The purpose of this proposal is to provide salary support for Kent Sepkowitz, MD, in his career development activities in the areas of patient oriented research and mentoring young infectious disease faculty and fellows. Dr. Sepkowitz is Head, Clinical Infectious Disease Section, and in this capacity supervises all infectious disease clinical research projects at MSKCC. He also is the Program Director for the infectious disease fellowship training program and oversees the career development of all infectious disease fellows. Dr. Sepkowitz's academic focus is infection control and occupational infections in health care workers. The award will allow Dr. Sepkowitz to further develop his Prevention Epicenter program, established by CDC grant support in 1998 and funded through 2006. Four activities are described in this grant, including two Prevention Epicenter projects: examination of the molecular epidemiology of Clostridium difficile and novel approaches to surgical site surveillance. In addition to Prevention Epicenter initiatives, the award will allow additional development of a CDC-funded program in health care worker safety (NaSH) examining the effect of safer needles on the rates and types of needlestick injuries. The final activity is enhanced clinical trials, which focus on new therapies for the prevention and treatment of opportunistic fungal and viral infections in cancer patients. Dr. Sepkowitz has an established record of collaborating productively with junior faculty, fellows, and residents. The ID Service has recently added five junior faculty members, each responsible for a specific institutional program. Both the new junior faculty and the ID fellows will be deeply involved in the four research projects described in this application. Resources provided by this award will allow Dr. Sepkowitz to cut back on clinical and administrative responsibilities and provide specific, scheduled time to mentor junior faculty and fellows, to assure successful development of their careers. In addition, it will allow him to devote more time to the specific projects, to the infection control program, and development of the MSKCC Prevention Epicenter. The combination of the strong academic tradition and milieu of MSKCC, the established, federally-funded program in infection control (Prevention Epicenter), and the applicant's established record of working productively with young physicians will produce a generation of academic infectious disease physicians with expertise in clinical investigation.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Type
Midcareer Investigator Award in Patient-Oriented Research (K24)
Project #
5K24AI052239-03
Application #
6743731
Study Section
Microbiology and Infectious Diseases B Subcommittee (MID)
Program Officer
Korpela, Jukka K
Project Start
2002-09-01
Project End
2007-05-31
Budget Start
2004-06-01
Budget End
2005-05-31
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2004
Total Cost
$115,722
Indirect Cost
Name
Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research
Department
Type
DUNS #
064931884
City
New York
State
NY
Country
United States
Zip Code
10065
Kamboj, Mini; Sepkowitz, Kent A (2007) Risk of transmission associated with live attenuated vaccines given to healthy persons caring for or residing with an immunocompromised patient. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 28:702-7
Tuma, SeJean; Sepkowitz, Kent A (2006) Efficacy of safety-engineered device implementation in the prevention of percutaneous injuries: a review of published studies. Clin Infect Dis 42:1159-70
Kamboj, Mini; Sepkowitz, Kent A (2006) The risk of tuberculosis in patients with cancer. Clin Infect Dis 42:1592-5
Kamboj, Mini; Weinstock, David; Sepkowitz, Kent A (2006) Progression of Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia in patients receiving echinocandin therapy. Clin Infect Dis 43:e92-4
Sepkowitz, Kent A; Eisenberg, Leon (2005) Occupational deaths among healthcare workers. Emerg Infect Dis 11:1003-8
Su, Y B; Sohn, Sejean; Krown, Susan E et al. (2004) Selective CD4+ lymphopenia in melanoma patients treated with temozolomide: a toxicity with therapeutic implications. J Clin Oncol 22:610-6
Weinstock, David M; Boeckh, Michael; Boulad, Farid et al. (2004) Postexposure prophylaxis against varicella-zoster virus infection among recipients of hematopoietic stem cell transplant: unresolved issues. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 25:603-8
Sohn, SeJean; Eagan, Janet; Sepkowitz, Kent A et al. (2004) Effect of implementing safety-engineered devices on percutaneous injury epidemiology. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 25:536-42
Sohn, SeJean; Eagan, Janet; Sepkowitz, Kent A (2004) Safety-engineered device implementation: does it introduce bias in percutaneous injury reporting? Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 25:543-7
Sepkowitz, Kent A (2003) How contagious is vaccinia? N Engl J Med 348:439-46