Katherine Kate) Ellingson, PhD, joined the College of Public Health in 2017 following 10 years of public service as a healthcare epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC) and the Oregon State Health Department. While at CDC, she investigated the transmission of multidrug-resistant organisms in healthcare settings, evaluated initiatives to prevent healthcare-associated infections, built capacity for infection prevention in resource-limited settings, and served as the agency’s subject matter expert for hand hygiene in healthcare. At the Oregon Health Department, she directed the state’s mandatory healthcare-associated infection reporting program, investigated infectious disease outbreaks and led injection safety promotion efforts.