UH Director of Antibiotic Stewardship Leads Team to National Award

UH Clinical Update | April 2024

Infectious disease specialist Leila Hojat, MD, arrived at UH Cleveland Medical Center in September 2019 to lead the hospital’s antibiotic stewardship program. Advocating for the wise use of antibiotics has long been her passion. Her goal, she says, is to help clinicians make sense of the burgeoning number of antibiotic clinical trials and guide them in making good prescribing decisions for their patients -- decisions that won’t promote antibiotic resistance.

Leila Hojat, MD

“We have a lot more data now about how long infections need to be treated and what is truly needed,” she says. “Our role is to help people use antibiotics for just the optimal amount of time -- not using them more than is needed, but using the right ones.”

The pandemic intervenes

But something happened just a few short months into implementing this vision: COVID-19 descended, which required the immediate involvement and expertise of every infectious disease specialist in the country.

“We were tasked with trying to figure out the best strategies and trying to help people move forward when there was a lot of uncertainty,” Dr. Hojat says. “Guidelines were changing every day. There was a lot of need for a group that could digest that information and present it to people in ways that reflected the best of our knowledge. We needed to answer the question: What should we be doing right now?”

Dr. Hojat and her UH infectious disease colleagues met this challenge and then some, giving dozens of interviews to local and national media to educate the public, among many other things. For her part, Dr. Hojat was one of three UH infectious disease specialists who provided direct patient care to COVID-19 patients during the pandemic. She also played a pivotal role on the research on the anti-viral remdesivir – used early in the pandemic. These trials established that the drug could be both safe and effective if given in a shorter course.

“The results of those trials allowed us to shorten therapy by half, for almost all patients, which was really great in terms of reducing duration of hospital stay and having enough drug available for people,” she says. “It was great because it wasn't just main campus that was involved; almost all our UH sites were involved.”

Exemplary performance

Elie Saade, MD, Medical Director of UH’s Infection Control Program, has nothing but praise for Dr. Hojat’s leadership of antibiotic stewardship and her role during the pandemic.

“Dr. Hojat's professionalism shined brightly during the COVID-19 pandemic,” he says. “Her leadership in establishing flexible systems for COVID-19 treatments and her active participation in related research showcased her remarkable adaptability and resilience. The seamless efficiency with which she runs her multidisciplinary team, coupled with her consistently pleasant and calm demeanor, sets a remarkable example for her peers.”

UH CEO Cliff A. Megerian, MD, FACS, Jane and Henry Meyer Chief Executive Officer Distinguished Chair, recently recognized Dr. Hojat for this outstanding work with a “Dinner with the Doc” honor.

Now that the worst of the pandemic is behind us, Dr. Hojat and her antibiotic stewardship team have received an important accolade: Under her guidance, University Hospitals has earned the prestigious Infectious Diseases Society of America Antimicrobial Stewardship Centers of Excellence designation.

“This is a testament to the high standards her team upholds,” Dr. Saade says. “Her stewardship has been instrumental in improving antibiotic utilization across the UH system.”

Dr. Hojat and her team were specifically recognized for an initiative to reduce anti-MRSA agent overuse through implementing a new rapid diagnostic test, an initiative to identify and de-label hospitalized adults with inaccurate penicillin allergy designations, and a program to perform genetic sequencing of H. pylori identified in biopsy specimens to screen for three known resistance-conferring mutations, among other areas.

“We've found several different creative implementation approaches for different antibiotic use issues to help providers make the right decisions,” she says

This recognition, plus the lessons learned from COVID-19, will place antibiotic stewardship and infectious disease more generally at UH, on a good footing moving forward, Dr. Hojat says.

“COVID-19 stopped our program from kind of developing the way that we wanted to at first. But we also we learned a lot of great things. We developed a lot of great research collaborations, which never would have happened otherwise and were established by COVID-19. So there are some good things as well.”

To nominate a physician for this honor, click here for the UH "Dinner with the Doc" Nomination Form. The next deadline is May 2.