Hooked on ID with Debra Goff, PharmD, FIDSA, FCCP
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My career started in the 1980s, coinciding with the start of the HIV epidemic. I worked with internal medicine residents; our attending physician was board certified in internal medicine and oncology. Between managing complex opportunistic infections seen in patients with HIV and patients with cancer, my interest in ID went from 10 to 1,000! I transitioned to The Ohio State University Medical Center as the first ID PharmD.
I think ID is like detective work. You try to put together many puzzle pieces. It’s the attention to details that make the difference. It starts with the right diagnosis, but the right drug at the right dose at the right duration makes the difference. ID constantly evolves. New diseases emerge (such as COVID-19) that require new knowledge.
When I implemented antibiotic stewardship, I loved working with a new group of clinicians, including surgeons, intensivists, ED physicians and others. I found that stewardship required more than just ID knowledge. When I started doing global ID work, I found a different set of challenges. In South Africa, I see tropical infections that I have only ever read about. The need for global collaboration in ID is critical because we learn so much from each other. ID never gets old — 30 years and counting, and I still love what I do.
— Debra Goff, PharmD, FIDSA, FCCP
Clinical associate professor of infectious diseases
The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center