Professor DIDIER PITTET, MD, MS, CBE Didier Pittet, MD, MS, born 20/03/1957, is Professor of Medicine, the Hospital Epidemiologist and Director of the Infection Control Programme and World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre on Patient Safety at the University of Geneva Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland. He holds Honorary Professorships at Imperial College London, UK, Hong Kong Polytechnic University School of Health Science, and the First Medical School of the Fu, Shanghai, China. Professor Pittet is Lead Adviser of the first WHO Global Patient Safety Challenge “Clean Care is Safe Care” and the African Partnerships for Patient Safety, Patient Safety, WHO Headquarter. Prof Pittet is the recipient of several national and international honours including a CBE (Commander of the British Empire) awarded by Her Majesty Queen Elisabeth II for services to the prevention of healthcare-associated infection in the UK (2007), the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America Lectureship for his contribution to infection control and healthcare epidemiology (2008) and the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases’ Award for Excellence (2009). The book “Clean Hands Save Lives” by the French writer Thierry Crouzet (Editions L’Âge d’Homme, 2014), translated in 11 languages as of December 2014, describes Didier Pittet medical odyssey to promote hand hygiene and patient safety worldwide. D Pittet is co-author of more than 500 publications in peer- reviewed journals and 50 textbook chapters (H-index 66; total citations 15960 as of 25/1/2015). He serves on the editorial boards of several journals and is an editorial consultant of the Lancet. Professor Pittet current research interests include the epidemiology and prevention of healthcare-associated infections, methods for improving compliance with barrier precautions and hand hygiene practices, as well as innovative methods for improving the patient care and safety. He is also involved in research on the epidemiology of infectious diseases, and public and global health issues. In 2004, Pittet was approached by the WHO World Alliance of Patient Safety to lead the First Global Patient Safety Challenge under the banner "Clean Care is Safer Care" (http://www.who.int/gpsc/en/). The mandate was to galvanise global commitment to tackle health-care associated infection, which had been identified as a significant area of risk for patients in all United Nations Member States. Pittet proposed that WHO Guidelines for Hand Hygiene in Health Care be developed under his leadership in consultation with a large group of international experts. The final version of the Guidelines (http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2009) was published in 2009 together with a multimodal improvement strategy, based on the successful model developed in Geneva and published in The Lancet in 2000. Concepts from the social sciences led to the creation of a multimodal strategy based on education, performance monitoring and feedback, and culture change in addition to the key component: introduction of alcohol-based handrub at the point of care to replace handwashing at the sink ("system change"). As of December 2014, "Clean Care is Safer Care" has been endorsed by ministers of health in over 130 countries worldwide representing a coverage of more than 95% of the world population. Save Lives: Clean Your Hands is the Challenge's annual campaign, that include the 5 May designated by WHO “ World Hand Hygiene Day, with almost 18,000 hospitals registered from more than 179 countries at the end of December 2014. Alcohol-based hand rub is promoted actively as the new standard of care, including in resource-poor countries. Universal system change has been made possible worldwide and is today considered as the new standard of patient care. Over 20 years of experience with culture change at the University of Geneva Hospitals constitute the solid scientific basis of the work of Didier Pittet and this experience and leadership has permitted him to lead international strategies at the healthcare setting and national levels in Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Hong Kong, Iran, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, UK, USA, and various countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle and Far East, and Central and South America. The experience of his team in engaging nations and healthcare settings worldwide in a universal commitment to patient safety is unique. MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES Since 1992 : Director, Infection Control Programme (Service prévention et contrôle de l’infection), University of Geneva Hospitals and Faculty of Medecine, University of Geneva Since 2000 : Professor of Medicine, Faculty of Medecine, University of Geneva, Switzerland Since 2008 : Director of the Infection Control Programme and World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre on Patient Safety at the University of Geneva Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland. Service Prévention et Contrôle de l’Infection / Infection Control Programme Hôpitaux universitaires de Genève / University of Geneva Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine 24 Rue Micheli-du-Crest - 1211 Genève 14 - Switzerland Tél. 022/372 98 28 - Fax 022/372 39 87 - Email [email protected] DIPLOMAS/DEGREES AWARDED 1983: Final Medical Examination, Medical School, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva 1982: Degree Tropical Medicine & Community Health, Fac of Medicine, University, Geneva 1983: Diplôme fédéral de médecin (MD) Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva 1983: Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) examination, USA 1992: Master's Degree (MS) in Epidemiology & Community Health, University of Iowa, Iowa City, US 1996: Privat-Docent, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva 1996: FMH (Swiss certification) [# 24157; EAN # 7601000029232] Since 2000 : Professor of Medicine, Faculty of Medecine, University of Geneva, Switzerland FELLOWSHIPS, PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES, HONORARY APPOINTMENTS 1983 -1986: Fellowship in Internal Medicine, University Hospitals, Geneva 1986 -1990: Research and Clinical Fellowship, Infectious Diseases, Geneva 1990 -1992: Research and Clinical Fellowship, Infectious Diseases and Hospital Epidemiology and Infection Control (Profs RP Wenzel and R Clark), Univ. of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, USA Since 2003: Visiting Professor, Imperial College London, London, UK Since 2005: Honorary Professor, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Since 2006: Honorary Professor, 1st Medical School of the Fu, Shanghai, China Since 2013: Honorary Professor, Sichuan Medical School, Chengdu, China Major responsibilities in membership Since 2004: Lead, WHO First Global Patient Safety Challenge “Clean Care is Safer Care” 2004 – 2010: Advisory Board, WHO World Alliance for Patient Safety Since 2008: Consultant for WHO, Infection control and pandemic prepardness Since 2009: External Advisor, WHO African Partnerships for Patient Safety Since 2011: Founder & Deputy Chief Editor, Antimicrobial Resistance and Infection Control Since 2012: Lead Adviser, WHO Clean Care is Safer Care programme and WHO African Partnerships for Patient Safety, WHO Patient Safety Selected honours and awards 1999 1st Ignaz Philip Semmelweis Award (accomplishments in the field of hand hygiene) 1999 Leading most influential scientists 1998-1999; rank 1-5. Research Foundation for Prevention of Complications Associated with Health, USA. 2000 Infectious Diseases Award, Swiss Society for Infectious Diseases 2001 Pfizer Research Award for the work: Impact of a prevention strategy targeted at vascular- access care on incidence of infections in intensive care. Lancet, 355:1864-1868, 2000 2002 Society of Health Care Epidemiology of America. Young Investigator award in recognition of outstanding career contributions to infection control and healthcare epidemiology 2003 The Lowbury Lecture 2003, Fed. of Infection Societies Annual Conference, 10th Anniversary 2005 Best Review Award, Hospital Infection Society: The Lowbury lecture: behaviour in infection control 2005 Keynote address, WHO Annual Assembly, The Health Professions and Patient Safety 2005 Keynote speaker, Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals, USA, and Joint Commission International, co-sponsored by APIC and IFIC, San Francisco, USA 2005 The Graham Ayliffe Lecture 2005 2005 EU Summit for Patient Safety, London, Nov 2005 2007 Honorary CBE (Commander of the British Empire) for services to the prevention of healthcare-associated infections in the UK, conferred by HRH Queen Elizabeth II 2008 Recipient of the 2008 Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of American Lectureship 2008 Visiting Forbes Fellow, Australia 2009 Recipient of the 2009 European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Excellence Award (remarkable career accomplishments) 2009 Hsu-Li Distinguished Lectureship in Epidemiology, University of Iowa (USA) 2013 Sichuan 1st Medical School Award (career accomplishments), China 2014 Sir Alexander Fleming Lectureship and Award H-index: 66; total citations 15960 (Jan 2015) Service Prévention et Contrôle de l’Infection / Infection Control Programme Hôpitaux universitaires de Genève / University of Geneva Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine 24 Rue Micheli-du-Crest - 1211 Genève 14 - Switzerland Tél. 022/372 98 28 - Fax 022/372 39 87 - Email [email protected] .