Dr Thomas R. Talbot

Professor of medicine, chief hospital epidemiologist, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, United States of America Expertise: infectious diseases, IPC and hospital epidemiology 

Dr Thomas Talbot is a recognized expert in the field of health-care epidemiology and infection prevention and has more than 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals. His clinical epidemiologic research focuses on occupational infection control, particularly the use of health and care worker vaccination ­— to reduce morbidity among patients and health and care workers and to manage secondary transmission — and the management of vaccinated health and care workers exposed to contagious infections. Dr Talbot has served as a member of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) in the United States of America and currently serves on the HICPAC Infection Control in Healthcare Personnel Working Group. He also serves on the Board of Trustees for The Society of Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), where he is the organization’s president. As a part of his role as the chief hospital epidemiologist, he oversees the surveillance and prevention of infection risks at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. In that role, Dr Talbot is responsible for the development of operational policies and practices to prevent health-care-associated infections and the spread of highly concerning pathogens in the health-care setting.