Sepsis Forum 2025

David Carlbom

Dr. David Carlbom is Medical Director, Respiratory Care Department and Attending Physician in the Medical and Trauma-Surgical Intensive Care Units at Harborview Medical Center. He is an Associate Professor of Medicine, Pulmonary Critical Care & Sleep Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine.

His passion is in early recognition and early resuscitation of critical ill patients. He is actively involved in leadership and teaching activities at the local, regional, and international level. He is a major resource for sepsis resuscitation and pre-ICU critical care expertise at UW Medicine. He lectures extensively to multiple different professionals and works systematically to identify and initiate rapid treatment of critically ill sepsis patients. In 2020, he was awarded the individual Global Sepsis Award in recognition for his commitment to educate others about sepsis.  His bias is “good people trying hard, of any educational level, can take great care of critically ill patients if they work as a team, communicate, and have compassion for humans.”

Shannon McKenney

Shannon McKenney is a Métis, three-time Sepsis Survivor and graduate of the Sepsis Canada LIFTING Training Program. Shannon has been disabled by the sequelae of Sepsis survivorship but has committed to four CIHR-funded research projects so far. Shannon also sits on four committees, including the CCCTG Indigenous Guidance Circle, Can-Solve CKD Network IPERC, James Lind Alliance, World Sepsis Day, and the Canadian National Sepsis Action Plan. Having begun adulthood training to become an RN, Shannon believes research is integral to achieving early recognition, better outcomes for all Sepsis Survivors, and decreasing the high costs that Sepsis is to the Healthcare System. She applies all she has learned to advocate for all with a special interest in Indigenous populations. 

Andrew Wong

Dr. Andrew Wong's research applies artificial intelligence and machine learning to solve real-world problems in clinical practice, hospital operations, and medical education. He has over 10 years’ expertise in the development and validation of patient and provider-facing AI technologies for sepsis prediction, clinical decision support hospital operations, and beyond. His work in clinical diagnosis, prognostication, and AI governance has been national recognized, received the national Felicia Hill-Briggs GIM Research Award, and was recently cited in the White House Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights. He serves on the Michigan Medicine Clinical Intelligence Committee and the University of Michigan Task Force for Generative AI in Research. His mission is to apply his many roles to promote the fair and effective implementation of AI technologies in healthcare. 

Scott Sherry

Scott Sherry MS, PA-C, FCCM is a board-certified Physician Assistant with nearly 20 years of experience in trauma, critical care, and acute care surgery. He began his career in emergency medical services, earning his paramedic certification in 1995 and serving with New Castle County EMS (Delaware) until 2000. He went on to complete his Master’s in Physician Assistant Studies at Finch University of Health Sciences in 2002.

Since 2022, Scott has served as Sepsis Program Manager at Oregon Health & Science University, where he leads initiatives in early recognition, management, and quality improvement for sepsis care.

His professional interests include sepsis, trauma, EMS, disaster management, coding and billing, and systems-based quality improvement.

Vininder Bains

Vini Bains has been a clinical nurse specialist (CNS) of critical care at St. Paul’s Hospital for the past 9 years and currently also is an adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia’s School of Nursing. Her 28-year nursing career includes 17 years as an ICU nurse, both as a direct care nurse, and as a clinical instructor for critical care nursing. 

Rishi Kamaleswaran

Dr. Rishikesan (Rishi) Kamaleswaran is an Associate Professor at in the Department of Surgery and Department of Anesthesiology at the Duke University School of Medicine, with secondary appointments in Electrical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering in the Pratt School of Engineering. He was previously an Associate Professor at the Emory University in the Department of Biomedical Informatics.

He earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Ontario Institute of Technology in Canada. Prior to joining Duke, he was Co-Director of the Informatics Core at the Georgia CTSA.

His current research interests include severe sepsis detection and multi-organ dysfunction syndrome. His contribution areas include AI/ML model infrastructure, clinical big data, real-time event stream processing, data analysis and information systems design. He has been funded by the NIH and other industry and private foundations to advance research in those fields.

Emily Pinkham

Emily Pinkham, DNP, ARNP-CNS, ACCNS-AG, NPD-BC, CEN, TCRN is a licensed and certified Clinical Nurse Specialist with over 15 years of experience in emergency and trauma nursing. She is a passionate nursing advocate and works within the three CNS spheres of influence - patient care, nursing practice, and system/organizational processes. Emily helps organizations balance the increasing demands of nursing practice and patient safety through evaluating and implementing evidence-based approaches to care. She lives in eastern Washington and enjoys traveling anywhere with a beach, running, and spending time with her family. 

Christopher Dale

Originally from Bellevue, Washington, Dr. Chris Dale earned his BA from University of Washington and his MD from Northwestern University. After completing an internship in the Navy, he served as a flight surgeon with a Marine Harrier squadron. He then completed his Internal Medicine training at Providence Portland Medical Center and a Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine fellowship at the University of Washington, earning his MPH in Health Services. 

Dr. Dale has served in various leadership roles in the Providence family of organizations, including Chief Quality Officer and Chief Medical Officer at Swedish and CMO at an advanced analytics start up founded by Providence. He currently serves as the Medical Director for Clinical Innovation at Providence and practices Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Swedish.  He is also a Clinical Assistant Professor of Public Health at the University of Washington and a die-hard Husky football fan. 

Devorah Overbay

Devorah Overbay holds a Doctorate in Education from George Fox University (2018), a Master of Science in Nursing for Clinical Nurse Specialist in Medical/Surgical Nursing and Critical Care Nursing from Yale University (1995), and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Washington (1991). She maintains her RN license and has specialized in cardiac care, critical care, and acute care. Devorah has opened various clinics for heart failure, post-PTCA recovery, and rule-out MI triage. She has participated in research projects including the National Registry for MI Quality Improvement, Pain as the 5th Vital Sign, and Post Liver Transplantation Steroid Tapering. In 2018, she successfully defended her doctoral research on hybrid baccalaureate nursing curriculum development. Devorah has also prepared studies on comparing Fall Risk Assessment Tools and the perceptions of virtual conferences.

Over the years, Devorah has provided both didactic and clinical instruction at various nursing schools across the country. She has served as Medical/Surgical assistant professor and clinical faculty lead at George Fox University, clinical faculty at Indiana University South Bend, and joint faculty at Oregon Health Sciences University. Devorah has held roles such as Area Director of Education, Electrophysiology Nurse Coordinator, Post-Liver Transplant APN Coordinator, Critical Care and Med/Surg Clinical Nurse Specialist, and Manager of Nursing Practice and Clinical Education for the Northwest Washington region of Providence Medical Group. She is currently the System Nurse Specialist in Med/Surgical Nursing for MultiCare Health System.

Romain Pirracchio

Dr. Romain Pirracchio is a practicing anesthesiologist and critical care physician. He is a Professor in the Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care and the Ronald D. Miller Distinguished Professor of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care. In his research, he has a specific focus on clinical AI, causal inference, and perioperative outcomes research.  

Since joining the UCSF Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care in 2018, Dr. Pirracchio has served in leadership roles both clinically and academically. He is currently the Executive Vice Chair for Adult Anesthesia, a member of the UCSF AI oversight committee, and executive member for the UCSF-UC Berkeley Computational and Precision Health Program. 

Dr. Pirracchio received his medical degree and anesthesia training in France, followed by fellowship training in critical care medicine. He has over 20 years of international clinical and academic experience, with previous appointments in Europe. His academic interests include the design and implementation of machine learning tools for clinical decision support, with a particular emphasis on reinforcement learning and individualized treatment effect modeling. He has led multiple multidisciplinary projects at the intersection of data science and perioperative medicine, including the OVISS study on vasopressor timing in septic shock, which was published in JAMA. He also serves as Associated Editor for JAMA and for Intensive Care Medicine. 

Sybil Hoiss

Sybil Hoiss is a Registered Nurse (RN) with critical care experience in urban and regional settings, and in a variety of clinical and leadership roles. Sybil is currently a Clinical Initiatives and Innovation Lead with Critical Care BC (CCBC), a new Health Improvement Network (HIN) with Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA). She’s co-led the BC Sepsis Network as Provincial Quality Lead, and continues to promote data driven sepsis improvement and resources for patient and families recovering from sepsis. Sybil holds a Master of Nursing with a teaching focus from Athabasca University, is a recent graduate of the Sepsis Canada/LifTING Research Training program, and co-leads the BC Chapter of the Canadian Association of Critical Care Nurses.

Na Li

Dr. Na Li is an Associate Professor and health data scientist in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary. Her research applies artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and methodologies to enhance learning health systems using high-quality, large-scale electronic healthcare data. 

Dr. Li earned her PhD in Statistics from Western University in 2016 and completed her postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Computing and Software at McMaster University in 2020. She joined the University of Calgary in 2021, focusing her research on bridging the gap between data-driven insights and practical healthcare solutions in health services research. 

Hallie Prescott

Dr. Hallie Prescott, MD, MSc is an Associate Professor of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at University of Michigan and the Ann Arbor Veterans Affairs Healthcare System. She is co-chair of the Surviving Sepsis Campaign Guidelines and leads a 69-hospital sepsis quality improvement initiative sponsored by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. Her research program focuses on the measurement, management, and outcomes of sepsis. Her research has been funded by US National Institutes of Health, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. 

Allison Watts

Allison Watts is a Project Manager in the Department of Pediatrics of the University of British Columbia working with the Lavoie lab on research projects related to child health such as RSV and sepsis. She has a PhD in Epidemiology and Community Health from the University of British Columbia.

Jim Jackson

Dr. Jim Jackson is a neuropsychologist at Vanderbilt Medical Center, where he is the Director of Behavioral Health at the ICU Recovery Center at Vanderbilt.  For the last 25 years, he has worked with cognitively impaired ICU survivors in both clinical and research contexts.  His work focuses on the benefits of rehabilitation and on finding ways to live meaningfully even in the face of brain injuries and dementia.  He is the author of nearly 200 research papers, an NIH and DOD funded investigator, and the director of the Long-Term Outcomes Core at the  Critical Illness, Brain Dysfunction, and Survivorship Center, where he and his colleagues work to understand and address the wide-ranging difficulties that emerge after critical illness. 

Stephanie Parks Taylor

Dr. Stephanie Parks Taylor is the J. Griswold and Margery Hopkins Ruth Research Professor of Medicine and the Chief of Hospital Medicine at the University of Michigan. Her research focuses on using rigorous methods to develop and test complex health interventions to improve outcomes for hospitalized patients.  She leads multiple large projects related to improving sepsis outcomes and is known for her work on both early treatment of sepsis and optimizing recovery practices for sepsis survivors. 

Aleta Rios

Aleta Rios, BSN, RN, CCM has served as a Sepsis Care Manager at Advocate Health since 2019. In this role, she provides telephonic nurse navigator support to patients and families transitioning from acute care to home following a sepsis hospitalization. Her work is part of a research initiative led by principal investigators Dr. Stephanie Parks Taylor and Dr. Marc Kowalkowski, aimed at evaluating the impact of a centralized telephonic nurse navigator on post-sepsis mortality and readmission outcomes. 

Aleta is a graduate of the University of Central Florida in Orlando.  Before transitioning to outpatient care, Aleta accumulated 20 years of clinical inpatient experience, including direct patient care and nursing leadership roles. She earned her Case Management Certification from the Commission for Case Management Certification in 2018 and has since played a vital role in supporting sepsis patients and their caregivers during recovery. 

Aleta is known for her compassionate approach and dedication to helping vulnerable patients achieve a safe and successful return home. In addition to her direct patient care responsibilities, she provides education and guidance to Advocate Health’s interdisciplinary outpatient team—including care managers, community health workers, pharmacists, and social workers—on recognizing sepsis symptoms and addressing the unique challenges of post-sepsis recovery. 

Marnie Wilson

Dr. Marnie Wilson is a general internist and intensivist at the University of British Columbia, with clinical practices in the lower mainland and northern British Columbia. She grew up in Nelson, BC, and pursued medical training at McGill University, University of British Columbia and Harvard University.  

Currently, Marnie is working with the Divisions of Internal Medicine and Critical Care to implement and evaluate post-discharge interventions for intensive care survivors and medically complex patients. She is the director and founder of Vancouver Coastal Health’s Critical Care Recovery Program, based at Vancouver General Hospital, and is working with Critical Care BC to establish guidelines for routine post-ICU follow up across British Columbia.  

Clinically, Marnie works as an intensivist in the lower mainland and across British Columbia. She also works as a community internist, with an outpatient practice in Smithers BC, and as an internal medicine / critical care consultant for BC’s Real-Time Virtual Support service. Outside of medicine, she is an avid cyclist, backcountry skier and runner. 

Shannon McKenney

Shannon McKenney is a Métis, three-time Sepsis Survivor and graduate of the Sepsis Canada LIFTING Training Program. Shannon has been disabled by the sequelae of Sepsis survivorship but has committed to four CIHR-funded research projects so far. Shannon also sits on four committees, including the CCCTG Indigenous Guidance Circle, Can-Solve CKD Network IPERC, James Lind Alliance, World Sepsis Day, and the Canadian National Sepsis Action Plan. Having begun adulthood training to become an RN, Shannon believes research is integral to achieving early recognition, better outcomes for all Sepsis Survivors, and decreasing the high costs that Sepsis is to the Healthcare System. She applies all she has learned to advocate for all with a special interest in Indigenous populations. 

Manish Sadarangani

Dr. Manish Sadarangani is Director of the Vaccine Evaluation Center at the BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute and an Associate Professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases, UBC Department of Pediatrics. He is an international expert in translational vaccinology, whose work uniquely encompasses laboratory, clinical and epidemiologic research. His scientific expertise enables him to respond quickly to changing priorities to tackle diverse knowledge gaps rapidly and produce high quality research findings to inform policy. Specifically, his research improves understanding of immune responses to vaccination, identifies high-risk groups to target immunization programs, and evaluates vaccine effectiveness to inform evidence-based policy. 

Sandeep Maharaj

Dr. Sandeep Bhupendra Maharaj is a distinguished pharmacist and academic leader with extensive expertise spanning pharmacy administration, healthcare sustainability, health policy, and environmental health. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy, complemented by a Master of Business Administration (MBA) and a Doctor of Business Administration (DBA). His doctoral research notably contributed a contextual framework aimed at enhancing the sustainability of healthcare systems, highlighting his dedication to integrating healthcare practice with planetary health. 

Dr. Maharaj currently serves as Senior Lecturer and Coordinator of Pharmacy Administration and as Director of the School of Pharmacy at The University of the West Indies (UWI), St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad and Tobago. Additionally, he holds prominent administrative roles within the Faculty of Medical Sciences at UWI, as the Director of the Entrepreneurship and Business Transformation Office. Through these positions, he has significantly shaped strategic educational initiatives and advanced innovative practices within health sciences education. 

An active researcher and international collaborator, Dr. Maharaj leads initiatives such as the Caribbean Climate Cares project and is a core team member of Imperial College London’s Connecting Climate Minds project. His contributions extend globally through his leadership in planetary health networks, including his roles with Clinicians for Planetary Health, as Global Outreach Fellow Emeritus, as well as the Caribbean Planetary Health Regional Hub Lead for the Planetary Health Alliance. Dr. Maharaj has also contributed substantially to healthcare administration and policy in Trinidad and Tobago, serving as Chairman of the Eastern Regional Health Authority and Chairman of the National Health Services Company Limited. His dedication to healthcare excellence has been recognized through prestigious accolades, including consecutive Ministry of Health Quality Awards and a nomination for the Ministry of Health Individual of the Year. 

Tom Heymann

Thomas Heymann is the President and CEO of Sepsis Alliance. Tom has led Sepsis Alliance to consecutive years of growth including the organization’s drive to increase sepsis awareness from 19% to 69% and the expansion of sepsis.org to a site serving more than 2 million patients, family members, caregivers, and medical professionals each year. Tom also led the organization’s efforts to launch  Sepsis Alliance Institute, which has trained more than 60,000 health professionals, Sepsis Alliance Connect, a unique support platform for sepsis survivors and their loved ones, and Sepsis Alliance Voices, a platform for national and state advocacy. The organization’s focus is on education and training, equity-diversity-inclusion, antimicrobial stewardship, and innovation. 

Niranjan 'Tex' Kissoon

Professor Niranjan “Tex” Kissoon, MB BS, FRCP(C), FCCM, FACPE, is the University of British Columbia BC Children’s Hospital (UBC BCCH) Endowed Chair in Acute and Critical Care Global Health. He is a Professor in the Department of Pediatrics (Pediatrics and Surgery, Emergency Medicine) at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC. 

Dr. Kissoon is the Past President of the World Federation of Pediatric Critical and Intensive Care Societies and currently serves as President of the Global Sepsis Alliance. He is Co-Chair of the Pediatric Surviving Sepsis Campaign and Vice-President of the Canadian Sepsis Foundation. He also serves on the Advisory Boards of Sepsis Alliance USA and the African Sepsis Alliance, and he is the Chair of World Sepsis Day and the International Pediatric Sepsis Initiative. He is also a Founding Member of the Caribbean Sepsis Alliance.

Dr. Kissoon has been recognized globally for his outstanding contributions to pediatric critical care and sepsis advocacy. He is a recipient of the American Academy of Pediatrics Distinguished Career Award. In 2015, he received the BNS Walia PGIMER Golden Jubilee Oration Award for his major contributions to pediatrics in India and was also honored with the Society of Critical Care Medicine’s Master in Critical Care Medicine Award, the highest distinction given by the SCCM. In 2018, he received the University of British Columbia Outstanding Academic Performance Award and the “Giving Back: Advancing Medical Excellence” Distinguished Service Award from the University of the West Indies Medical Alumni Association Canadian Chapter, in recognition of his exceptional service in national and international pediatric critical care. In 2020, he was awarded the Drs. Vidyasagar and Nagamani Dharmapuri Award for sustained exemplary and pioneering achievements in the care of critically ill and injured infants and children globally. Most recently, in 2023, he received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of the West Indies.