Susan Bleasdale

Dr. Susan Bleasdale

Dr. Susan Bleasdale is the chief quality officer for the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System and Assistant Vice Chancellor for Quality and Patient Safety for UIC.

Previously in her role as Medical Director for Infection Prevention & Control at UI Health, Dr. Bleasdale was the physician lead for infection prevention and antimicrobial stewardship at the University of Illinois Hospital & Clinics. In that leadership role, she has directed initiatives to reduce infections, multidrug-resistant organisms, and improve antimicrobial prescribing.

Dr. Bleasdale has helped lead significant quality-improvement initiatives at UI Health related to central line-associated bloodstream infections, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, surgical site infections, and sepsis.

She is an assistant professor of clinical medicine in the UIC College of Medicine.

She is responsible for guiding the development of hospital-wide infection control protocols and procedures. Her research interests include the epidemiology and prevention of infections associated with health care.

Dr. Bleasdale can speak on how infections — including Ebola, influenza, MERS, tuberculosis, HIV and others — are spread and how they can be prevented within and outside the hospital.

Subject areas:

• COVID-19
• Infection control and prevention
• Hospital-acquired infections
• Ebola and Ebola preparedness
• Flu shots
• HIV
• Personal protective equipment (PPE)