September 29, 2004
CONTACT: Rosann Giordano-Thompson
(215) 349-5964
rosann.thompson@uphs.upenn.edu
Patrick J. Brennan, MD, Heads Federal Health Advisory
Committee
Penn Professor Appointed Chairman of HICPAC
(Philadelphia, PA) – Patrick J. Brennan, MD, Professor
of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
and Chief of Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety at Penn Health
System, has been appointed Chairman of the Department of Health
and Human Services’ Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory
Committee (HICPAC) by Tommy Thompson, Secretary of the Department of Health
and Human Services (HHS). Since 2003, Brennan has served on the Committee
as one of 14 infectious diseases experts who advise the Centers for Disease
Control and the Secretary of HHS regarding infection control in United
States health care facilities. “Being part of this important committee
has been a very positive experience,” says Brennan. “We provide
input on a wide range of issues and I’m working with a group of
people who are at the top of their fields.”
Brennan, in his role as Chief of Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety
for the University of Pennsylvania Health System, has introduced numerous
system-wide patient safety initiatives, including the creation of an on-line,
rapid response reporting system to identify care-related problems and
improve patient safety. He is using this experience to help HICPAC in
its quest to formulate ways to improve patient safety throughout the nation.
“ It has been my experience that patient safety is a system
problem, not necessarily the result of individual error,” explains
Brennan. “I am pleased to bring that focus to the process of improving
patient safety in our nation’s health care facilities.”
Brennan came to Penn in 1986 as a Fellow in Infectious Diseases and joined
the faculty in 1988. He served as Director of both the Infection Control
Department of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and the Tuberculosis
Control Program of the City of Philadelphia Department of Public Health
prior to being named Chief of Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety for
UPHS. Brennan is a Fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America,
the Philadelphia College of Physicians and the Society of Healthcare Epidemiologists
of America.
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PENN Medicine is a $2.7 billion enterprise dedicated
to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and
high-quality patient care. PENN Medicine consists of the University of
Pennsylvania School of Medicine (founded in 1765 as the nation’s
first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System
(created in 1993 as the nation’s first integrated academic health
system).
Penn’s School of Medicine is ranked #3 in the nation for receipt
of NIH research funds; and ranked #4 in the nation in U.S. News &
World Report’s most recent ranking of top research-oriented medical
schools. Supporting 1,400 fulltime faculty and 700 students, the School
of Medicine is recognized worldwide for its superior education and training
of the next generation of physician-scientists and leaders of academic
medicine.
Penn Health System is comprised of: its flagship hospital, the Hospital
of the University of Pennsylvania, consistently rated one of the nation’s
“Honor Roll” hospitals by U.S. News & World Report; Pennsylvania
Hospital, the nation's first hospital; Presbyterian Medical Center; a
faculty practice plan; a primary-care provider network; two multispecialty
satellite facilities; and home health care and hospice.
This release is available online at http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/sep04/HICPAC.htm
