Julie Mangino is Board Certified in Infectious Diseases (ID) and works at The Ohio State University (OSU) in Columbus, Ohio, USA. She has over 45 years of experience in the medical field, initially as a registered dietitian before pursuing a career as a physician. She graduated from the State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate College of Medicine in 1989 and trained in Internal Medicine and then Infectious Diseases at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, AL. She is the former Medical Director of Clinical Epidemiology at The OSU Wexner Medical Center and worked for over 23 years in this role to protect patients, visitors and staff from transmissible infectious agents and in preventing healthcare associated infections, such as C. difficile, surgical site, catheter associated urinary tract and bloodstream infections, among others, at all of the OSU hospitals. She rose to the rank of Professor of Internal Medicine in 2010 and received the Earl Metz Teaching and Clinical Care Award in April 2017, given to one attending in the Department of Internal Medicine, annually.She is now Professor Emeritus at The OSU and continues to teach medical students and ID Fellows/Staff at The OSU and also sees patients at the ID clinic with any infectious disease. She is the author of over 75 peer reviewed papers, 80 abstracts, 12 book chapters and remains actively involved in work surrounding devices or medications to help prevent infections. She is a Fellow in the Society of Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) and continues to write and review papers and is an invited speaker on a variety of ID topics. She is currently working on antimicrobial stewardship for dentists with a focus on the right drug, at the right times for the appropriate duration, to help to avoid antimicrobial resistance.

Dr Michael S Firstenberg is a board-certified thoracic surgeon.He is an adult cardiac surgeon at the St Elizabeth Medical Center (Ascension) in Appleton, Wisconsin and the current Director of Research and Special Projects for the William Novick Global Cardiac Alliance.Previously, he was Chief of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery at the Medical Center of Aurora and Rose Hospitals.  He currently holds appointments in the Colleges of Medicine and Graduate Studies at Northeast Ohio Medical University.  He attended Case Western Reserve University Medical School, received his General Surgery training at University Hospitals in Cleveland, and completed Fellowships at The Ohio State University (Thoracic Surgery) and The Cleveland Clinic (Surgical Heart Failure).  He is an active member of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS), American Association of Thoracic Surgeons (AATS), the American College of Cardiology (ACC), and the American College of Academic International Medicine (ACAIM – for which he is a Founding Fellow and 2021-2022 President).  He currently serves on several professional society committees.  He is the author of well over 200 peer-reviewed manuscripts, abstracts, and book chapters.  He has Edited several textbooks on topics ranging from Medical Leadership, Patient Safety, Endocarditis, COVID-19, and Extra-corporeal Membrane Oxygenation – all of which include topics that he has lectured on world-wide.