The Joint Commission Appoints New Infection Prevention and Control Director

Sylvia Garcia-Houchins, MBA, RN, CIC, has joined The Joint Commission as its new director of infection prevention and control in the Division of Healthcare Improvement. She has more than 30 years of experience in infection prevention and control in both hospital and long-term care settings, as well as eight years of clinical microbiology experience. She most recently served as the director of infection control at the University of Chicago Medicine and was an intermittent consultant for Joint Commission Resources, Inc.

In addition to providing consultation, assessment and education in hospitals, health clinics and ambulatory and dialysis centers both domestically and internationally, Garcia-Houchins has served as a test writer and reviewer for the Certification Board of Infection Control and Epidemiology. Her specialty areas of interest include high-level disinfection and sterilization, as well as infection prevention and control during dialysis and renovation and construction.

Garcia-Houchins holds an MBA from the Keller Graduate School of Management, a B.A. in biochemistry and molecular biology from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois and a nursing degree from Truman College, Chicago.