Fellows of the Surgical Infection Society (FSIS)
The Fellow of the Surgical Infection Society (FSIS) is a designation given to those who have demonstrated commitment to and expertise in surgical infections. The FSIS is dedicated to fostering excellence in research, education, and clinical practice for surgical infections. This prestigious program equips healthcare professionals with advanced skills and resources to lead in this critical field.
Alfred Ayala
PhD, MS, MA, FSIS
Dr. Alfred Ayala is presently Professor of Surgery (Research) and the Director of the Division of Surgical Research (DSR) at Brown University Health-Rhode Island Hospital/ Brown University. He is an elected American Association for the Advancement of Science-“Fellow”; elected Shock Society President, Treasurer & Scientific Program chair and has received both their ‘Scientific Achievement’ and ‘Distinguished Service Awards’; selected as Recorder/Executive council member of the Surgical Infection Society (member: 1990) and was ‘SIS 1994 Joseph Sussman Awardee’; was a Society of Leukocyte Biology (SLB) council member, Co-Scientific Program Char and recipient of ‘SLB’s 2024 Legacy Award.’ Dr. Ayala has been continuously NIH-funded since 1991, numerous ad hoc & standing NIH study panels and consulted for the ‘NIH/NIGMS Working Group on Sepsis’. He has over 320 published manuscripts to his credit and was on JI, JLB & Shocks’ editorial boards. Besides being PD on the DSR’s T32, he’s also training faculty for various Brown University-Graduate Programs. Dr. Ayala’s research interests include the assessment of the differential/pre-dispositional effectors of immune cell function that alter the patient response to hemorrhagic shock and/or sepsis; the role of programmed cell death/apoptosis and/or the impact of select checkpoint proteins have on immune/ organ dysfunction observed following shock and/or sepsis.
Miguel Angel Caínzos Fernández
MD, PhD, FACS, MAMSE, SIS-E, FSIS
Dr. Miguel Angel Caínzos is an Emeritus Professor with Tenure of Surgery at the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) and an Emeritus Surgeon of the Galician Health System (SERGAS). With a distinguished career spanning decades, Dr. Caínzos earned his PhD in 1979 with a thesis on “Infections of the operative wound.” His extensive research has focused on the incidence, microbiology, and prevention of surgical site infections (SSI), including the efficacy of antibiotic prophylaxis and the link between preoperative anergy and postoperative infection, particularly in jaundiced patients.
Dr. Caínzos’s leadership roles include directing the National Project for the Control of Postoperative Infections in Spain from the Ministry of Health (1996-2000) and chairing the National Committee of Surgical Infections within the Spanish Association of Surgeons (AEC) from 1986-2000. He also pioneered and directed the Internet Course on Surgical Infections of the SIS-E (2005-2012). His current interests include healthcare-associated infections in hospital settings. He holds numerous prestigious distinctions, including FACS (Hon), MAMSE, SIS-E (Hon), and FSIS (Hon).
Therese Duane
MD, MBA, CPE, FACS, FCCM, FSIS
Therese M Duane, MD MBA CPE FSIS earned a BS from Cornell University and completed medical school at SUNY Buffalo. She completed her general surgery residency at EVMS and a surgical critical care fellowship at the Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore. She earned an MBA from UMASS and a Certified Physician Executive from the AAPL.
She has held numerous leadership positions including serving on the Executive Council for the American College of Surgeons Board of Governors as the Quality Pillar Lead. She is a current associate editor for Surgical Infections. Dr. Duane has redirected her efforts of quality to include work in remote locations within the country to ensure that acute care surgery is available to all people within the United States. Furthermore, she has found her true passion in mission work participating in medical missions to Uganda and is expanding these efforts to other impoverished areas around the world.
Charles E Edmiston, Jr
MS, PhD, CIC, FIDSA, FAPIC, FSIS
Dr. Charles Edmiston, Emeritus Professor of Surgery, Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Director, Surgical Microbiology and Hospital Epidemiology Research Laboratory, Completed Doctorate at Vanderbilt University. Joined the Surgical faculty in Milwaukee in 1984 to develop a surgical infectious disease research program. Hospital Epidemiologist, Froedtert Hospital, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. SSI Expert Liaison, Surgical Champion, Wisconsin Division of Public Health. Fellow of IDSA, APIC, and SIS. Served as consultant to FDA as an expert in the infection control implications of implantable biomedical devices, including as Chairman of the General Hospital & Personal Use Device Panel of the Medical Devices Committee of the FDA. Major research: nosocomial risks in the operating room environment; biomedical device associated infections; impact of selective risk factors for SSIs; antibiotic prophylaxis; innovative strategies for reducing risk of SSIs; and molecular epidemiology of SSI. Author of over 400 published peer-reviewed publications, including book chapters, editorials, tutorials and guidelines.
Heather Evans
MD, MS, FSIS
Heather L. Evans, MD, MS is currently Chief of Surgery at the Ralph H. Johnson Veterans Administration Medical Center in Charleston SC, and Professor of Surgery and Vice Chair of Veterans Affairs at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). She is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and Past-Chair of its Health Information Technology Committee, a member of the American Surgical Association and President of the Surgical Infection Society. Throughout her career, Dr. Evans has practiced trauma, critical care, emergency and elective general surgery, recently bringing her hernia and abdominal wall reconstruction practice to establish a comprehensive hernia center at the VA hospital.
For over two decades, she has explored the application of technology, telemedicine, and remote patient monitoring to the diagnosis and treatment of surgical infections. She is a national leader in infection control research, with clinical expertise in surgical infections, and research specialization in the application of digital health solutions, leveraging multidisciplinary teams and patient engagement to improve the post-operative postdischarge care experience. The Surgical Infection Society has been Dr. Evans‘ academic home for the past 23 years, having attended her first meeting in 2001 as a second year general surgery resident. She is honored to serve as the organization’s 44th president and aims to bring new energy and new voices to the SIS table this year.
Catherine Hunter
MD, FAAP, FACS, FSIS
Catherine Hunter, MD, is the Division Chief of Pediatric Surgery and Program Director for the Pediatric Surgery Fellowship and the Research Scholars Program in Pediatric Surgery. Dr. Hunter is a highly accomplished surgeon, scientist, program builder, and mentor. She has a longstanding history of NIH funding for her research on necrotizing enterocolitis and has published over 100 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals. She has received numerous teaching and mentor awards and has served as the Chair of the Research Committee for the SUS, Co-Chair of the Research Committee for APSA, and a Councilor for the SIS.
Arda Isik
MD, FTBS, FEBS, FACS, FSIS
Arda Isik, MD, FSIS, is a distinguished Professor of General Surgery at Istanbul Medeniyet University’s School of Medicine. Recognized by Stanford University as a top 2% scientist (as of August 2024), Dr. Isik is a leading voice in the field. He serves on the Board of Directors for both the World Society of Emergency Surgery (WSES) and the Surgical Infection Society – Europe (SIS-E), and is the 2025 Scientific Secretary for the World Congress of WSES.
Suresh Joshi
MD, PhD, MS, DNHE, FIDSA, FSIS
Dr. Suresh G Joshi, Director and Professor, is a physician turned medical educator and research scientist, known for his liaison skills. In addition to medical qualifications, he earned a postgraduate and doctorate in medical microbiology and immunology, and biochemistry from the University of Pune and specialized in infection control and prevention, infectious diseases, and hospital epidemiology. Since 1988, Dr. Joshi has been providing his services in academia, healthcare, and research, and has served at four renowned universities.
His special interest is in bacterial infection, biofilms and surgical site infections, wound infection and healing, novel antimicrobial products, and mechanisms of resistance, biodefense vaccines. Dr. Joshi became the Founding Director of the Center for Surgical Infection (2008) after being inspired by Dr. Henri Ford and Dr. Pamela Lipsett, the former presidents of SIS. This was the only surgical infection center in the Philadelphia region when it was established. Dr. Joshi has published 210 peer-reviewed publications and articles, 2 book chapters, 32 novel gene sequences, and edited the special issues of ‘Antimicrobial Testing (AMT) 1.0, AMT 2.0, and AMT 3.0 for Microorganisms (MDPI publications). Dr. Joshi is passionate about his teaching and mentoring research since the beginning, and has mentored over 80 graduates, medical students, residents and fellows, and foreign-exchange fellows from 6 countries. He is the Founding Director of the Center for Plasma in Health and Biomedical Engineering, and the Founding Director of Drexel Biomed-India and Brazil Programs.
He is a fellow of IDSA and now SIS, and served formerly as a member of the committees of Research and Awards, public health, and vice-chair of publications at IDSA, and research and program committee at SIS. Dr. Joshi has been a member of several international organizing committees related to Infectious diseases, microbiology, and drug discovery, and editorial boards. He is part of 5 global patents related to antimicrobial strategies and infection control, wound dressing.
Haytham Kaafarani
MD, MPH, FACS, FRCSEd, FSIS
Haytham Kaafarani, MD, MPH, FACS, FRCSEd (Hon) is a Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School and the Trauma Medical Director at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). Between 2022 and 2023, Dr. Kaafarani served as the Chief Patient Safety Officer of The Joint Commission. In that role, he was the president’s designee to prioritize patient safety concerns at Joint Commission-accredited health care organizations, provided oversight and medical expertise for the Office of Quality and Patient Safety, and oversaw data management and analysis related to the Sentinel Event Database. His previous roles include The MGH Hospital-wide Director of Safety & Quality, the Director of the MGH Center for Outcomes & Patient Safety in Surgery (COMPASS) and the Director of the MGH Wound Center. Dr. Kaafarani is a recognized authority and speaker with more than 450 published peer-reviewed manuscripts and textbook chapters with a focus on surgical patient safety from intake to discharge, benchmarking quality care, peer support, and the use of artificial intelligence for risk modeling and predicting outcomes. He has won numerous awards, including a nomination to the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, the 2024 Robert L. Wears Patient Safety Leadership National Award and the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh Honorary Fellowship Ad Hominem. Dr. Kaafarani received his Master of Public Health from Harvard University and his doctorate from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon. He holds certifications in surgery and surgical critical care from the American Board of Surgery.
Huseyin Kemal Rasa
MD, FSIS
Huseyin Kemal Rasa, MD, graduated from Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine in Ankara, Turkey, in 1990, where he also completed his general surgery residency. Dr. Rasa’s passion for surgical infections ignited during his training and has since become the cornerstone of his research and professional involvement. He is a founding member and past president of SIS-Turkey and a founding member and current Secretary of the World Surgical Infections Society. Dr. Rasa’s expertise is further recognized through his roles on the editorial boards of prestigious journals such as Surgical Infections Journal and British Journal of Surgery. Beyond surgical infections, his professional interests encompass Global Surgery (within SIS), acute care surgery (within WSES), and medical and surgical errors (within JMESE).
Jennifer Rickard
MD, MPH, FACS, FCS(ECSA), FSIS
Jennifer Rickard, MD, MPH is an Associate Professor of Surgery at University of Minnesota with a clinical focus is on trauma, surgical critical care and emergency general surgery. Dr. Rickard completed her surgery residency at Rush University. She completed the Paul Farmer Global Surgery Fellowship and a Surgical Critical Care Fellowship at University of Minnesota. She is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and serves on the ACS H.O.P .E. committee.
She is an NIH funded investigator with over 100 publications. She has spoken at multiple national and international conferences with a focus on global health and surgical infections. She is currently on the editorial board for Surgical Infections.
Her global health work focuses on health system strengthening and surgical capacity development. She has been working in Rwanda since 2012 and is a Fellow of the College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa.
She has been an active member in the Surgical Infections Society since 2015 and is a past-chair of the Global Health Committee.
James Sanders
PhD, PharmD, FSIS
Dr. Sanders is currently an anti-infectives medical science liaison. He previously practiced as an antimicrobial stewardship pharmacist for 12+ years across three institutions, including his most recent position at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Over this time, he served as an antimicrobial stewardship co-director, a rounding ID pharmacist, and clinical faculty member at several pharmacy and medical schools. His research interests include surgical infections, Gram-negative resistance, pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics, and antimicrobial stewardship. Dr. Sanders’ research collaborations resulted in several presentations at the Surgical Infection Society (SIS) annual meeting and subsequent publications. In addition, he has been an active member of the SIS Therapeutic and Guidelines, Bylaws, Informatics and Membership committees.
Sebastian Schubl
MD, FACS, FSIS
Dr. Schubl was raised and trained on the east coast before completing a fellowship in trauma and critical care surgery at the University of California at Irvine Medical Center. Prior to that he attended Johns Hopkins University, the University of Virginia and New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City. He has an active interest in surgical outcomes, surgical infections and translational research involving the care of the trauma patient and the critically ill. He is a member of several national societies including the Society for Critical Care Medicine, the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma, the Surgical Infections Society, the Chest Wall Injury Society and is a Fellow in the American College of Surgeons and the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma. Prior to relocating to Southern California he was a member of the faculty in the Department of Surgery at Weill Cornell Medical Center and served as the Trauma Medical Director at that institution’s trauma affiliate in Queens, Jamaica Hospital, an ACS verified level one trauma center. He is currently a Professor of Surgery and Chief of Emergency General Surgery at UCI Health and serves in a variety of administrative roles.
Jeffrey Upperman
MD, FAAP, FACS, FSIS
Jeffrey S. Upperman, MD, FAAP, FACS, serves as Surgeon in Chief and Chair of Pediatric Surgery at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt and is a Tenured Professor of Surgery at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. He leads surgical operations at MCJCHV and is Associate Program Director in pediatric surgery at Vanderbilt. Previously, he directed the pediatric surgery fellowship at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.
Dr. Upperman graduated from Stanford University and earned his medical degree from New Jersey Medical School. He completed his pediatric surgery training at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. An expert in pediatric trauma and disaster preparedness, he has spoken at numerous national and international conferences and testified before the Department of Health and Human Services.
Dr. Upperman has published 217 peer-reviewed articles and 20 book chapters, with research funded by NIH and other prestigious organizations. He is a fellow of the Surgical Infection Society, Member of the Academy of Master Surgeon Educators, Pediatric Surgery Board and the American College of Surgeons, and has held leadership roles in multiple surgical associations. A retired Lieutenant Colonel of the U.S. Army Medical Corps, he continues to serve on various national advisory committees.
