Irving Nachamkin, DrPH, MPH, D(ABMM), FAAM, FIDSA
Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (Emeritus)
University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
Contact InformationDepartment of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
3400 Spruce Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104-4283
Email: nachamki@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Specialty Division
Laboratory Medicine
Research Expertise
I am a co-investigator in the CDC Prevention Epicenter at Penn and our lab is involved in several collaborative studies examining risk factors for development of antimicrobial resistant infections in hospitalized patients and in the community. I also have a special interest in Campylobacter and other gastrointestinal infections, with a focus on diagnostics, antibiotic resistance, and association of Campylobacter with Guillain-Barre Syndrome. Other areas of interest include diagnostic microbiology, molecular diagnostic microbiology, cost-effectiveness of laboratory testing.
Clinical Expertise
I am currently Director of the Division of Laboratory Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. I also am Associate Director of the Clinical Microbiology Laboratory. My areas of expertise include most areas of clinical microbiology. I have particular interests in the diagnosis of gastrointestinal infections.
Education
B.Sc. (Medical Laboratory Science), University of Bridgeport, Bridgeport, CT, 1975
M.P.H. (Public Health Laboratory Practice), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 1978
Dr.P.H. (Public Health Microbiology), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 1980
Specialty Certification
MT (ASCP), American Society of Clinical Pathologists, 1975
Diplomate, American Board of Medical Microbiology, 1987
Postgraduate Training
Fellow, Medical and Public Health Laboratory Microbiology, Dept. of Pathology, Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, 1980-1982
Penn Medicine Clinical Leadership Academy, Penn Medicine, 2010-2011
Awards and Honors
Becton Dickinson Pre-Doctoral Fellowship, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1977-1980
Professor (Hon.), Department of Neurology, Second Affiliated Hospital, Shijiazhuang, P.R. China, 1993
President's Award, New Jersey Public Health Association, 1995
Professor (Hon.) of Medical Sciences, Hebei Medical College, Shijiazhuang, P.R. China, 1995
Fellow, Infectious Diseases Society of America, 2000
Fellow, American Academy of Microbiology, 2000
Foundation for Microbiology Lecturer, American Society for Microbiology, Washington, DC, 2000-2002
Fellow, College of Physicians of Philadelphia, 2003
Elected Member, Council Policy Committee, American Society for Microbiology, 2005-2008
UPHS Quality Award, "Building a Culture of High-Value Care: Reducing Unnecessary Ordering of Inpatient Laboratory Tests", Sedrak MS, Murray D, Ziemba J, Myers J, Dine J, Tsypenyuk B, Nachamkin I, Mincarelli M, Danoski D, Brennan PJ, Hanson B, Berns J, 2015
Memberships and Professional Organizations
American Society of Clinical Pathologists, 1975 - Present
Eastern Pennsylvania Branch, American Society for Microbiology, 1982 - Present
American Society for Microbiology, 1982 - Present
Infectious Diseases Society of America, 1995 - Present
Food and Drug Administration, Microbiological Devices Review Panel, 1999 - 2016
American Academy of Microbiology, 2000 - Present
College of Physicians of Philadelphia, 2003 - Present
Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute, 2004 - 2004
The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, 2009 - 2020
American Association for Clinical Chemistry, 2010 - 2019
Association for Molecular Pathology, 2011 - 2019
Voting Member, Council on Microbial Sciences, American Society for Microbiology, 2019 - 2021
American Academy of Microbiology (AAM), 2020 - 2023
Web Links
Pepper Talk (my blog)
Donate Now - William Pepper Jr Book Restoration Project
History of Clinical Microbiology at the University of Pennsylvania
CDC Prevention Epicenter Program
Selected Publications
Reducing Blood Culture Contamination Rates: Experiences of Four Hospital Systems
Halstead DC, Sautter RL, Snyder JW, Crist Jr AE, Nachamkin I, Infectious Diseases and Therapy 9(2): 389-401, 2020
The Potential Economic Value of Sputum Culture Use in Patients with Community-Acquired Pneumonia and Healthcare-Associated Pneumonia
Asti, L., Bartsch, S., Umsheid, C., Hamilton, K., Nachamkin, I., Lee, B., Clin Microbiol Infect 25(8): 1038.e1-1038.e9, 2019, PMID:30590113
A laboratory medicine best practices systematic review and meta-analysis of nucleic acid amplification tests (NAAT) and algorithms including NAAT for the diagnosis of Clostridioides (Clostridium) difficile in adults
Kraft C, Parrott J, Cornish N, Rubinstein M, Weissfeld A, McNult P, Nachamkin I, Humphries R, Kirn T, Dien Bard J, Lutgring J, Gullett J, Bittencourt C, Benson S, Bobenchik A, Sautter R, Baselski V, Atlas M, Marlowe B, Miller N, Fischer M, Richter S, Gilligan P, Snyder J, Clin Microbiol Rev, 2019
Gut microbiome alteration in MORDOR I: a community-randomized trial of mass azithromycin distribution
Doan, T., A. Hinterwirth, L. Worden, A.M. Arzika, R. Maliki, A. Abdou, S. Kane, L. Zhong, S.L. Cummings, S. Sakar, C. Chen, C. Cook, E. Lebas, E.D. Chow, I. Nachamkin, T.C. Porco, J.D. Keenan, T.M. Lietman, Nat Medicine 25(): 1370-76, 2019
Blood culture utilization at an academic hospital: addressing a gap in benchmarking
Chen A, Bilker W, Hamilton K, O'Donnell J, Nachamkin I, Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 39(11): 1353-59, 2018, PMID:30261936
Combined Biomarkers Predict Acute Mortality Among Critically Ill Patients with Suspected Sepsis
Kelly BJ, Lautenbach E, Nachamkin I, Coffin SE, Gerber JS, Fuchs BD, Garrigan C, Han X, Bilker WB, Wise J, Tolomeo P, Han JH., Critical Care Med, 2018
Blood cultures practice improvement: improving the volume of blood obtained for routine blood cultures
Glaser L, Bulley M, Eller K, Hendricks K, Nachamkin I., Diagnostic Error in Medicine: 11th International Conference, New Orleans, LA, Nov 4-6, 2018, 2018
Isolation of Campylobacter species from stool samples using a filtration method: assessment from a U.S. based population
Nachamkin I, Nguyen P., J Clin Microbiol 55(): 2204-7, 2017
Gastrointestinal Infections
Alby K., Nachamkin I., Microbiology Spectrum 4(3): doi:10.1128 /microbiolspec.DMIH2-0005-2015, 2016, PMID:27337464
Factors associated with persistent colonisation with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
Cluzet VC, Gerber JS, Nachamkin I, Coffin SE, Davis MF, Julian KG, Zaoutis TE, Metlay JP, Linkin DR, Tolomeo P, Wise JA, Bilder WB, Hu B, Lautenbach E, Epidemiology and Infection 145(): 1409-17, 2017
Assessing Clinical Microbiology Practice Guidelines: American Society for Microbiology ad hoc Committee on Evidence-Based Laboratory Medicine Practice Guidelines Assessment
Nachamkin, I., Kirn, T., Westblade, L., Humphries, R., J. Clin. Microbiol. 55(): 3194-3200, 2017
Effect of a Price Transparency Intervention in the Electronic Health Record on Clinician Ordering of Inpatient Laboratory Tests: The PRICE Randomized Clinical Trial
Sedrak MS, Myers JS, Small DS, Nachamkin I, Ziemba JB, Murray D, Kurtzman GW, Zhu J, Wang W, Mincarelli D, Danoski D, Wells BP, Berns JS, Brennan PJ, Hanson CW, Dine CJ, Patel MS, JAMA Intern Med 177(7): 939-945, 2017, PMID:28430829
Multicenter evaluation of clinical diagnostic methods for detection and isolation of Campylobacter spp. from stool.
Fitzgerald C, Patrick M, Gonzalez A, Akin J, Polage C, Wymore K, Gillim-Ross L, Xavier K, Sadlowski J, Monahan J, Hurd S, Dahlberg S, Jerris R, Watson R, Santovenia M, Mitchell D, Harrison C, Tobin-D'Angelo M, DeMartino M, Pentella M, Leonard C, Razaq J, Jung C, Achong-Bowe R, Evans Y, Jain D, Juni B, Leano F, Robinson R, Smith S, Gittelman R, Garrigan C, Nachamkin I and Campylobacter Diagnostics Study Working Group, J Clin Microbiol 54(): 1209-1215, 2016
The Effect of Total Household Decolonization on Clearance of Colonization with Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus
Cluzet VC, Gerber JS, Metlay JP, Nachamkin I, Zaoutis TE, Davis MF, Julian KG, Linkin DR, Coffin SE, Margolis DJ, Hollander JE, Biler WB, Han X, Mistry RD, Gavin LJ, Tolomeo P, Wise JA, Wheeler MK, Hu B, Fishman NO, Royer D, Lautenbach E., Infect Cont Hosp Epidemiol, 2016
Evaluation of a research use only luminex based assay for measurement of procalcitonin in serum samples
Garrigan C, Han J, Tolomeo P, Johnson KJ, Master SR, Lautenbach E and Nachamkin I, Am J Translation Research 8(): 4362-69, 2016
Combined biomarkers discriminate a low likelihood of bacterial infection among surgical intensive care unit patients with suspected sepsis
Kelly BJ, Lautenbach E, Nachamkin I, Coffin SE, Gerber JS, Fuchs B, Garrigan C, Han X, Bilker WB, Wise J, Tolomeo P, Han JH for the CDC Prevention Epicenters Program, Diag Microbiol Infect Dis 85(): 109-15, 2016
Duration of Colonization and Determinants of Earlier Clearance of Colonization with Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus
Cluzet VC, Gerber JS, Nachamkin I, Metlay JP, Zaoutis TE, Davis MF, Julian KG, Royer D, Linkin DR, Coffin SE, Margolis DJ, Hollander JE, Mistry RD, Gavin LJ, Tolomeo P, Wise JA, Wheeler MK, Bilker WB, Han X, Hu B, Fishman NO, Lautenbach E., Clin Infect Dis 60(10): 1489-96, 2015
Comparing the economic and health benefits of different approaches to diagnosing Clostridium difficile infection
Bartsch SM, Umsheid CA, Nachamkin I, Hamilton K, Lee BY., Clin Microbiol Infect 21(1): 77.e1-9, 2015, PMID:25636938
Appropriateness of Expectorated Sputum Cultures in the Hospital Setting
Sloan CE, Bernard S, Nachamkin I., Diag Microbiol Infect Dis 83(1): 74-6, 2015, PMID:26032431
The shared microbiota of humans and companion animals as evaluated from Staphylococcus carriage sites
Misic A., David MF., Tyldsley AS, Hodkinson BP, Tolomeo P, Hu B., Nachamkin I, Lautenbach E, Morris DO., Grice EA., Microbiome 3(2): doi: 10.1186/s40168-014-0052-7, 2015
Use of a combination biomarker algorithm to identify medical intensive care unit patients with suspected sepsis at very low likelihood of bacterial infection
Han J., Nachamkin I., Coffin S., Gerber J., Fuchs B., Garrigan C., Han X., Bilker W., Wise J., Tolomeo P., Lautenbach E., Antimicrobial Agents Chemother 59(10): 6494-6500, 2015, PMID:26239984
Distribution of Campylobacter jejuni capsular types, 2007-2012, Philadelphia, PA
Garrigan C, Attela A, Poly F, Guerry P, Nachamkin I, Diag Microbiol Infect Dis 80(): 204-206, 2014
