The Clinical Practice Innovation Award is given to members who devote the majority of their time to patient care and who have significantly advanced the clinical practice of infectious diseases within the last five years. This may be accomplished through innovation in clinical practice design or management, or advocacy on behalf of IDSA that fosters change to better recognize the value of infectious diseases practice.
2022 Winner: Nada Fadul, MD, FIDSA
Nada Fadul, MD, FIDSA, is a leader in caring for people with HIV/AIDS, the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Nebraska and Sudan, and health disparities. Near the start of the pandemic, Dr. Fadul quickly restructured the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s HIV clinic to deliver care through telehealth and remote monitoring. She also developed a training course on COVID-19 prevention and management for health care providers and students in Sudan.
Dr. Fadul is a professor of medicine at the Division of Infectious Diseases and the assistant dean of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Education Programs at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. She is also the medical director of the Specialty Care Center, an HIV clinic that improves the lives of patients through research, education and clinical care, and principal investigator of the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program.
Funded by the Health Resources & Services Administration, the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program provides HIV care and treatment to people who lack sufficient health insurance or financial resources and fills gaps in care that are not covered by other sources. Dr. Fadul leads the largest Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program in Nebraska.
The COVID-19 prevention and management course that Dr. Fadul co-developed has trained more than 200 volunteers in Sudan and facilitated the delivery of more than 20,000 doses of vaccine. Health care providers and students also learned how to coordinate home isolation and quarantine resources so that people with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 could be safe at home.
The course is based on the Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes model, designed for patients with chronic, common and complex diseases who do not have direct access to specialists. Dr. Fadul worked on the course with the Sudan Ministry of Health and the Community Medical Response Team, neighborhood-based teams of health care professionals and students who disseminate knowledge about COVID-19 at markets, mosques, schools, health care centers and neighborhood clubs.
Using lessons learned from the Sudan ECHO program, Dr. Fadul co-created a training program and is co-investigator on a CDC grant to develop another ECHO program in the U.S. focused on addressing COVID-19 disparities among high-risk and underserved populations. The program will train health care providers on health disparities related to preventing COVID-19, as well as on structural racism, cultural differences and the impact of bias on health care.
A fellow of IDSA, Dr. Fadul was a participant in the IDSA Leadership Institute and has served on its Selection Task Force and on IDSA’s Quality Management Committee. She is a member of the Sudan Ministry of Health’s COVID-19 Scientific Committee and was a member of the United Nations’ COVID-19 Working Group.
The Society is delighted to recognize Dr. Fadul with the 2022 Clinical Practice Innovation Award for her clinical work related to HIV/AIDS and COVID-19.
Past Clinical Practice Innovation Award Winners
| 2021 |
Erin K. McCreary, PharmD, BCPS, BCIDP and Vera Luther, MD, FIDSA |
| 2020 | Raghavendra Tirupathi, M.D. |
| 2019 | No Award Recipient |
| 2018 | Javeed Siddiqui, MD, MPH |
| 2017 | Kavita P. Bhavan, MD, MHS, FIDSA |