Started in 2017, the D.A. Henderson Award for Outstanding Contributions to Public Health recognizes a lifetime of achievement in public health. Dr. Henderson’s role in leading the successful eradication of smallpox will stand forever as a shining example of the profound impact that infectious disease physicians and scientists can have in preventing disease and relieving human suffering. By naming this award in his honor we hope to inspire others to become champions for public health throughout the world.
2022 Winner: Nimalie Stone, MD
Nimalie Stone, MD, is a champion for the nation’s work to develop infection prevention and control standards and education in long-term and post-acute care settings. The foundation Dr. Stone established enabled a rapid roll-out of policies to help long-term care facilities respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and protect highly-vulnerable residents.
Dr. Stone is senior advisor for the CDC’s Long-term care Partnerships, Prevention and Response Branch in the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion. The only long-term care subject matter expert when she joined the CDC in 2010, Dr. Stone has built a program with more than 20 staff members who address long-term care infection prevention needs.
By developing a strong relationship between CDC and CMS, Dr. Stone helped demonstrate that it is feasible for nursing homes to report and compare infection outcomes. After a long-term care component was added into the National Healthcare Safety Network in 2012, Dr. Stone leveraged her partnerships with state public health agencies and CMS Quality Improvement Organizations to facilitate voluntary enrollment of 20% of the 15,000 U.S. nursing homes into the program that demonstrated this. Also, Dr. Stone established the CDC’s Core Elements for Antibiotic Stewardship in Nursing Homes, which is now part of federal policy.
Working with CMS, Dr. Stone supported regulation requiring that all long-term care facilities have trained staff overseeing their infection prevention and control programs and developed the CDC Nursing Home Infection Preventionist Training course. Since its launch in 2019, more than 80,000 learners have accessed the free 24-module online course.
Along with facilitating a rapid respond to the COVID-19 pandemic by nursing homes, Dr. Stone led the CDC team that enrolled nursing homes in the National Healthcare Safety Network, the CDC’s electronic surveillance system. This allowed the CDC to gather data on the impact of the pandemic in nursing homes and allocate resources where they were most needed.
In post-acute care settings, Dr. Stone helped to expand the evidence needed to support recommendations for implementing infection prevention and control practices and founded the CDC Infection Prevention in PALTC Certificate.
Dr. Stone has published nearly 60 articles in peer-reviewed journals and serves on the editorial board of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology. She has received many awards, including the
American Association for Post-Acute Care’s Nursing Impact Award, the American Healthcare/National Center for Assisted Living’s Mary K. Ousley Champion of Quality Award, and the National Association of Directors of Nursing Administrators in LTC’s Lifetime Honorary Membership Award.
IDSA is proud to give Dr. Stone the 2021 D.A. Henderson Award for her work to advance the prevention and control of infections in long-term and post-acute care settings.
Past D.A. Henderson Award Winners
| 2021 | Lawrence C. Maddoff, MD, FIDSA |
| 2020 | Carol Dukes Hamilton, M.D., MHS, FIDSA |
| 2019 | Catherine M. Wilfert, MD, FIDSA |
| 2018 | William Schaffner, MD, FIDSA, FSHEA |
| 2017 | F. Marc LaForce, MD, FIDSA |