The Time Is Now: The Nurse Practitioner’s Role in COVID-19 Vaccination During a Global Pandemic (Part 1)

Webinar Faculty

J. Hudson Garrett Jr., PhD, MSN, MPH, MBA, FNP-BC, IP-BC, PLNC, CFER, AS-BC, VA-BC, MSL-BC, CPPS, CPHQ, FACDONA, FAAPM, FNAP

Dr. Hudson Garrett has a faculty appointment as an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Louisville School of Medicine. He also co-founded the nonprofit Infection Prevention Institute to help shepherd the dissemination of best practices for infection prevention and control across the health care continuum of care globally. He holds a Graduate Certificate in Infection Prevention and Infection Control from the University of South Florida. He has completed the Johns Hopkins Fellows Program in Hospital Epidemiology and Infection Control. He is also a Fellow in the Academy of National Association of Directors of Nursing Administration and the American Academy of Project Management and is a Senior Fellow of the Management and Strategy Institute. In 2019, he was inducted as a Distinguished Fellow and Practitioner in the National Academies of Practices. He holds graduate certificates in health care leadership from both Cornell and the University of Notre Dame. He is an appointed member of the advisory committee for the Design Thinking in Healthcare Program at Rutgers University. He is a frequent international lecturer in the areas of infectious diseases, health care-associated infections, outbreak response and prevention and infection prevention and control. He holds board certifications in patient safety, health care quality, vascular access, antibiotic stewardship, prehospital emergency medical services, flexible endoscope reprocessing, critical care and infection prevention and control in post-acute care. Dr. Garrett led the development of the first and only core infection prevention and control and antibiotic stewardship certifications and certificate of mastery programs in post-acute care settings. He has served on international and national organizational boards in the areas of environmental services, dental infection control, infection control, acute care infection control, post-acute care infection control and vascular access. He has served on expert panels related to disinfection and sterilization with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), most notably serving on the FDA’s Panel and Working Group for Flexible Endoscope Reprocessing. Dr. Garrett has lectured and given testimony to government and regulatory agencies on a variety of topics related to infectious diseases.

Ruth Carrico, PhD, DNP, APRN, FNP-C, CIC, FSHEA, FNAP

Ruth Carrico is a professor and family nurse practitioner (FNP) with the University of Louisville School of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, and director of epidemiological research in the University’s Center of Excellence for Research in Infectious Diseases (CERID). Dr. Carrico has received training specific for health care epidemiology at the CDC in conjunction with the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Atlanta and the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA). Dr. Carrico is responsible for the clinical and research operations at the University of Louisville Vaccine and International Travel Clinic. Her research has been funded by the CDC, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Department of Health Services (DHS) and industry. In 2008, Dr. Carrico was appointed to the National Biosurveillance Advisory Subcommittee (NBAS), Advisory Committee to the Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and in 2010, she became a SHEA Fellow. In 2011, Dr. Carrico was appointed to the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) by Secretary Sebelius for an extended three-year term. In 2012, she was presented with the Carole DeMille Achievement Award by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, an honor for an infection preventionist. In 2013, Dr. Carrico was appointed to the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases as the board’s nurse planner and in 2014, became a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Executive Nurse Fellow alumna. Dr. Carrico served as the 2016 president of the Certification Board of Infection Control and Epidemiology Inc. (CBIC), the organization responsible for board certification for infection preventionists worldwide, and she is now enjoying the role of immediate past president. In 2016, Dr. Carrico co-founded the Infection Prevention Institute as a virtual training site focusing on infection prevention education for all partners concerned with preventing infection in any setting. Then, in 2017, the University of Louisville’s Journal of Refugee and Global Health was launched, with the first issue released in April of that year. Dr. Carrico serves as the editor-in-chief for this open access journal. In 2018, Dr. Carrico assumed the position of president of the Kentucky Nurses Association, and in 2020, she was recognized as a Distinguished Fellow in the National Academies of Practice.