Infectious Disease Physicians Collaborate on Research Projects
Research Collaboration Between Section of Infectious Diseases and School of Public Health
Dr. Melanie Fisher has been the mentor and co-investigator for the PI (Dr. Ruchi Bhandari, School of Public Heath) on a large-scale research project entitled, “Development of a Statewide Integrated Model for Analysis of Clinical and Economic Patterns of Injection Drug Use-Associated Infective Endocarditis.” It is a unique project that developed the first intra-hospital, multi-site database from four of West Virginia’s largest tertiary heart centers. We have developed a strong research team that includes infectious diseases specialist (Dr. Melanie Fisher), infection specialist with expertise in injection drug use issues from the WVU Departments of Medicine and Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry (Dr. Judith Feinberg), epidemiologists (Dr. Ruchi Bhandari, Dr. Gordon Smith), health outcomes research expert (Dr. Usha Sambamoorthi), and co-investigator cardiologists at Charleston Area Medical Center (Dr. Mark Bates and Dr. Aravinda Nanjundappa) and Marshall University (Dr. Affan Irfan, Dr. Ellen Thompson).
In addition, we received an internal Research and Scholarship Advancement Grant Award for Assessing risk factors and outcomes of persons who inject drugs at WVU’s multidisciplinary Infusion Service. July 1, 2019 - June 30, 2021. Dr. Fisher was the mentor for the PI, Dr. Ruchi Bhandari.
Dr. Joy Juskowich and Dr. C. Garret Cooper from ID have worked with Dr. Bhandari and Dr. Fisher on the project concerning the multidisciplinary infusion service.
In the past few years, this team has had several peer reviewed presentations, publications, awards, and internal grants as listed below:
Peer Reviewed Publications
Bhandari R; Alexander T, Annie FH, Kaleem U, Irfan A, Balla S, Wiener RC, Cook C, Nanjundappa A, Bates M, Thompson E, Smith G, Feinberg J, Fisher M. Steep rise in drug use-associated infective endocarditis in West Virginia: Characteristics and healthcare utilization. PLoS ONE. 2022.17(7): e0271510. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0271510
Bhandari R; Tiwari S, Alexander T, Annie FH, Kaleem U, Irfan A, Balla S, Wiener RC, Cook C, Nanjundappa A, Bates M, Thompson E, Smith G, Feinberg J, Fisher M. Sex differences in characteristics of patients with infective endocarditis: A multicenter study. J. Clin. Med. 2022, 11, 3514. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm11123514.
Peer Reviewed Presentations
Bhandari R, Abdulhay N, Smith D, Fisher M. The rising cost of Infective Endocarditis in West Virginia. Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association. November, 2022.
Bhandari R, Alexander T, Abdulhay N, Annie F, Kaleem U, Wiener RC, Rubenstein J, Meyer A, Fisher M. Characterization of patients receiving surgical versus non-surgical treatment for infective endocarditis: West Virginia multicenter study. Annual Meeting of the Society for Epidemiologic Research. June 2022.
Juskowich JJ, Cooper CG, Bhandari R, Boyd SS, Reece N, Fisher MA. Substance use disorder patients’ perspectives of a multidisciplinary antimicrobial Infusion Service. IDWeek 2020. October 2020.
Juskowich JJ, Cooper CG, Bhandari R, Boyd SS, Reece N, Fisher MA. Patients’ perspectives of WVU Medicine’s multidisciplinary Infusion Service. WVU Research Day. June 2020.
Grants and Awards:
WVCTSI Small Pilot Grant. Assessing WVU’s multidisciplinary infusion service through patients’ perspectives. July 15, 2020 – January 14, 2021. Role: PI
WVCTSI’s pilot grant for Development of a statewide linked database for analysis of clinical and economic patterns of injection drug use-associated infective endocarditis. September 1, 2019 – February 28, 2021. Role: Co-I.
Research and Scholarship Advancement Grant Award for Assessing risk factors and outcomes of injection drug use patients at WVU’s multidisciplinary Infusion Service. July 1, 2019 - June 30, 2021. Role: Mentor.
To learn more and connect with our Infectious Diseases team, visit their webpage:
https://medicine.hsc.wvu.edu/medicine/sections-of-medicine/infectious-diseases/