New faculty: Muhammad Salman Ashraf, M.B.B.S.

Muhammad Salman Ashraf, M.B.B.S., is a new faculty member at UNMC.

• Name: Muhammad Salman Ashraf, M.B.B.S.
• Hometown: I was born and raised in Karachi, Pakistan
• Title and department at UNMC: Associate professor, UNMC Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases; medical director for Nebraska Infection Control Assessment and Promotion Program

Research/Professional Interests:

• Infections in the elderly
• Infection control and antimicrobial stewardship in long-term care facilities.

Degrees:

• M.B.B.S., Dow Medical College, University of Karachi
• Internal medicine residency, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, Harlem Hospital Center, New York, N.Y.
• Geriatric medicine fellowship from North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, New York, N.Y.
• Infectious diseases fellowship from East Carolina University, Brody School of Medicine, Pitt County Memorial Hospital, Greenville, N.C.

How I fell in love with the field of infectious diseases/infection control:

I first became interested in the field of infection control during my geriatric medicine fellowship training in 2008 at North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System. As a geriatric fellow, I noticed the differences in the infection control activities between the acute care and long-term care facilities. I quickly realized that there is an urgent need to develop infection control and antimicrobial stewardship programs specifically directed toward long-term care facilities.

I conducted a multicenter study during my training, which involved an anonymous survey of more than 1,000 employees in 17 long-term care facilities, to assess the knowledge of, attitudes about, self-perceived compliance with, and barriers to implementing the recommendations of the 2002 guideline for hand hygiene in health care settings. The findings of that study provided further evidence that specific attention is required for long-term care facilities. Overall, it was evident to me that infection control programs need to be developed and tailored for the needs of different health care settings.

Therefore, I decided to continue working for improving infection control and antimicrobial stewardship activities in various settings including but not limited to acute care, long-term care, out-patient and rehabilitation facilities.

Memberships:

• American Medical Association (AMA)
• American College of Physicians (ACP)
• Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA)
• Society for Health Care Epidemiology of America (SHEA)
• American Geriatrics Society (AGS)
• AMDA-The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine

Three things people may not know about me:

• I like to travel.
• I love spending time with my family.
• I also enjoy watching professional football and basketball but unlike most other fans I do not have one “favorite” team.