ST. JUDE GLOBAL
INFECTIOUS DISEASES NETWORKS YEARBOOK
ST. JUDE GLOBAL
INFECTIOUS DISEASES NETWORKS
Welcome
Welcome to another fantastic year and another edition of the St. Jude Global Infectious Diseases Networks Yearbook! This is where we gather all the cherished memories from our vibrant networks and their members each year. As our community continues to flourish, this yearbook gives us a chance to look back fondly on our shared experiences: from enlightening scientific gatherings to enriching network activities and projects and celebrating each other's achievements. Since our last edition, we've celebrated the growth of activity on the St. Jude Global Alliance Community, utilizing it as a platform to encourage working group collaboration, discussion and celebration of conferences and meetings, and growing resources for infection care and prevention. The Case Kiosk continues to serve as a vital forum for discussing complex infectious disease cases worldwide, with esteemed experts generously sharing their insights and importantly, to greet each other.
Our network members, as always, have shined in their organization and leadership of scientific meetings and seminars, showcasing their research and quality improvement projects in infection care and prevention in many international meetings.
We hope that you enjoy looking through this year’s memories. Cheers to another year.
GLOBAL
Global Infectious Diseases Team
Sergio Licona Program Coordinator
Vivian Berrio Moreno Program Specialist
Vanessa Smith Program Specialist
Miguela Caniza Program Director Member, St. Jude Faculty
Sheena Mukkada Assistant Member, St. Jude Faculty
Maysam Homsi Program Manager
Milka Vázquez Program Coordinator
Global Highlights
Global Infectious Diseases
The Inaugural Global ID Network Advisory Committee, comprising nine geographically representative members and members of the Global ID Program, continued to support the development of formalized and sustainable structures to increase and support regional and cross-regional projects. They have co-designed tools, templates, and processes to facilitate this work and encourage working group collaborations throughout the network. The progress of the Committee was presented during the 55th annual SIOP Congress in Ottawa, Canada in October of 2023 with a poster presentation titled, "Global Infectious Diseases Network of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (St. Jude): A Strategy for Sustaining Collaboration for Infection Care and Prevention."
In the past year, the Committee has reviewed and provided feedback on dozens of project idea notes that were prepared during the 2023 Annual networks meeting, oversaw several project idea notes progress to project proposals, reviewed and provided feedback on project proposals that are now moving forward as active working groups, including: an antibiogram training project in the Eastern Mediterranean and Africa region, a longitudinal study of infections and risk factors in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in South America, and a multi-regional antimicrobial stewardship project.
In September of 2023, Global ID showcased advancements in global infectious diseases training at the UTHSC Annual Medical Education Symposium hosted by The University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine. The poster highlighted the history and progress of the Intensive Infection Control Course, which would not be possible
without the hard work of network members at our global training centers, including Hilda Hernandez (Instituto Nacional de Pediatría, Mexico City, Mexico), Reham Khedr (Children’s Cancer Hospital Egypt, Cairo, Egypt), Arpita Bhattacharyya (Tata Medical Center, Kolkata, India) and many of their team members.
Forty-four network members were awarded travel support to attend the 2024 Annual Networks Meeting, joined by 27 Infectious Diseases Training Seminar participants, totaling 71 meeting attendees. The meeting included a state of the networks presentation, working group project updates by network members, a panel discussion on multisite project leadership and experiences, and a poster preview for the 23rd St. Jude PIDS/Pediatric Infectious Diseases Research Conference. Network members authors represented 43 posters this year, including one oral presentation by Dr. Dolores Freire (Ecuador) for her research, “Facilitators and barriers to revaccination after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation among pediatric patients in Ecuador”. Moreover, Dr. Reham Khedr (Egypt) and Dr. Griselda Escobedo (Mexico) were awarded best posters, the “People’s Choice Award” and “Best Global Poster”, respectively.
The continued overwhelming presence of Network members at this meeting highlights the immense knowledge and experiences being produced by this community.
Network members continue to regularly contribute to the monthly bulletin, sharing local experiences of summarizing scientific articles for the bulletin audience and continuing to educate and train those around them in the important infection care and prevention topics that are disseminated through the bulletin. Facilitating these educational opportunities represents an accomplishment of what has been a few challenging but successful years.
PRINCIPAL
Network Members
Alejandra Nava Ruíz
Pediatrics; Infectious Diseases
Hospital de Especialidades Pediátricas Tuxtla Gutiérrez
Tuxtla Gutierrez, Mexico
Alicia Emilia Altagracia Rivas Villalona
Pediatrics; Pediatric Surgery
Hospital Infantil Regional Universitario Dr. Arturo Grullón
Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic
Ana Jocelyn Carmona Vargas
Pediatrics; Infectious Diseases
Hospital del Niño y la Mujer “Dr. Alberto López Hermosa”
San Luis Potosí, México
Asia Castro Pérez
Pediatrics; Infectious Diseases
Hospital Infantil de Especialidades
Chihuahua, México
Network Members
Astrid Anaid Hernández Soto Pediatrics; Pediatric Infectious Diseases
Hospital Infantil Teletón de Oncología Querétaro, Mexico
Bruno Oliveira e Lima Pediatrics; Infectious Diseases
Brasilia Children's Hospital José de Alencar Brasília, Brasil
Claudia Rosalyn Pascual Morales Pediatrics; Oncology
Organización Panamericana de la Salud Lima, Perú
Daniela De la Rosa Zamboni Internal Medicine; Infectious Diseases
Hospital Infantil de México Federico Gómez
Mexico City, Mexico
Network Members
Daniela Serrano Valeriano
Pediatric Oncology
Hospital El Alto Sur La Paz, Bolivia
Dara Ofelia Torres Reyes
Pediatrics; Pediatric Infectious Diseases
Hospital General Tijuana Tijuana, Mexico
Denisse Natalie Vaquera Aparicio
Pediatrics; Infectious Diseases
Hospital Universitario "Dr. José Eleuterio Gonzalez" Monterrey, Mexico
Dolores E. Freire Jijón
Pediatrics; Infectious Diseases
SOLCA Guayaquil
Guayaquil, Ecuador
Network Members
Dora Isabel Estripeaut
Pediatrics; Infectious Diseases
Hospital del Niño Doctor José Renán Esquivel Panamá, Panama
Eduardo Arias de la Garza
Pediatrics; Infectious Diseases
Instituto Nacional de Pediatría Mexico City, Mexico
Eneida Sanchez Medina
Pediatrics; Infectious Diseases
Hospital Infantil de Tlaxcala Apetatitlán, Mexico
Fabiana Morosini
Pediatrics; Pediatric Hematology-Oncology
Centro Hospitalario Pereira Rossel Montevideo, Uruguay
Network Members
Fabianne Carlesse
Pediatrics; Infectious Diseases
Instituto de Oncología Pediátrica - Universidade Federal de São Paulo
São Paulo, Brasil
Fernando Ortega Riosvelasco
Pediatrics; Infectious Diseases; Epidimiology
Hospital Infantil de Mexico Federico Gomez
Mexico City, Mexico
Francisco Alcalde
Pediatrics; Pediatric Infectious Diseases
Hospital Sótero del Rio
Santiago, Chile
Gabriela Aguilar
Pediatrics
Hospital General Tijuana Tijuana, Mexico
Network Members
Georgina Elizabeth Félix Bermúdez Pediatrics; Infectious Diseases
Hospital Infantil Teletón de Oncología Querétaro, Mexico
Genara Santana Chalas Pediatrics; Infectious Diseases
Hospital Regional Universitario Dr. Arturo Grullon
Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic
Griselda Escobedo Meléndez Pediatrics; Infectious Diseases
Hospital Civil de Guadalajara "Dr. Juan I. Menchaca" Guadalajara, Mexico
Hilda Guadalupe Hernandez Orozco Epidemiology
Instituto Nacional de Pediatría
Mexico City, Mexico
Network Members
Irene Rocio Benitez Gomez
Pediatrics; Infectious Diseases
Instituto de Previsión Social
Asunción, Paraguay
Isela Barzola Sandoval Oncology Nursing
Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Neoplásicas
Surquillo, Peru
Ivan Felipe Gutierrez Tobar
Pediatrics; Infectious Diseases
Clínica Infantil Colsubsidio; Clínica Infantil Santa Maria del Lago
Bogotá, Colombia
Jacqueline Levy Zafrani
Pediatrics; Infectious Diseases
Hospital del Niño Doctor José Renán Esquivel
Panamá, Panama
Network Members
Jennia Joanna Acebo Arcentales
Pediatrics; Infectious Diseases
SOLCA Quito, Ecuador
Johanny Carolina Contreras
Pediatrics; Infectious Diseases
Hospital Infantil Dr. Robert Reid Cabral
Distrito Nacional, Dominican Republic
John Alexis Cabrera Enríquez
Tropical and Infectious Diseases Medicine
Hospital Nacional Guillermo Almenara Irigoyen Lima, Peru
Jose Antonio Vargas Soler
Pediatrics; Infectious Diseases
Fundación Cardiovascular de Colombia
Bucaramanga, Colombia
Network Members
José Eduardo L. Contreras Epidemiology
Hospital Civil de Guadalajara Dr. Juan I. Menchaca Guadalajara, México
José Ivan Castillo Bejarano Pediatrics; Infectious Diseases
Hospital Universitario "Dr. José Eleuterio Gonzalez" Monterrey, Mexico
Jose Luis Copado Gutierrez
Pediatrics; Pediatric Infectious Diseases
Universidad Anahuac Queretaro; Hospital Angeles Queretaro
Queretaro Mexico
Juan Pablo Londoño Ruiz Pediatrics; Infectious Diseases; Microbiology
Clínica Infantil Colsubsidio Bogotá, Colombia
Network Members
Juan Pablo Rodriguez Auad
Pediatrics; Infectious Diseases
Hospital del Niño Dr. Ovidio Aliaga Uria La Paz, Bolivia
Kattia Camacho Badilla
Pediatric Infectious Diseases; Epidemiology
Hospital Nacional de Niños "Dr. Carlos Saénz Herrera" San José, Costa Rica
Luzgarda Medalit Luna Vilchez
Pediatrics; Infectious Diseases
Instituto Nacional de Salud del Niño San Borja Lima, Peru
Manauri Humberto Morel Ventura
Infection Prevention and Control
Hospital Infantil Regional Universitario Dr. Arturo
Grullón
Santiago, Dominican Republic
Network Members
María Dolores Gil Durán Epidemiology
Hospital Infantil Regional Universitario Dr. Arturo Grullón
Santiago, Dominican Republic
María Elena Martínez Bustamante Pediatrics; Infectious Diseases
Centro Médico Nacional 20 de Noviembre ISSSTE
Mexico City, México
María José Sánchez Pediatrics; Infectious Diseases
Hospital Central del Instituto de Previsión Social Asunción, Paraguay
María Ysabel Morel De León Infection Prevention; Neonatology
Hospital Infantil Regional Universitario Dr. Arturo Grullón
Santiago, Dominican Republic
Network Members
Maribel Baquera Arteaga
Pediatrics; Infectious Diseases
Hospital Infantil de Especialidades de Chihuahua
Chihuahua, México
Mario Augusto Melgar Toledo
Pediatrics; Infectious Diseases
Unidad Nacional de Oncología Pediátrica
Guatemala City, Guatemala
Martha Avilés Robles
Pediatrics; Pediatric Infectious Diseases
Hospital Infantil de México Federico Gómez
Mexico City, Mexico
Miguel Ángel Minero Hibert
Pediatrics; Infectious Diseases
Hospital Regional de Alta Especialidad de Ixtapaluca; Centro Médico Nacional 20 de Noviembre
Mexico City, México
Network Members
Nelly Chavez Solorzano Pediatrics; Infectious Diseases Interhospital Guayaquil, Ecuador
Romina Corona Pediatrics; Onco-Hematology
CePSI Eva Perón
Santiago del Estero, Argentina
Sadid Angel Estrada
Pediatrics; Infectious Diseases
Hospital Infantil de México Federico Gómez Mexico City, México
Sara Eloisa Rivera Molina Pediatrics; Infectious Diseases
Hospital María Especialidades Pediátricas
Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Network Members
Seila Israel do Prado
Pediatrics; Infectious Diseases
Hospital de Amor Infantojuvenil de Barretos
Barretos, Brasil
Tanya Diaz Cadena
Pediatrics; Infectious Diseases
Hospital General de Queretaro
Queretaro, Mexico
Sofia Esposto
Pediatrics; Pediatric Infectious Diseases
Hospital de Niños Sor Maria Ludovica La Plata, Argentina
Valentina Gutierrez
Pediatrics; Pediatric Infectious Diseases
Complejo Asistencial Dr. Sótero del Río
Santiago, Chile
Network Members
Valeria Torre Infectious Diseases
Hospital de Niños Sor María Ludovica La Plata, Argentina
Yanina Ibel Lagala Pediatrics; Pediatric Infectious Diseases
Hospital de Niños Sor María Ludovica La Plata, Argentina
Network Highlights
PRINCIPAL
PRINCIPAL members Jacqueline Levy and Dora Estripeaut (Panama), Alicia Chang and Mario Melgar (Guatemala), Marco Luque (Honduras), and Mario Gamero (El Salvador) have spearheaded the inaugural cohort of the Nurse-initiated Antibiotic Timeout (NATO), a quality improvement intervention that tests the effectiveness of incorporating bedside nurses in antimicrobial stewardship activities. In NATO, nurses call an alert at 72 hours of empiric therapy for febrile neutropenia to review culture results and vital signs and prompt providers to consider a change in antibiotics according to the institutional algorithm. Separately, this group continues its work with Kattia Camacho (Costa Rica) and Johanny Contreras (Dominican Republic) to retrospectively analyze multisite data collected through the Fever Registry (FEVEREG). At the 2023 SIOP Conference, NATO was prominently featured in three oral presentations, showcasing the project's progress and implementation across Central America. Jacqueline Levy also shared insights on NATO during a panel discussion at the 2023 Annual Networks meeting, reflecting on the successes and challenges of multisite initiatives. Meanwhile, Dra. Levy was invited to present FEVEREG at the 2023 St. Jude Global Alliance Convening to showcase the use of a registry in quality improvement activities. FEVEREG is now advancing into a second cohort, led by network member Mark Grigoryan, who earned accolades for the best poster presentation on his FEVEREG data at the 2023 St. Jude PIDS Conference. NATO and FEVEREG were featured in two additional poster presentations at the same event.
The Network was also represented during various important congresses throughout Latin America. In April, the Cancer Prevention and Control Directorate of the General Directorate of Strategic Interventions in Public Health of the Ministry of Health in Peru, collaborated on the Virtual Symposium on Vaccination in Pediatric Oncologic Patients in preparation for a vaccination campaign targeting children with cancer and their care providers. PRINCIPAL member Dr. Fernando Ortega Riosvelasco (Mexico)
presented on general vaccination principles in children with cancer and Dr. Caniza presented the recent work of the SIOP Global Health Network Supportive Care Working Group aimed at answering frequently asked questions about COVID-19 vaccination in children with cancer.
In May, the Sociedade Brasileira de Oncologia
Pediátrica and Sociedad
Latino Americana de Oncología Pediátrica (SOBOPE/SLAOP)
Congress featured a half-day Symposium program on infections in immunocompromised hosts led by the PRINCIPAL Network. Dr. Medalit Luna (Peru), Dr. Juan Pablo Rodríguez-Auad (Bolivia), Dr. Ivan Gutiérrez Tobar (Colombia), and Dr. Claudia Pascual Morales (Peru) presented on topics of fever and neutropenia, antimicrobial prophylaxis, the golden hour and the decreasing time to therapy (DoTT) Latin American experience, viral infections (specifically, an overview of respiratory viral infections in Latin America, COVID-19 in pediatric oncology patients, and RSV), antimicrobial resistance and stewardship, and invasive fungal infections.
The Sociedad Latinoamericana de Infectología Pediátrica (SLIPE) Conference in October saw a strong PRINCIPAL presence. Approximately 25 members of the PRINCIPAL Network participated as speakers on panels or in seminars, as moderators, or as poster presenters, sharing
their expertise with conference attendees. Global ID and PRINCIPAL also hosted a symposium, “Reducing barriers in the prevention and attention of infections to protect the immunocompromised child [Acortando brechas en la prevención y atención de las infecciones para proteger al niño inmunodeprimido.] The presentations at this symposium were as follows: “General overview and the growing concern over multidrug-resistant pathogens” (Dr. Caniza); “Guaranteeing a safe environment for the care of immunosuppressed children” (Dr. Sara Eloisa Rivera Molina, Honduras); and "Optimizing infection prevention in immunosuppressed children: vaccination of patients and their circle” (Dr. Dolores Freire Jijón, Ecuador) and the session was moderated by Dr. Kattia Camacho (Costa Rica).
LOTUS
Network Members
Anna Lisa Ong-Lim
Pediatrics; Infectious Diseases
Philippine General Hospital Manila, Philippines
Arlene Dy Co
Pediatrics; Infectious Diseases
National Children's Hospital Quezon City, Philippines
Arpita Bhattacharyya
Pediatrics; Oncology
Tata Medical Center Kolkata, India
Bambang Ardianto
Pediatrics; Hematology and Oncology
Universitas Gadjah Mada / Dr. Sardjito General Hospital Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Network Members
Cao Qing
Pediatrics; Infectious and Tropical Diseases
Shanghai Children’s Medical Center/ National Children’s Medical Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine
Shanghai, China
Dwinanda Aidina Fitrani
Pediatrics; Infectious and Tropical Diseases
Harapan Kita National Women and Children Health Center
Jakarta, Indonesia
Kamalakshi Bhat
Pediatrics
Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore Mangalore, India
Leny Kartina
Pediatrics; Infectious Diseases
Dr. Soetomo General Academic Hospital
Surabaya, Indonesia
Network Members
Nita Radhakrishnan
Pediatrics; Pediatric Hematology Oncology
Post Graduate Institute of Child Health Noida, India
Parthasarathi Bhattacharyya
Pediatrics; Pediatric Critical Care
Tata Medical Center Kolkata, India
Riyadi Adrizain
Pediatrics; Pediatric Infectious & Tropical Diseases
Dr. Hasan Sadikin General Hospital Bandung, Indonesia
Satyam Mukherjee
Microbiology; Preventionist
Tata Medical Center Kolkata, India
Network Members
Samanamalee Gunasekara Microbiology
National Cancer Institute (Apeksha Hospital) Colombo, Sri Lanka
Thi Kim Hoa Nguyen Pediatrics; Oncology
Hue Central Hospital Hue, Vietnam
Vishnu Kaniyarakkal Medicine; Microbiology Government Medical College Kozhikode Kozhikode, India
Networks Highlights
LOTUS
In October, members of the Global ID Networks—Dr. Nita Radhakrishnan (India) and Dr. Riyadi Adrizain (Indonesia) presented at the My Child Matters symposium, co-sponsored by Global Infectious Diseases on “Epidemiology and Outcomes of Children with Cancer and Tuberculosis in the Asia and African Region” and “Experience in Managing Children with Cancer and Dengue in Healthcare Institutions of Asia and America Region,” respectively, during the 55th Annual SIOP Congress in Ottawa, Canada.
In Indonesia, Dr. Riyadi Adrizain participated in an institutional effort to highlight the importance of hand hygiene by organizing a WHO’s World Hand Hygiene Day celebration in May. The celebration included educating staff, family members, and patients on proper hand hygiene techniques, a hand hygiene video competition, and a series of webinars for the public and healthcare providers. Dr. Adrizain also led the organization of an international collaboration seminar with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Outcomes Research in
Athens, Greece, to celebrate World Antimicrobial Awareness Week. The seminar emphasized that the implementation of good practices of infection prevention and control is a key element in preventing antimicrobial resistance.
Dr. Kim Hoa (Vietnam) presented her experience with Global Infectious Diseases during the "Co-Designing Paths to CureAll in the Asia Pacific" workshop, a collaboration between St Jude Global Asia Pacific, Asian Childhood Cancer Alliance & Regional Partners. Dr. Hoa highlighted how she has benefited from opportunities for training, education, and collaboration she has experienced as a member of the Global ID Network.
EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN AND AFRICA
Network Members
Ahmed Kamal Bayoumi
Pediatric Oncology; Infectious Diseases
Children's Cancer Hospital, Egypt-57357 Cairo, Egypt
Amal Mhmoud
Clinical Pathology; Microbiology Assiut University Hospital Assiut, Egypt
Boniface Deus Masalapilu
Generalist; Preventionist
Aga Khan Hospital Mwanza, United Republic of Tanzania
Dilnasheen Safdar
Nursing; Hemato-Oncology Care
National Institute of Blood Diseases & BMT Lahore, Pakistan
Network Members
Ioannis (John) Kopsidas
Pediatrics; Infectious Diseases; Microbiology
Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Outcomes
Research (CLEO)
Athens, Greece
Kershinee Reddy
Pediatrics; Pediatric Oncology
Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital
Durban, South Africa
Lily Gloria Tagoe
Pediatrics; Pediatric Oncology
Korle Bu Teaching Hospital
Accra, Ghana
Lobna Shalaby
Pediatric Oncology
Children's Cancer Hospital, Egypt-57357
Cairo, Egypt
Network Members
Mohamed Abdelhakim Clinical Pharmacy; Oncology Clinical Pharmacy Children's Cancer Hospital, Egypt-57357 Cairo, Egypt
Neema Kayange Pediatrics; Pediatric Epidemiology Bugando Medical Centre Mwanza, United Republic of Tanzania
Reham Abdelaziz Khedr Pediatrics; Oncology
National Cancer Institute Cairo University Cairo, Egypt
Samina Nathani Nursing; Infection Prevention; Health Policy Dr Ziauddin Hospital Clifton Karachi, Pakistan
Network Members
Solomie Deribessa
Pediatrics; Infectious Diseases
St.Paul's Hospital Millennium Medical College
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Tarek Ahmed
Pediatric Oncology; Malignant Hematology
Children's Cancer Hospital, Egypt-57357
Cairo, Egypt
Youssef Madney
Pediatric Oncology
Children's Cancer Hospital, Egypt-57357
Cairo, Egypt
Yusto J. Yona
Pharmaceutical Sciences; Infectious Diseases
Aga Khan Hospital
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Networks Highlights
Eastern Mediterranean and Africa
Members of the Eastern Mediterranean and Africa regions have been steadily working on evaluating antibiogram use in the region. They completed a literature review to assess current gaps in antibiogram use in the Eastern Mediterranean and Africa regions and prepared their findings as an abstract during the St. Jude/PIDS Pediatric Infectious Diseases Research Conference. The abstract, titled “Applying the Multimodal Improvement Strategy framework to understand current gaps in the use of antibiograms in hospitals caring for children with cancer in the Eastern Mediterranean and Africa regions,” was accepted for poster presentation and won the People’s Choice Award, receiving the most votes by attendees for best poster.
Network members
Dr. Lily Gloria Tagoe and Solomie Deribessa participated in a 2-day workshop held in conjunction with the St. Jude Global Alliance Sub-Saharan Africa regional meeting in collaboration with SIOP Africa. The workshop aimed at reviewing summarized evidence and voting on recommendations for the region, as well as thinking about implementation.
Network member Dr. Lobna Shalaby co-chaired the Egyptian Pediatric Hematology Oncology Society (EPHOS) Meeting in October.
The 3-day meeting, hosted by Children’s Cancer Hospital Egypt, had the theme "Shaping the Future of Pediatric Hematology Oncology" and highlighted many important topics, including updated guidelines for managing multidrug-resistant infections and infectious complications after CAR T-cell therapy, among others.
Looking Forward
It was exciting to see everyone together again during the 2024 Annual Networks Meeting, celebrating the many activities achieved by network members around the world. As the network continues to grow, develop, and collaborate, our strength and ability to achieve our vision of improving the quality of infection care and prevention for children worldwide grows alongside. Thank you to all the individual members of the Global Infectious Diseases Network, those who lead the way toward the best and safest care for children with catastrophic illness worldwide.
Editorial Board
Miguela A. Caniza, MD, MPH
Maysam R. Homsi, DrPH, MPH, CCRP
Milka Vázquez
Vanessa Smith
