SIDP Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Committee Member Bios 

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Jacinda Abdul-Mutakabbir, PharmD, AAHIVP is an Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice at Loma Linda University. She recently completed her post-graduate fellowship training at the Anti-Infective Research Laboratory at Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, where she will also receive her MPH. She is a graduate of University of Saint Joseph School of Pharmacy and completed her PGY1 Pharmacy Practice Residency as well as her undergraduate studies at Howard University. 

Dr. Abdul-Mutakabbir’s research and practice interests include Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics of combination therapy in antimicrobial resistant infections, antimicrobial stewardship, and optimal care for people with HIV. In early 2020 she was recognized among the ECCMID “30 under 30” Outstanding Young Scientists in which she was quoted “as a minority woman researcher, I have worked ardently to promote the necessity of women of color in the research arena.” Dr. Abdul-Mutakabbir is an active member of AAHIVM, IDSA, and ASHP and was the chartering president of the Zeta Iota chapter of Kappa Psi at the University of St. Joseph. She joined SIDP as a trainee and looks forward to a long and successful career of practice, research and service in infectious diseases pharmacotherapy. 

John Allen, PharmD, BCPS, BCCCP, FCCM is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Florida College of Pharmacy. Dr. Allen’s professional areas of interest include antimicrobial stewardship in the intensive care unit, antibiotic dosing in sepsis, and treatment of multi-drug resistant infections. Dr. Allen graduated with his Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, FL. He then completed a PGY-1 residency, followed by a PGY-2 Critical Care residency at Tampa General Hospital in Tampa, FL. Dr. Allen is a dual board-certified pharmacist in critical care, and pharmacotherapy. 

Dr. Allen is an active member of the Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists, Society of Critical Care Medicine, American College of Clinical Pharmacy and the Florida Society of Health-System Pharmacists and has been appointed to various committees within the organizations. 

Prior to his employment at the University of Florida, Dr. Allen held a variety of diverse administrative experiences including service as a pharmacy clinical coordinator, pharmacy residency program director and director of infectious diseases pharmacy for a 16-hospital system. In his free time, Dr. Allen enjoys watching anything with 4-wheels going fast, traveling and spending time with his wife and three children. 

Nika Bejou received her PharmD from Western New England University in Massachusetts in 2016. She completed her PGY1 residency at Yale New Haven Hospital in Connecticut and stayed on to complete a PGY2 in Infectious Diseases. After completion of residency training, Nika joined UPMC in Harrisburg, PA as a Clinical Pharmacy Specialist in Infectious Diseases. During her time at UPMC, Nika led multiple quality improvement initiatives, optimized the antimicrobial stewardship module in the electronic medical record, and created a vancomycin pharmacy-to-dose protocol. She also precepted PGY1 pharmacy residents, led multiple antimicrobial education sessions for the pharmacy department and medical residents, and served on the Infection Control and Antimicrobial Stewardship subcommittees. After her time at UPMC, Nika moved to Philadelphia and transitioned to her current role as a Medical Science Liaison, Infectious Diseases at Janssen. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family, hiking with her dog, and exploring the culinary world.

Keriann Bennett, PharmD, BCPS, BCIDP, is an Antimicrobial Stewardship Pharmacist at Gritman Medical Center in Moscow, Idaho. She received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Washington State University in 2013 and her undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences with minors in Anthropology, Genetics and Cell Biology, and Pre-Genetic Counseling from Washington State University in 2008. Dr. Bennett has several years of experience as a clinical pharmacist at St. Joseph Regional Medical Center and Gritman Medical Center. Dr. Bennett has served as the lead for the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program at Gritman Medical Center since 2018. She is a current participant of the University of Washington Tele-Antimicrobial Stewardship Program and has participated in the Telementoring Antimicrobial Stewardship ECHO Collaborative. Dr. Bennett is Board Certified as an Infectious Disease Specialist and as a Pharmacotherapy Specialist. Dr. Bennett’s clinical interests are in infectious diseases and pharmacogenomics. 

Fidelia Bernice, PharmD, BCIDP is a Clinical Pharmacy Specialist at The Johns Hopkins Hospital and specializes in HIV and general Infectious Diseases. Dr. Bernice received her B.S. in Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Studies and Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of the Sciences – Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. She completed her PGY1 Pharmacy Residency and PGY2 Infectious Diseases Specialty Pharmacy Residency training at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. 

Dr. Bernice’s practice and research areas of interest include rapid initiation of antiretroviral therapy, tailoring antiretroviral regimens in patients with resistant HIV, treatment of opportunistic infections, STD management, and antimicrobial stewardship. 

Dr. Bernice maintains active membership in the following professional organizations: The Maryland Society of Health System Pharmacists, The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, The Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists and The Infectious Diseases Society of America. Dr. Bernice is a member of The John Hopkins Hospital Department of Antimicrobial Stewardship and an associate editor for The Johns Hopkins Hospital/Bayview Medical Center Guidelines for Antibiotic Use. 

Tiffany E. Bias, PharmD, BCPS, BCIDP, AAHIVP earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biochemistry from Smith College and a Doctor of Pharmacy Degree from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. She completed her Pharmacy Practice Residency and Infectious Diseases Residency at The Brooklyn Hospital Center. She currently works at bioMerieux as the Director of Antimicrobial Stewardship for the East Coast. Prior to that, she served as the Infectious Diseases Clinical Pharmacist and Co-Director of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program at Hahnemann University Hospital/Drexel University, College of Medicine located in Philadelphia, PA. During her tenure at Hahnemann, she received national recognition for her antimicrobial stewardship initiatives, established a PGY-2 Infectious Diseases Residency and was awarded several external research grants from industry sponsors. Her research interests have focused on the detection and treatment of multi-drug resistant Gram-negative infections, rapid diagnostics for bacterial infections, antimicrobial stewardship initiatives, and clinical outcomes of infection in solid organ transplant recipients. She is a member of the American Society for Health System Pharmacy, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the American College of Clinical Pharmacy, the Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists and the American Academy of HIV Medicine. Dr. Bias has continually demonstrated expertise, leadership and dedication to the field of Infectious Diseases. 

Rodrigo Burgos, PharmD is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He completed his Doctor of Pharmacy, PGY1 in pharmacy practice and PGY2 in HIV Pharmacotherapy at the same institution. He is the co-director for the PGY2 HIV and director for the PGY2 ID Pharmacotherapy Residency programs, and practices across the University of Illinois network of community-based clinics for multidisciplinary care of patients with HIV/AIDS. His practice interests include antiretroviral stewardship, management of opportunistic infections, and developing innovative services to improve care of underserved patients with HIV. He is passionate about expanding opportunities to support ID pharmacists who serve minority communities as well as recognizing and expanding alternative career development and training paths in infectious diseases. 

Dominic (Dom) Chan, PharmD is the associate director and clinical coordinator of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program at Legacy Health and also serves as the director of the PGY2 Infectious Diseases Residency program. Dom helps to strategically lead both programs to ensure Legacy Health has the operational and clinical infrastructure and resources to maximize positive outcomes in infected patients and minimize avoidable harm. He is, admittedly, intolerant of intolerance, and holds dear the need for our society to ask hard questions about our direct or indirect complicit contribution to social disparities in order to form bias-mitigated solutions. He believes in helping individuals practice at the top of their profession, leveraging their innate passion and altruism so that patients at Legacy Health receive industry-leading care. He is also a pharmacist who cares for patients, a clinical scientist, a teacher and mentor. He completed his PGY1 and PGY2 ID pharmacy residency training at the University of California, San Francisco. His passions include mentorship, humor and laughter in life, and pragmatic evidence-based use of anti-infectives. 

Robbie Lee Anne Christian, PharmD received her Bachelor of Science degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Toledo and further went on to obtain her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2017. She completed her PGY1 Pharmacy Practice Residency at the Miami VA Healthcare System in Miami, Florida, in 2018 and completed her PGY2 Infectious Diseases Residency at the VA Northeast Ohio Healthcare System in Cleveland, Ohio, in 2019. She accepted the position at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in July 2019, where she serves as the Infectious Diseases Consult Specialist, Education Committee Co-lead, and serves on the Residency Advisory Council, Residency Recruitment Subcommittee, Antimicrobial Stewardship Committee, Team Member Engagement Committee, Improving Surgical Care & Recovery Committee (ISCR) and Enhanced Recovery After Surgery for Head and Neck Committee (ERASHN). She is also a clinical assistant professor of medicine for the Louisiana State University (LSU) that partners with the academic medical center. 

Dr. Christian has led and presented on research involving BacterioScan Diagnostics to Eliminate Treatment of Asymptomatic Bacteriuria; Influence of Microbiological Culture Results on Antibiotic Choice for Veterans with Hospital-Acquired Pneumonia; and Decreasing Inappropriate use of Azithromycin in Upper Respiratory Tract Infections. Her experiences in professional organization leadership and involvement has included local, state, and national and organizations, including serving as the National Vice President for the Student National Pharmaceutical Association (SNPhA) and staying on as an Executive Consultant for 2 years after graduation with the responsibility to serve the under-served communities and encourage excellence for people of color. She is a current member of the Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists (SIDP), Making a Difference in ID (MAD-ID), Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), and Louisiana Society of Health-System Pharmacists (LSHP) where see serves as Secretary. She is currently seeking board certification in infectious diseases and her interest areas include multidrug resistant pathogens, antimicrobial stewardship, and HIV management. She is extremely excited to be chosen as a member for SIDP Task Force on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. 

Nathan Everson, PharmD, BCIDP is the Pharmacist Chair of Antimicrobial Stewardship for Carilion Clinic Health System. He co-founded a PGY2 in Infectious Diseases in its sixth year and serves as its Residency Program Director. He has an appointment as an Assistant Professor at Virginia Tech School of Medicine and as clinical faculty for three schools of pharmacy as a clinical preceptor. He is a graduate of Ferris State University and completed his PGY1 and PGY2 ID residency training at Henry Ford Hospital. Professionally, he is passionate about diversity with professional and clinical interests in healthcare disparities, particularly regarding, PrEP, HIV/AIDS care and transgender health. He is an advocate for aggressively incorporating these concepts into student and resident education. Personally, he serves as the Vice President of the Roanoke Diversity Center where he advocates for improved health care for minority populations in his local area. 

Kenneth Lawrence, BS, PharmD is currently Executive Director, Head of Medical Affairs at Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals. He is a graduate of the University of Rhode Island for both his Bachelor of Pharmacy and Doctor of Pharmacy Degrees. Dr. Lawrence began his 20-year clinical pharmacy practice career as a critical care pharmacist later transitioning to Infectious Diseases/Antimicrobial Stewardship. More recently, he has held roles in Clinical Development and most recently Medical Affairs. During the past decade, he has published papers in CID, OFID, Pharmacotherapy, and NEJM. His current work has been dedicated to expanding the pipeline of antimicrobial drugs for the treatment of challenging pathogens. He is passionate about antimicrobial development and incorporating antimicrobial stewardship strategies into Medical Affairs in an effort to partner with health systems to improve patient care. 

Edoabasi U McGee, PharmD, BCPS is an Assistant Professor at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM) Georgia Campus School of Pharmacy. Born and raised in Nigeria, Dr. McGee came to the United States at the age of 10 moving to Providence, RI. Dr. McGee earned her Doctor of Pharmacy in 2007 from the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia School of Pharmacy and completed an ASHP-accredited Pharmacy Practice Residency at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia in 2008. Following residency, Dr. McGee joined the growing clinical pharmacy department at Athens Regional Hospital as a clinical specialist. She built up and developed the antimicrobial stewardship program there for seven years. In 2015, she transitioned into academia at PCOM, where she serves as the lead infectious diseases faculty and maintains a clinical practice site at Northside Gwinnett Medical Hospital in Lawrenceville, Georgia performing antimicrobial stewardship. As such, her scholarly activities revolve around this clinical area as well as student teaching and learning effectiveness. Outside of professional life, she and her husband have one son. When not social distancing, she stays busy with orange theory fitness, one of her other passions besides antimicrobial stewardship, and their son’s very full soccer schedule. 

Krutika N. Mediwala, PharmD, BCIDP has a Bachelor's degree in Genetics from Clemson University, attained a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the South Carolina College of Pharmacy, and completed her PGY1 and PGY2 Infectious Diseases residencies at the University of Kentucky Healthcare. She is actively involved in and holds multiple leadership roles in the ACCP ID and HIV PRNs, Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists (SIDP) and ASHP New Practitioner Workgroups. After residency she joined Prisma Health Baptist Parkridge in Columbia, SC as their inaugural ID/Antimicrobial Stewardship Clinical Pharmacist where she had the unique opportunity to build a stewardship program at a community hospital under the guidance of and affiliation with established ID/Antimicrobial Stewardship mentors. In her current role at MUSC Health, she is engaged in clinical infectious diseases/antimicrobial stewardship practices, academia, leadership and trainee education and is the current ID PGY2 program director. Her areas of interested include stewardship expansion, beta lactam allergy desensitization, and Gram-negative mechanisms of resistance. Dr. Mediwala’s interests outside of pharmacy include trying various cuisines, wildlife conservation, traveling, health and fitness, snowboarding, and spending time with family and friends, and her pups! 

Lee Nguyen, PharmD, APh, BCPS-AQ ID, BCIDP is an Associate Professor in the department of Pharmacy Practice at Loma Linda University School of Pharmacy. Dr. Nguyen is from Southern California where he completed his Bachelor of Science degree at the University of California, Irvine and graduated from the University of California, San Francisco School of Pharmacy in 2004. He went on to complete an ASHP-accredited post-graduate residency at the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center/School of Pharmacy in 2005. He continued his training in Infectious Diseases at the University of Southern California and Huntington Memorial Hospital in 2006. After completing his training in Infectious Diseases, Dr. Nguyen joined Loma Linda University School of Pharmacy, where he teaches anti-infective pharmacology and therapeutics. He maintains a practice site at St. Jude Medical Center, Fullerton, CA where he specializes in the area of Infectious Diseases and developed the antimicrobial stewardship program. Dr. Nguyen holds an advance practice pharmacist license and dual board certification as a Board Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialist with added qualifications in Infectious Diseases (BCPS-AQ ID) and a Board Certified Infectious Diseases Pharmacist (BCIDP). He is passionate about improving the lives of patients individually through direct interventions and programmatically through hospital policy changes. His areas of research interest include outcomes related to antimicrobial stewardship and anti-infective resistance. 

Michael Parisi, is currently a fourth-year Doctor of Pharmacy student at the University of Iowa, where he obtained a Master of Public Health, and is a trainee member of SIDP. He is originally from Puerto Rico. Mr. Parisi is a recipient of a Fulbright Research Award in Public Health where he focused on HIV-related stigma and knowledge among pharmacy students in Romania, as well as additional recognition in research and leadership. Mr. Parisi has an interest in global health, antimicrobial resistance, and caring for patients living with HIV/AIDS. He looks forward to a career in infectious diseases pharmacy and using his expertise to improve the health of patients from underrepresented groups. 

Faryal Qureshi, PharmD, BCCCP, BCPS received her Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and General Biology from Le Moyne College in Syracuse, NY in 1999. She went on to receive a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy from Albany College of Pharmacy in Albany, NY in 2003, and later earned her Doctor of Pharmacy from Shenandoah University in Winchester, VA in 2006. She has worked in the outpatient pharmacy setting for Eckerd Drugs as both staff and supervising pharmacist for several years. She later transitioned to hospital pharmacy and held positions as a staff pharmacist at Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, NY, and as the clinical pharmacist at Frederick Memorial Hospital for the ICU and Pain and Palliative Care service. She joined the Veterans Affairs Maryland Health Care System in 2011 as the Clinical Pharmacy Specialist in Critical Care. There, she assisted to establish the Antimicrobial Stewardship Service and continued to co-develop its various programs from 2013- present. Dr.Qureshi has completed the SIDP Antimicrobial Stewardship certification in 2014, APhA’s Pharmacy-Based Immunization Delivery certification in 2011, and ASHP’s Emergency Medicine certificate program in 2020. She has traveled to various countries and is fluent in three languages. 

Saira Rab, PharmD, BCPS, BCIDP, AAHIVP is a clinical pharmacist specialist in Infectious Diseases at Grady Health System. Dr. Rab earned her Bachelor of Science in Biology from SUNY Binghamton and Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in Albany, New York. She completed her Pharmacy Practice Residency as well as her Infectious Diseases Specialty Residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Dr. Rab currently provides clinical pharmacy services to the HIV inpatient service, the ID consult service, and the Antimicrobial Stewardship team at Grady Health System. Dr. Rab precepts both PGY1 and PGY2 pharmacy residents, as well as P4 pharmacy students from Mercer University, the University of Georgia and South University. Dr. Rab serves on various committees at Grady Health System including the Infection Control Committee, the Advanced Clinical Track Program Committee, the Professional Development Committee, the Research Advisory Committee, and the Antimicrobial Subcommittee. Dr. Rab serves as the co-chair for the Residency Research Advisory Committee and the secretary of the Antimicrobial Subcommittee. She is a reviewer for the Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. Dr. Rab was the recipient of the Grady Health System Clinical Pharmacist of the Year award in 2015 as well as the GSHP Best Paper Describing a Pharmaceutical Care Service Award in 2017. Currently, she serves as a member of ASHP, ACCP, SIDP, and GSHP and has served on various committees for these organizations. 

Keith Teelucksingh, BCPS, BCIDP is an infectious diseases pharmacist practicing in Charleston, SC and oversees antimicrobial stewardship for 12 medical centers. Dr. Teelucksingh graduated from New College in Sarasota, FL with a BA in Neurobiology and his Doctor of Pharmacy from University of Florida. He completed his PGY-1 and PGY-2 ID at University of California San Francisco. He was born in Trinidad and Tobago and moved to Miami, FL when he was eleven years old. Dr. Teelucksingh states, “I am very happy to serve on this committee as an immigrant and as a minority”. He lives in Mount Pleasant, SC with his spouse, Jeremy, their son, Nick and 3 crazy birds. Dr. Teelucksingh is the past chair of the SIDP stewardship committee, having served that committee since 2013. 

Veena Venugopalan, PharmD, is a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Florida, College of Pharmacy. She received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy. Following graduation, she completed her pharmacy practice residency and infectious diseases specialty residency at the University of Kentucky Medical Center. 

In her current role as clinical pharmacy specialist in Infectious Diseases at UF Health Shands, Dr. Venugopalan serves as a drug information resource for physicians, pharmacists, and other health care providers. Dr. Venugopalan is also an active member of the antimicrobial management program. As a board-certified pharmacist in infectious diseases, she has dedicated much of her career to developing and maintaining antimicrobial stewardship programs at large academic centers as well as community teaching hospitals. Dr. Venugopalan has received local and state-wide recognition for her innovative antimicrobial stewardship activities. In addition to her clinical activities, Dr. Venugopalan is passionate about her role as an educator. She teaches at the UF College of Pharmacy and also serves as a preceptor for pharmacy students, pharmacy residents, and medical residents on clinical rotations. Dr. Venugopalan’s research and patient care activities focus on healthcare associated infections, multidrug resistant gram-negative infections, and antimicrobial stewardship. Her work has been published in peer-reviewed journals and she has the privilege of presenting at national and international conferences. 

Juan Villanueva, PharmD, BCPS, BCIDP is an Infectious Diseases Clinical Pharmacist at Banner University Medical Center in Tuscon, Arizona. He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and completed PGY1 and PGY2 Infectious Diseases Pharmacy Residency at the University of Arizona/Banner University Medical Center. His current research interests include antibiotic resistance and antibiotic use in the regions surrounding Arizona’s international border. He joined SIDP in 2019 and is also a member of ACCP and the Arizona Pharmacy Association. He states, “With an affiliation with the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy, I have been able to reach out to various, supportive mentors to help foster my growth as a clinician. Through this partnership, I have experienced firsthand the value in having a diverse group of individuals who bring different perspectives and allow for the growth of ideas. Practicing in the state of Arizona, I have been exposed to a variety of Spanish speaking individuals who seek care but may not always be able to communicate their concerns adequately. I have been able to bridge that gap and communicate effectively to successfully implement our therapeutic plans. In my short career, I have learned to value of working together to not only achieve our common goals, but also to learn from one another. As a Hispanic infectious diseases pharmacist, I feel that to provide the best healthcare, we must have representation from a variety of diverse backgrounds to fully comprehend our patient’s needs but also to ensure the continued advancement of our specialty.”