Surbhi Leekha, MBBS, MPH

Surbhi Leekha received her medical degree from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, followed by a Masters of Public Health in Epidemiology from the University of Massachusetts. She completed her Internal Medicine residency and Infectious Diseases fellowship at Mayo Clinic, Rochester.  

Dr. Leekha is an infectious diseases physician and serves as the Medical Director for Infection Prevention and Hospital Epidemiology at the University of Maryland Medical Center. She devotes most of her professional effort to day-to-day hospital epidemiology practice. She conducts research on surveillance and prevention of healthcare associated infections, with particular interests in surveillance methodology and implementation of practices to prevent infections. She is also interested in the appropriate use and application of infectious disease diagnostics as a means to antimicrobial stewardship. Since 2018, she has been leading the Maryland Statewide Prevention and Reduction Collaborative (SPARC) for healthcare-associated infections, that started with prevention of Clostridioides difficile infection and has focused on COVID-19 during the pandemic.

healthcare associated infections, infection prevention, antimicrobial stewardship, surveillance, risk adjustment, Clostridium difficile

1. Blanco N, Robinson GL, Heil EL, Perlmutter R, Wilson LE, Brown CH, Heavner MS, Nadimpalli G, Lemkin D, Morgan DJ, Leekha S. Impact of a difficile Infection (CDI) Reduction Bundle and its components on CDI Diagnosis and Prevention. Am J Infect Control. 2021;49:319-326
2. Patel A, Emerick M, Cabunoc MK, Williams MH, Preas MA, Schrank G, Rabinowitz R, Luethy P, Johnson JK, Leekha S. Rapid Spread and Control of Multidrug-Resistant Gram-Negative Bacteria in COVID-19 Patient Care Units. Emerg Infect Dis. 2021;27:1234-1237
3. Jacobs JT, Baker JM, Fridkin SK, Lopman BA, Steinberg JP, Christenson RH, King B, Leekha S, O’Hara LM, Rock P, Schrank GM, Hayden MK, Hota B, Lin MY, Stein BD, Caturegli P, Milstone AM, Rock C, Voskertchian A, Harris AD, for the CDC Prevention Epicenters Program. Risk Factors for SARS-CoV-2 Seropositivity in US Healthcare Personnel in Three States. JAMA Network Open. 2021;4(3):e211283.
4. Claeys KC, Schlaffer K, Smith R, Hitchcock S, Jiang Y, Evans SR, Johnson JK, Leekha S. Day at the Races: Comparing BioFire FilmArray Blood Culture ID Panels to Verigene Blood Culture in Gram-negative Bloodstream Infections using DOOR-MAT Analysis. Clin Infect Dis. 2021. Mar 27;. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciab262. [Epub ahead of print]
5. Heil EL, Harris AD, Brown CH, Seung H, Thom KA, von Rosenvinge E, Sorongon S, Pineles L, Goodman KE, Leekha S. A Multi-Center Evaluation of Probiotic Use for the Primary Prevention of Clostridioides difficile infection. Clin Infect Dis. 2021 May 11; [Epub ahead of print]