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The SHEA Podcast | A Conversation with SHEA’s Incoming President: Tom Talbot · The SHEA Podcast

• 0:09
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome to the SHA podcast.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_02: We are revamping the SHAY Podcast format and are planning to release more podcast episodes in 2024.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_02: These podcasts will focus on Shay's mission to promote the prevention of healthcare-associated infections and antibiotic resistance and to seek to advance the fields of healthcare epidemiology and antimicrobial stewardship.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_02: We hope that you'll tune in as we release new episodes this year.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_02: I'm Debbie Yokoa, and I am serving as today's podcast moderator.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_02: I'm a professor of clinical medicine and the medical director for hospital epidemiology and infection prevention at the University of California San Francisco Health.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_02: And I've had the great privilege of serving as the 2023 SHA president.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_02: I'm excited to be here with the incoming 2024 SHA president, Dr.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_02: Tom Talbot, and to have this opportunity to ask Tom to talk a little about himself and his plans for SHA during the upcoming year.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_02: We're excited to have him here to kick off the new SHA podcast series.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_02: Although Tom is familiar to most of you, I'll just provide a brief bio.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_02: He is a professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases and serves as the Chief Hospital Epidemiologist for Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_02: He's widely recognized for his expertise in healthcare epidemiology and infection prevention, including particular expertise in the areas of healthcare personnel vaccination, monitoring of HAI outcomes and process measures, and quality improvement efforts to reduce patient harms associated with HAIs.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_02: He served on the CDC's Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee, also known as HICPAC, and has been on the SHA board as vice president in 2022 and president-elect in 2023, leading up to his presidency in 2024.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_02: Hello, Tom, and thanks for being here.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, Debbie.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'll say it's an honor to be here, and it's a little intimidating to follow in the shoes of such a great president.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: So you have set the bar very high, but I'm excited to start to serve.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks so much, Tom.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_02: And uh again, congratulations as you begin your year as Shea President.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_02: Would you mind starting out by telling us a bit about yourself and your background in healthcare epidemiology?
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: So as you mentioned, I currently work at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: That's actually where I went to medical school after a college career at Duke University.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: And then afterwards, I went to uh John Topkins for residency.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: Interesting fact.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: So those of you who know Arjun Trini of Austin, who's a rock star in our field, he and I were roommates throughout medical school and residency.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: So just a strange tidbit of trivia for Shea lovers.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um then I came to Vanderbilt and did my fellowship, did a master's of public health, and then stayed on first as an associate epidemiologist under William Shaffner, a leader in our field.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: And then he became my associate and I became the chief in 2006.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I've been in that role ever since.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, just other background, I have a wife in infectious disease, Kip Talbot, who's a leading expert in vaccines, but we don't talk about infections at the dinner table.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: We we talk about our family and our two kids and uh hopefully try to be a little bit more well-rounded.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_02: That's great.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_02: It's always interesting to hear about career pathways.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_02: Can you share an experience that has had a significant impact on your journey to where you are now as a leader in healthcare epidemiology and infection prevention?
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's really interesting.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: I had a mentee ask me how I how I got involved in infection prevention.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: And as I think back, as with many of us, it's really um impacted by great mentors.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so when I was a fellow, um I linked up with Dr.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Shaffner and Kathy Edwards and just really gravitated to infection prevention and healthcare epidemiology because I really like the thought of problem solving, of really identifying this issue and how do you prevent harm in a larger population.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: And um, Kathy Edwards at the time was doing research on smallpox vaccines, and she linked up with Bill and they said, you know, we're gonna start giving healthcare workers this vaccine, and it could be infectious, and there's infection control ramifications that we really need to understand.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so through their mentorship, I was able to do studies on infectivity of vaccinated individuals and look at different kinds of ways to protect the vaccination site.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: And that really was exciting for me to be like be in this really kind of cutting-edge question that really can impact the day-to-day infection prevention.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: And then as I've gone on, it's really those connections and mentorship as you continue to grow, where I found the most joy is answering those questions, meeting people who are very, very smart and really stimulate me to grow, folks like Trish Pearl, um, like Arjun, like Sarah Cosgrove, like yourself, just to really kind of continue to push yourself to answer these questions in a pragmatic way to really help improve the health of healthcare workers and patients.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a job that's always been very rewarding because I find those mentors and inspired by those just continually.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_02: That's really great.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_02: Totally agree with you about the importance and the impact of great mentors.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um, how did you first get involved in volunteering in Shea?
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_02: And what motivated you to continue on your leadership path?
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's interesting.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I started in Shea, I want to say, I think went to my first Shea around 2003, um, and really enjoyed being there.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: It was a small group, it was a community.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: You really felt like you found your people and really could kind of engage with them.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: And so started working, um, just kind of being involved at the ID Week meeting and um got to know Trish Pearl.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: And really, I have to give credit to Trish for starting me on the pathway because in 2005, um, she knew that I had an interest in vaccination.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: And she said, you know, influenza vaccination and healthcare workers are really an important topic.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: And she called me and asked, would you share our white paper on looking at whether we should, you know, should require vaccination for healthcare workers?
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: And that was, you know, I felt, you know, a little bit imposter syndrome, but allowed me to meet individuals and and really kind of learn and grow in that area and establish that track.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I really enjoyed it.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I think so.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: Lesson one for folks out there is really um I thank Trish for really elevating me and empowering me in a in, you know, I wasn't sure I was ready for that, but she did and really kind of did continue to do that.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: And then as I got more involved with the education committee, public policy committee, I think always kind of volunteering for those opportunities when they come and learning and just um I enjoyed it.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: So when you enjoy something, you tend to work really hard on it.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I've been really fortunate to that Shea leadership has said, oh, you know, we'd like you to do X, whether it's cheer the spring meeting or cheer ID week, and really been, you know, um kind of learn from that.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: So it's motivated me um just just I continue to get joy from that.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so I really uh thank those who kind of elevated me to the spots and trusted me to begin with.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_02: That's really great.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and again, emphasizing the importance of great mentors.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_02: Speaking of Trish Pearl, she's the one who um nominated me to take on the leadership of the compendium.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_02: So totally feel the same way about the importance of um uh backing from Shea leadership and and mentoring.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah um balancing a volunteer leadership role with other professional and personal commitments can be challenging, maybe more so now than than ever.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_02: How do you manage this balance?
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_02: And do you have any tips for others who are interested in getting involved in Shay?
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's a great, great set of questions.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: I think one, Shay staff and leadership is very, very good about recognizing that all of us are volunteers on these roles.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: And so really trying to allay the burden of, you know, making sure that if you are volunteering, that it can be as efficient, that you have that help, that if you if you get into trouble, how we can get others to help you.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: So that's been helpful.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I found that as you volunteer, um, you're really able to do as much as you're able to do at the time.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and I know folks that are sometimes a little nervous about committing to a committee or committing to X or Y because of the bandwidth and work.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: And what I found is actually I I find that it's a good um release from my day-to-day job, but it augments that job.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: So I learn things in volunteering, whether it's educational programming or on the board, that I can take back to my day-to-day job and actually learn as well.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: So it helps me kind of synergize those different hats, so to speak.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: So I think as folks are interested in getting involved in Shays, A, put your name out there.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're not selected, um, you will be.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we're a small community, but we're getting bigger.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: But we definitely look at folks who are motivated and want you uh to kind of have that opportunity.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: And then as you get involved, just continue to take those opportunities that are there, no matter how small they may be, and put your name out there to do that and as much as you can.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I think as you do that, hopefully you'll get that kind of rewarding career growth.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: And then also kind of that that you know, that established kind of um uh leadership role in Shay kind of comes comes naturally as you get more experience.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_02: That's really excellent, Tom.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_02: And this is a pretty big question.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_02: Given the current healthcare landscape, what do you see as the most significant challenges in healthcare epidemiology and infection prevention and antimarcrobial stewardship?
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_02: And what are some of the ways that Shea can play a role in addressing these challenges?
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's a huge question.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: One we've thought a lot about as the board and as a society.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: And as I think about it, um, I think we're at a really big crossroads for our specialty.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we've talked a lot, and this is a little bit of my soapbox, but I think we really need to really um put a better understanding to the community outside of our four walls, what it is we do.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: What is a healthcare epidemiologist?
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: And even if you think about the term, it's a very clunky term.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's a very, and I don't mean this in a negative way per se, an academic term.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're a community hospital CEO that supports an operational program and you say, oh, you need to have a healthcare epidemiologist, they may not even know what it is we do, and they may think, oh, well, that's a scientist.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: That's not an essential foundational operational leader that I have to have to advance the safety of care in my institution.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think that is really where we are as we've gone through the pandemic.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: I think we've had numerous examples of our value.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: But I remember a conversation with a leader in infection prevention that's not a healthcare epi, who flat out said, Well, what exactly does the healthcare epidemiologist do?
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that was very sobering.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think we as a society need to really help empower and define what that is, market what that is, really advocate for resources.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so a lot of work is going on right now around a resource document about programs and particularly the healthcare epidemiology role, which I think we need to use more of the medical director of infection prevention terminology interchangeably, because that's speaks to more people actually.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: And then tools off of that, such as job descriptions, such as negotiations, such as what is the fair amount of resources that a program and the epidemiologist need to have to be effective, really leveraging our partners in the regulatory space and in the patient space and then in the healthcare leadership space, so they understand that we are foundational, essential roles in healthcare facilities to advance safety.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that is the going to be the focus of our work this year.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's really important.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: We have to empower our members how they can answer those questions.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm really committed and excited to try and do that with the help of everybody in the society and the board leadership.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_02: That's a terrific, really, really thoughtful response.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks so much, Tom.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_02: And this is my last question, and you've you've uh addressed this at least in part um already.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_02: What is your vision for Shay during your tenure as president?
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_02: And are there specific goals or initiatives you hope to accomplish?
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think I think, as you noted, it really goes back to that last question.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'd really like to see Shay really continue to advance our role as a leader in awareness and advocacy for the medical director of IP healthcare epidemiologist, really making sure people understand what it is we do, how we are essential experts.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you see, even right now the discussions around HICPAC and expertise that this is coming to fray.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: So I really want us to be kind of seen as that forefront leadership, advocate for that.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so at the end of the tenure, if we really made strides there and leverage that work that's being done across our committees, um, I think that's effective.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: So the goals would be that, you know, at the end of my tenure, that least people know, oh, that's what a healthcare epidemiologist is.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: This is what we do, and this is why we're important and essential.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much, Dr.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_02: Talbot, for being here and sharing your thoughts and perspectives.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_02: I have absolutely no doubt that you'll be a superb Shea president.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you, Debbie.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: And again, thank you for your leadership.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it really is uh, you know, following your footsteps.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: You you've laid an outstanding path.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I think with the board and the volunteers, we can do really great things.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I think we have some passion and knowledge.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I think I'm very, very excited about uh where we can go this coming year.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_02: I'm excited as well.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_02: So that concludes this episode of the Shay Podcast.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you all for tuning in.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_02: If you aren't already a member of Shay, consider joining in in 2024.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_02: Please check out our website at www.shay-online.org for more information on how to get involved.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_02: You can also email us at info at shay-online.org.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm going to end by wishing you all a very happy new year.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for listening to today's episode of the Shea Podcast.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: Don't forget to register for the 2024 Shea Spring Conference, taking place April 16th to the 19th in Houston, Texas.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: For more information and to register, visit Shayspring.org.