Paul J. Pearce, PhD, is a medical microbiologist with 45 years of experience who leads the Pearce Foundation for Scientific Endeavor. He is the former CEO of Nova Biologicals, the laboratory testing organization he founded more than 30 years ago. He specializes in air and water quality, laboratory testing, healthcare operations, and scientific discovery around biofilm and the complex microbes that reside on environmental surfaces and their role in infection. He is also a member of the advisory board for the Environmental Services Optimization Playbook (EvSOP).

As executive vice president and chief operating officer, he is responsible for the global operations of the company. He brings more than 25 years of experience to WXCH

John Scherberger, BS, FAHE, CHESP, is principal of Healthcare Risk Mitigation, a consulting firm that assists healthcare, laundry, hospitality, and other professionals in enhancing their operations through incorporation of industry best practices into their operations through risk mitigation, improvement of healthcare laundry operations, healthcare environmental services and hospitality housekeeping operations, and infection prevention processes and practices. He is a past president of the Healthcare Laundry Accreditation Council (HLAC) and a former member of the Certification Center of the American Hospital Association. He is a past board member of the Association for the Healthcare Environment (AHE) and the South Carolina Chapter of the AHE. He is currently as member of the advisory board of the Environmental Services Optimization Playbook (EvSOP).

Aaron Jett has a clinical background as an infection preventionist and APIC-CJIC partner, certified safety professional (CSP), and OSHA walkway auditor (WACH) for STF injury prevention. Additionally, he is a designated trainer for the Association for the Healthcare Environment (AHE) of the American Hospital Association. Jett is designated to train and certify through AHE’s Certified Health Care Environmental Services Technician, Certified Surgical Cleaning Technician, Certified Non-Acute Care Cleaning programs (T-CHEST/CSCT/CNACC). He is also a master trainer for value-based mapping and teaches AHE’s Value-based Product Evaluation and Implementation Program (VPEI), a component of AHE’s Strategic Leadership Program. He is also a member of the advisory board for the Pearce Foundation for Scientific Endeavor and is one of the lead researchers for the Environmental Services Optimization Playbook (EvSOP). He serves as an infection prevention and environmental resource to many of the top health systems in the U.S.

Kelly Zabriskie is the enterprise vice president of infection control at Jefferson Health in Philadelphia and has more than 13 years of experience in infection prevention. She is a fellow of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) and is  certified in infection control (CIC).

Michael R. Overcash, PhD, is a researcher and consultant specializing in life cycle inventory research, developing the new areas for utilization of the life cycle tools and inventory techniques, leading to the discovery of the environmental genome. His work has focused on healthcare evaluations based on quality patient care at lower environmental impacts. He is also a thought leader in sustainability research used by healthcare systems and healthcare textiles associations, and contributed to the emergence of standards for sustainability of products and services in healthcare. His professional contributions include 14 books, 700-plus journal papers and reports, and participation in numerous symposia. He is the executive officer of the non-profit Environmental Genome Initiative.

Hudson Garrett Jr., PhD, MSN, MPH, MBA, FNP-BC, CPHQ, PLNC, AS-BC, IP-BC, VA-BC™, CFER, CPPS, CDONA, DICO-C, GDCN, CPXP, CADDCT, CFRDT, CCPDT, CCHR-T, NREMT, FACDONA, TR-C, FAAPM, FNAP, FSHEA, FIDSA, is president and CEO of Community Health Associates, LLC. He also serves as an adjunct assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Louisville School of Medicine. He also co-founded the nonprofit Infection Prevention Institute to help shepherd dissemination of best practices of infection prevention and control across the healthcare continuum of care globally. Garrett was selected as one of 20 healthcare leaders globally to participate in the 2021 13-month Global Patient Safety Fellowship with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. He holds board certifications in patient safety, healthcare quality, patient experience, vascular access, antibiotic stewardship, prehospital emergency medicine, tactical medicine, as a designated infection control officer, and many more. He has served on expert panels related to disinfection and sterilization with the FDA, CDC and the EPA, most notably serving on the FDA’s Panel and Working Group for Flexible Endoscope Reprocessing. Garrett has lectured around the world and provided testimony to government and regulatory agencies on a variety of  topics related to infectious diseases and infection prevention and control.

Karen Niven, MS, BSN, RN, CVAHP, is the 2022 president-elect of the Association of Healthcare Value Analysis Professionals (AHVAP). Her primary responsibility is managing the value analysis committee and the clinical process within the Performance Groups line of business, an ongoing value analysis process of identifying and articulating market requirements that define a product category’s attributes. As a clinical expert she uses her understanding and medical expertise to analyze current and future market technology trends while prioritizing customer needs. In addition Karen’s responsibilities also include assisting the clinical work groups for all Performance Groups as well as working with members and suppliers to identify and develop strategies to introduce new technology and improve product utilization. Prior to joining Premier, Niven leveraged more than 33 years of nursing experience in the perioperative services area to include circulating, working in PACU and management of all areas in the perioperative arena.

Beverly Nieves, CIC, MHA, BS, is the current corporate manager of infection prevention for Orlando Health System in Florida. She actively participates in numerous committees, including infection control, critical care, value analysis, as well as the St. Joseph Regional Medical Center Institutional Review Board. Her career accomplishments at St. Joseph include medical technologist in microbiology, infection preventionist, and manager. She directed all infection prevention and control efforts at the Richmond University Medical Center, East Orange General Hospital, and Oak Hills Hospital.She specializes in the environment of care, working closely with environmental services. She is an active member of APIC, ASM and AHE.

Michael Parker, T-CHEST, CMIP, T-CSCT, T-CNACC, is the director for environmental services and linen services at Orlando Regional Medical Center. He also serves as a subject-matter expert in providing guidance and development of the relationship between infection prevention and environmental dervices. He has 30-plus years of experience in management, 20 of those years being in healthcare contract management with various responsibilities in environmental services, linen, food services, hotels, concierge, and transport. He currently serves as the chair of Orlando Health’s Environmental Services Council. He is a former multi-service general manager and a district manager in Florida for Sodexo, as well as working previously in sales and marketing positions. Parker also authors training programs as well as procedures for environmental services. 

Lisa Marie Kilgore, MBA-HCM, BSBM, CIC, is director of epidemiology and infection control for Scripps Health, a position she has held for 15 years. She is also involved in corporate quality and patient safety. Prior to her leadership in healthcare, she served as a satellite communications operator in the U.S. Army. Following a decade of military service, she returned to school and has been practicing infection prevention since 2007. She has worked in healthcare for more than 21 years. She also has been a part of emergency management and disaster preparedness for 17-plus years, with extensive training through FEMA, CDC and the Center for Disaster Preparedness (CDP) in technical emergency response training for chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or explosives (CBRNE) and is a part of the DECON team at Scripps Health.

Kelly has more than 35 years of experience in newspaper and magazine publishing, with 23 years in the infection prevention media segment. She is the author of five forensic science books published by Taylor & Francis and Elsevier, and is the winner of 10 Society of Professional Journalists awards for reporting and writing. She is the former editor-in-chief of Infection Control Today and launched Healthcare Hygiene magazine in 2019 to provide a science-driven alternative in the infection prevention sector.