hero image
Marci Lynn Drees, M.D., MS - ChristianaCare. Wilmington, DE, US

Marci Lynn Drees, M.D., MS

Chief Infection Prevention Officer and Hospital Epidemiologist | ChristianaCare

Wilmington, DE, UNITED STATES

Marci Drees, M.D., MS, FACP, DTMH, is highly sought after national expert on infectious disease and vaccines.

Biography

Dr. Marci Drees is the Chief Infection Prevention Officer and hospital epidemiologist for ChristianaCare, is a highly sought-after national expert on infectious diseases, healthcare-associated infections, and vaccines.
Among her numerous affiliations, Dr. Drees chairs the Education Committee of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), and serves as SHEA's liaison to the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). She is board certified in
internal medicine and infectious diseases.

Areas of Expertise (8)

Vaccines

COVID-19 (Coronavirus)

Influenza (Flu)

Healthcare-associated Infections

Mass Vaccination

Infectious Disease

Hospital Epidemiology

Antimicrobial Stewardship

Education (3)

Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences at Tufts University: Master's in Clinical Research

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine: Diploma, Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine: MD 1998

Multimedia

Publications:

Documents:

Photos:

Audio/Podcasts:

Media Appearances (7)

Some Health Care Workers Are Wary Of Getting COVID-19 Vaccines

NPR  radio

2020-12-01

Some health care workers have voiced concerns about safety and potential side effects from COVID-19 vaccines. They want to see clear data on safety and efficacy before they sign on to get a new vaccine, Mahon says. "It's a minority of people that are saying absolutely no way [to getting a COVID-19 vaccine]," says Dr. Marci Drees, hospital epidemiologist for ChristianaCare and a liaison to the CDC's federal vaccine advisory committee. "I think the majority of people really just want to know more."

The speed of COVID-19 vaccine development, along with concerns about political interference with the process, has left some health care workers on the fence about getting COVID-19 vaccines.

view more

Delaware hospital to play leading role in COVID-19 vaccine distribution

6ABC  tv

2020-12-01

A Delaware hospital will play a leading role in administering the vaccine to the region. Ten freezers just arrived at ChristianaCare in Newark this week and will be able to house the coronavirus vaccine in temperatures as low as -94 degrees.

Vaccine refrigerators to store COVID vaccine at ChristianaCare

view more

ChristianaCare’s 1-day flu vaccination campaign reaches 8K

Delaware Business Times  

2019-10-23

Dr. Marci Drees, chief infection prevention officer and hospital epidemiologist for ChristianaCare, is tasked with the challenge of convincing staff members to get an annual flu vaccination.

view more

Climate Change May Mean More Risky Mosquitoes

WebMD  

2019-03-28

Dr. Marci Drees is an infection prevention officer and hospital epidemiologist at ChristianaCare Health System in Wilmington, Del., and wasn't involved in the new research. But she said she wasn't surprised by its results.

view more

Hospital system vaccinates nearly 8,000 staff in daylong flu shot blitz

NBCNews.com  

2018-10-14

For the past few years, Christiana has managed to vaccinate more than 90 percent of staff, said Dr. Marci Drees, the health system’s infection prevention officer.

view more

Hospital Beats Flu Vaccine Procrastinators With In-Your-Face Effort

NBCNews.com  

2015-10-18

“There's a lot of advertising, a lot of excitement, there's a lot of peer pressure,” says Dr. Marci Drees, the infection prevention officer and hospital epidemiologist for ChristianaCare Health System.

view more

VIDEO | 'Hit me with your flu shot': ChristianaCare vaccinates thousands of employees in one day

WDEL  

2018-10-11

"If we ever had to mass-vaccinate our entire workforce in a very rapid fashion, this is 'how would we do it?" ChristianaCare Chief Infection Prevention Officer and Hospital Epidemiologist Dr. Marci Drees said.

view more

Selected Papers and Publications (8)

Lessons Learned From Hospital Ebola Preparation

Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology

Morgan, D.J., Braun, B., Milstone, A.M., Anderson, D., Lautenbach, E., Safdar, N., Drees, M., Meddings, J., Linkin, D.R., Croft, L.D. and Pineles, L.

2015-04-01

Hospital Ebola preparation is underway in the United States and other countries; however, the best approach and resources involved are unknown.

view more

Antibiotic prescribing by telephone in primary care

Pharmacoepidemiology & Drug Safety

Edward Ewen, Vincent J. Willey, Paul Kolm, William F. McGhan, Marci Drees

2014-07-31

Little is known about the contribution of telephone‐based prescribing on overall antibiotic utilization. The objective of this study was to determine the extent and characteristics of telephone‐based antibiotic prescribing in teaching and non‐teaching primary care practices.

view more

The Evolving Landscape of Healthcare-Associated Infections: Recent Advances in Prevention and a Road Map for Research

Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology

Nasia Safdar, Marci Drees, et al

2014-05-01

This white paper identifies knowledge gaps and new challenges in healthcare epidemiology research, assesses the progress made toward addressing research priorities, provides the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) Research Committee's recommendations for high-priority research topics, and proposes a road map for making progress toward these goals.

view more

Universal Glove and Gown Use and Acquisition of Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria in the ICU

JAMA

Harris, A.D., Pineles, L., Belton, B., Johnson, J.K., Shardell, M., Loeb, M., Newhouse, R., Dembry, L., Braun, B., Perencevich, E.N. and Hall, K.K.

2013-10-16

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are associated with increased patient morbidity and mortality. It is unknown whether wearing gloves and gowns for all patient contact in the intensive care unit (ICU) decreases acquisition of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

view more

Carrots and sticks: achieving high healthcare personnel influenza vaccination rates without a mandate

National Library of Medicine

Marci Drees, Kathleen Wroten, Mary Smedley, Tabe Mase, J Sanford Schwartz

2015-06-01

Objective: Achieving high healthcare personnel (HCP) influenza vaccination rates has typically required mandating vaccination, which is often challenging to implement. Our objective was to achieve >90% employee influenza vaccination without a mandate.

view more

Research Methods in Healthcare Epidemiology and Antimicrobial Stewardship: Use of Administrative and Surveillance Databases

National Library of Medicine

Marci Drees, Jeffrey S Gerber, Daniel J Morgan, Grace M Lee

2016-08-30

Administrative and surveillance data are used frequently in healthcare epidemiology and antimicrobial stewardship (HE&AS) research because of their wide availability and efficiency. However, data quality issues exist, requiring careful consideration and potential validation of data. This methods paper presents key considerations for using administrative and surveillance data in HE&AS, including types of data available and potential use, data limitations, and the importance of validation. After discussing these issues, we review examples of HE&AS research using administrative data with a focus on scenarios when their use may be advantageous. A checklist is provided to help aid study development in HE&AS using administrative data. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2016;1-10.

view more

Automated outbreak detection of hospital-associated pathogens: Value to infection prevention programs

National Library of Medicine

Meghan A Baker, Deborah S Yokoe, John Stelling, Ken Kleinman, Rebecca E Kaganov, Alyssa R Letourneau, Neha Varma, Thomas O'Brien, Martin Kulldorff, Damilola Babalola, Craig Barrett, Marci Drees, Micaela H Coady, Amanda Isaacs, Richard Platt, Susan S Huang, CDC Prevention Epicenters Program

2020-06-10

Objective: To assess the utility of an automated, statistically-based outbreak detection system to identify clusters of hospital-acquired microorganisms.

view more

Variation in Definitions and Isolation Procedures for Multidrug-Resistant Gram-Negative Bacteria: A Survey of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America Research Network

Cambridge University Press

Marci Drees, Lisa Pineles, Anthony D. Harris and Daniel J. Morgan

2016-05-10

Objective. To assess definitions, experience, and infection control practices for multidrug-resistant gram-negative bacteria (MDR-GNB), including Enterobacteriaceae, Acinetobacter, and Pseudomonas species, in acute care hospitals.

view more

External Service & Affiliations (6)

  • American College of Physicians : Fellow
  • Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America : Fellow
  • Delaware Healthcare-associated Infections Advisory Committee : Member
  • Delaware Immunizations Coalition : Member
  • CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices: Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America Liaison
  • Infectious Diseases Society of America: Fellow