Nov. 4, 2014: JHM Ebola Safety Update -- New Designated Unit Leadership Named

Dear Colleagues,

Our ongoing preparations to care for patients with Ebola virus disease include a detailed and thorough plan and set of procedures to address the key components of treatment and to ensure that our patients, visitors, staff, faculty and trainees are as safe as possible at all times. One aspect of this plan calls for patients suspected or confirmed to have Ebola to be cared for at The Johns Hopkins Hospital by highly trained providers in a designated, secured unit away from other patients and clinical operations.

Construction of a new biocontainment unit to care for patients with Ebola and other infectious diseases is currently underway and is expected to be complete in a few weeks. We are pleased to announce the leadership for the new patient care unit:

• Lisa Maragakis, medical director: associate professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases, director of hospital epidemiology and infection control for The Johns Hopkins Hospital
• Brian Garibaldi, associate director: assistant professor of medicine
• Karen Davis: vice president of nursing and chief nursing officer, Howard County General Hospital
• Neysa Ernst: nurse manager, The Johns Hopkins Hospital
• Ron Langlotz: assistant director of nursing, Department of Radiology
• Chip Barbara: functional unit administrator, Department of Medicine

This leadership team will be aided by an advisory council of physicians and multidisciplinary representatives from throughout the institution. The designated unit will be staffed by a dedicated team of providers to ensure that any patient with Ebola is properly cared for and that we are prepared to protect the health and safety of all staff, patients and visitors.

We also want to make you aware that four Johns Hopkins faculty members, who either went or are going to West Africa to assist with efforts to stop the spread of Ebola, were thanked for their public health service by President Barack Obama during a speech at the White House on Oct. 29. Trish Perl, David Peters, Thomas Kirsch and Susan Krenn represented Johns Hopkins at the event, where the president praised all health care workers serving on the front lines of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, calling them "heroes" deserving of praise.

Please join us in thanking the leadership team of the new unit and in congratulating our colleagues who were recognized at the White House for their efforts to combat Ebola.
Sincerely,

Gabor D. Kelen, M.D.
Director, Office of Critical Event Preparedness and Response
Director, Department of Emergency Medicine
Emergency Physician-in-Chief, The Johns Hopkins Hospital

Trish M. Perl, M.D., M.Sc.
Professor of Medicine and Pathology
Senior Epidemiologist, Johns Hopkins Medicine

Redonda G. Miller, M.D., M.B.A.
Vice President, Medical Affairs
The Johns Hopkins Hospital