Chicago Prevention and Intervention Epicenter at Rush University Medical Center and Cook County Health and Hospitals System

First Funded: 2006

Overview: Researchers from the Cook County Health and Hospitals System (CCHHS) and Rush University Medical Center (RUMC) collaborate to form the Chicago Prevention and Intervention Epicenter (C-PIE). The Epicenter encompasses eight core hospitals and affiliated institutions belonging to two large hospital networks in metropolitan Chicago under CCHHS and RUMC. The C-PIE team includes researchers who have expertise in microbiology, clinical infectious diseases, diagnostic testing, epidemiology, antimicrobial stewardship, public health informatics, clinical informatics, and study design. Researchers partner closely with external collaborators such as state and local health departments, professional societies (e.g., Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, or APIC), and investigators with complementary expertise in human microbiome analysis, prokaryotic genomics, and mathematical modeling. For the past five years, C-PIE has worked to define the epidemiology of some of the most serious antibiotic resistance threats, including carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Future research will leverage molecular diagnostic techniques such as bacterial whole genome sequencing and microbiome analysis informatics, genomics and, mathematical modeling to fill gaps in knowledge to reduce healthcare-associated infections and lessen the risk of spread of antimicrobial-resistant germs.