Sharon B. Wright, MD, MPH, Director, Infection Control/Hospital Epidemiology
Sharon Wright, at left, is shown with a family, friends and colleagues, including her husband, Seth, their son Sam, and her parents, Carole and Peter Brodie.
Presented by Ken Sands, Senior Vice President, Health Care Quality
Dr. Sharon Wright came to Beth Israel Hospital in 1995 as a fellow in Infectious Disease, having completed medical school and residency at Columbia-Presbyterian in New York. She joined the active medical staff in 1998, and in 2001 was appointed Hospital Epidemiologist and Director of Infection Control, relieving yours truly of those responsibilities. Sharon and I often joke that the result of doing a great job with preventing infection is that nothing happens, and nobody ever notices when nothing happens. But at this point it is impossible not to notice what is not happening under Sharon's leadership. We have recognized here in the past, for example, that ventilator pneumonia and bloodstream infections have been greatly reduced. But did you know that infections with antibiotic resistant organisms overall have decreased at BIDMC, despite the fact that antibiotic resistance in the community is more common than ever? Why would that be? Perhaps it is because the hand hygiene program that Sharon directs has resulted in employees performing hand hygiene with more than double the frequency of just five years ago, and clinical units now routinely reach a level of compliance that was once thought to be a "stretch" goal.
Most recently, what hasn't happened at BIDMC is any disruption to our mission because of H1N1 influenza. The arrival last spring of this new virus required the immediate deployment of systems to screen employees, deploy testing and treatment, and coordinate communication within the hospital and across the multiple external agencies releasing information and instruction that at times changed hourly. Dr. Wright, once again, allowed nothing to happen. Specifically, there has been no known transmission of H1N1 on the BIDMC campus, despite the thousands of employees, patients and visitors that pass through our doors, and the fact that we have cared for more than 125 inpatients and countless outpatients with active infection. The coming flu season will undoubtedly be another stress to our system, but we are fortunate to have Dr. Wright navigating us through largely unknown territory with a combination of rigorous scientific analysis and sound judgment. Our confidence in her leadership stems from her commitment, her deep expertise, and her ability to communicate complex information across all levels of the organization in way that leaves us reassured that we are taking the best and safest approach. Thank you for protecting us and our patients, and congratulations.
