CDC Lab Safety Point Person, Dr. Michael Bell, to Give Keynote on Hospital Safety at AJMCLive Event

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE JULY 23, 2014CDC Lab Safety Point Person, Dr. Michael Bell, to Give Keynote on Hospital Safety at AJMCLive Event

PLAINSBORO, N.J. — The American Journal of Managed Care will host the person charged with overhauling lab safety at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention when it welcomes Michael Bell, MD, as the keynote speaker for its live meeting, “Value-Based Decision Making in Infectious Disease,” to be held September 25-26, 2014, in Atlanta.

Dr. Bell, deputy director of the CDC Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, will give the keynote address at the first AJMCLive meeting devoted to issues in infectious disease, to be held September 25-26, 2014, in Atlanta, at the Loews Atlanta Hotel. Dr. Bell’s talk is currently titled, “Preventing Healthcare Associated Infections and Combating Antimicrobial Resistance.” For information and registration, click here.

A 19-year agency veteran, Dr. Bell, was recently tapped by CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden for his new post. Almost immediately, he was tasked with handling the fallout of safety lapses in key CDC research labs, which forced Dr. Frieden to close agency’s flu and bioterror laboratories and halt shipments critical to research while protocols are reviewed. In a recent interview with The New York Times, Dr. Bell said he was worried about the “potential for hubris” among researchers who come to see working among dangerous microbes as routine. For the story in The New York Times, click here.

The AJMCLive meeting will cover these topics and others, including the challenges of paying for new therapies in hepatitis C, and the addition of newly insured patients with HIV to health plans.

An expert in drug-resistant pathogens and hospital acquired infections, Dr. Bell was previously the chief of the Epidemiology Unit at the Viral Special Pathogens Branch, addressing infection control for high-risk pathogens such as Ebola virus. He received his medical degree from the University of Washington and trained in Internal Medicine at the University of Colorado, and in Infectious Diseases at the University of California San Francisco.

About the Journal

The American Journal of Managed Care, now in its 20^th year of publication, is the leading peer-reviewed journal dedicated to issues in managed care. Other titles in the AJMC family of publications include The American Journal of Pharmacy Benefits, which provides pharmacy and formulary decision makers with information to improve the efficiency and health outcomes in managing pharmaceutical care. In December 2013, AJMC introduced The American Journal of Accountable Care, which publishes research and commentary devoted to understanding changes to the healthcare system due to the 2010 Affordable Care Act. AJMC’s news publications, the Evidence-Based series, bring together stakeholder views from payers, providers, policymakers and pharmaceutical leaders in the areas of oncology, diabetes management, and immunology and infectious disease. To order reprints of articles appearing in AJMC publications, please call (609) 716-7777, x 131.

About AJMCLive

AJMCLive provides content from the Journal's most recent conferences and innovative events. Conferences feature sessions from industry experts as they discuss emerging topics in managed care. AJMCLive events cover managed care policy as well as disease-specific stakeholder issues in oncology, diabetes care, and infectious disease. For more information, click here.

MEDIA/ABOUT AJMCLive CONTACT: Nicole Beagin (609) 716-7777 x. 131

nbeagin@ajmc.com

www.ajmc.com

ADDITIONAL MEDIA CONTACT: Mary Caffrey (609) 716-7777 x. 144

mcaffrey@ajmc.com