Meet Our Flu Experts
Meet the Wake Forest Baptist Health Influenza Experts
Physician-in-Chief, Brenner Children’s Hospital
Weston M. Kelsey Professor and Chair, Department of Pediatrics
Abramson has been on faculty at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center for over 28 years, during this time he has been heavily involved in clinical and research aspects of influenza disease. Additionally, he has served as the chair of the Committee on Infectious Diseases of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the chair of the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). In both of these roles he was involved in the U. S. influenza pandemic planning efforts including the process for developing a prioritization scheme for which groups would get the pandemic vaccine as it became available. Currently, he is one of 15 people serving on the World Health Organization (WHO) Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) and a member of the WHO 2009 pandemic task force. SAGE is charged with advising WHO on overall global policies and strategies, ranging from vaccine and technology, research and development, to delivery of immunization and its linkages with other health interventions. In July 2009, SAGE provided recommendations to the WHO Director General about worldwide use and prioritization of pandemic H1N1 influenza vaccine. Abramson has been named to: Best Doctors in America; the National Registry of Who’s Who; and Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. Abramson is a fellow in the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Infectious Disease Society of America.
Chief, Pediatric Infectious Diseases
Professor and Vice-Chair for Clinical Affairs, Department of Pediatrics
The Infectious diseases group at Brenner’s Children Hospital is one of eight in the country that monitor disease and antibiotic resistance due to the common bacteria, pneumococcus. Givner oversees this U.S. Pediatric Multicenter Surveillance Group at Brenner. He has done much research on antibiotic resistance of other common bacteria as well, including meningocococus. Other areas of expertise include: prevention and treatment of infections in infants; infections due to Group A Strep and Group B Strep; and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. He is also on the Executive Committee for Pandemic Influenza Preparedness at Wake Forest Baptist. Givner has been named to: Best Doctors in America; America's Top Doctors; and America's Top Pediatricians. He has received many teaching awards including the 2002 Teaching Excellence Award from Wake Forest School of Medicine. Givner is board certified by the American Board of Pediatrics in general pediatrics and in pediatric infectious diseases.
Chief, Section on Infectious Diseases
Professor of Medicine, Sections on Infectious Diseases, Hematology/Oncology, and Molecular Medicine
In addition to his faculty appointment at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, High is currently the section editor of Clinical Infectious Diseases and the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. He is also a member of the editorial board for MEDSCAPE in the area of infectious disease. Some of his major research areas include changes in immunity and infection risk in older adults, clinical relevance of surrogate markers of immune senescence, infections in patients with suppressed immunity and nutritional modulation of immune responses in transplant recipients and the elderly. High is board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in infectious diseases.
Associate Professor of Internal Medicine – Infectious Disease
In addition to his faculty appointment at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, Ohl is medical director of the Center for Antimicrobial Utilization, Stewardship and Epidemiology and chairman of the Pandemic Influenza Planning Executive Committee. He is a member of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and of the IDSA Education Committee, the N.C. Emerging Infections Medical Advisory Committee, the N.C. Public Health and Institutions Task Force and the Wake Forest Baptist Infection Control Committee and International Health Committee. Ohl is also a consultant to the Center for Disease Control on antimicrobial stewardship and antibiotic resistance, and to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on the anti-invectives’ advisory committee. Some of his major research areas include regional surveillance for antimicrobial resistance in community and hospital pathogens, clinical antimicrobial resistance and its relationship to antibiotic use, bioterrorism and emerging infections. He is a peer reviewer for Clinical Infectious Disease, Infection Control Hospital Epidemiology, Emerging Infectious Diseases, the International Journalof Infectious Disease, and a visiting professor at Tokai University School of Medicine, Japan. He has twenty-two years’ military experience in the Navy and Naval Reserve. He currently holds the rank of captain. Ohl is board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in infectious disease.
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Infectious Diseases
Dr. Timothy Peters serves as an attending physician in pediatric infectious diseases at Brenner Children’s Hospital, and his major research area regards the epidemiology and control of influenza virus and other vaccine-preventable respiratory pathogens. He is a member of the Wake Forest University Brenner Children’s Hospital Program in Vaccine Sciences, and directs a laboratory that conducts basic research on viral replication and co-pathogenic relationships between influenza virus and bacteria, and provides molecular diagnostic support for clinical studies of influenza virus. Peters is certified by the American Board of Pediatrics in general pediatrics and pediatric infectious diseases.
Director, Wake Forest University Physicians Quality Outcomes
Professor of Internal Medicine, Section on Infectious Diseases
In addition to his faculty appointments at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, he is the Hospital Epidemiologist and chair of the Infection Control Committee. He is also the medical director of Physician Quality Outcomes and co-chair of the Quality of Care Council. He is the co-developer of a yearly IDSA Recertification Course for Infectious Disease Physicians. He is a member of the Society of Healthcare Epidemiology of America and the Infectious Disease Society of America. Some of his major research areas include pathogenesis and prevention of foreign body infections, transmission of staphylococcus aureus infections and nosocomial infections. He is board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in Internal Medicine and Infectious Disease.