott Decker is a Public Health Analyst within the NHSN Acute Care Analytics Team (ACAT). In this role, he focuses on data analysis and reporting from the Outpatient Procedure Component (OPC). In addition, he provides direct user support for the OPC. In the past, he’s served as a Subject Matter Expert for the NHSN Patient Safety Component with a focus on location mapping and annual surveys. Prior to joining the Methods and Analytics team he served as a community health extension volunteer for the United States Peace Corps in Zambia. Scott earned his BA from Western Michigan University and his Master of Public Health from Emory University.

Irene Khan, MPH is a Public Health Analyst/Epidemiologist for the NHSN Acute Care Analytics Team (ACAT) in the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion at CDC. Originally from the Washington D.C. area, Irene holds a B.S. in biology and a Master of Public Health in epidemiology from George Mason University. She has over nine years of laboratory experience working as a Molecular Biology Scientist and Genome Analyst for a private biotech company and more recent clinical experience working as a Surveillance Infection Preventionist for a prominent healthcare system in Atlanta, GA. In her role at NHSN, she will primarily be focused on the Outpatient Procedure Component, which is a brand-new module to be released sometime in the near future.

Henrietta Smith is a Nurse Infection Preventionist contracted with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion (DHQP) Surveillance Branch (SB) where she is the Team Lead for the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) Protocol and Training Team. Additionally, she serves as the subject matter expert for the operative procedure codes, which are included in the NHSN Surgical Site Infection surveillance protocols. She is Certified in Infection Control (CIC) and have over 35 years of experience in the healthcare industry with 27 years in infection prevention and control. Her experience in the healthcare industry includes work in a large teaching hospital, a community hospital, a long-term acute care facility and corporate/federal public health. She has a Bachelor of Science in Medical Technology from Louisiana State University, a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Emory University and a Master of Science in Nursing, Advanced Care Management and Leadership from Kennesaw State University. She has a Certificate for Design Thinking for Strategic Innovation Program from Stanford University Center for Professional Development.

Jaina Shah, MPH, is an ORISE Fellow with the Surveillance Branch of the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). She is one of the subject matter experts for the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) Patient Safety Component (PSC), specifically the Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infection (CLABSI) and Central Line Insertion Practice (CLIP) events. She joined the PSC team as an ORISE Fellow in 2021. Jaina earned her MPH from the Georgia State University and holds an undergraduate degree in Nutrition Science.