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The International Wound Infection Institute is administered by our executive committee and secretariat
The Institute has a formal management structure comprising an elected executive committee members, who uphold the aim and objectives of the Institute in a volunteer capacity
Karen is Professor and Director for the Institute of Skin Integrity and Infection Prevention, University of Huddersfield, UK. She has over 30 years’ experience in both clinical practice and academia. Her research interests focus on skin integrity, infection prevention, management of surgical site complications and improving access to education for all health care professionals and service users. She is widely published and has edited 2 text books. She is Visiting Professor, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia, Royal college of Surgeons, Dublin and Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia. She is previous academic editor for Wounds UK, elected chair of the International Wound Infection Institute, President Elect ISTAP (International Skin Tear Advisory Panel) and elected co-chair for the Commonwealth Wound Care Resource Alliance (CWCRA).
Terry Swanson was admitted as a Fellow of AWMA in 2010 for her significant contribution to wound management at a state, national and international level. She is the current Vice Chair of the International Wound Infection Institute and chaired the development and publication of the 2016 IWII Consensus Document Update on Wound Infection.
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Dot has been a registered nurse for 42 years; 38 of those dedicated to the practice of wound andostomy care. She has practiced in acute care, home care and long term care, spent 7 years in industry,and has practiced in outpatient care since 2001. She has been Board Certified by the Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nurses Certification Board since 1985 (CWON) and The American Board of Wound Management since 2004 (CWS).
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Associate Professor Geoff Sussman holds a position in the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences Monash University, and is the Associate Professor of Wound Care in the Monash Institute for Health and Clinical Education. He is a wound consultant at the Wound Clinic Austin Hospital. He has been a faculty member at St Anne’s College Oxford University and the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences Auckland University. He has been involved in wound management for over 30 years in clinical research and clinical practice and teaching and has over 100 publications including 27 book chapters. He is Chairman of Wounds Australia, an executive board member of The International Wound Infection Institute and is the president of The Asia Pacific Association for Diabetic Limb Problems. He was an executive board member of the Australasian Wound and Tissue Repair Society. He was the inaugural Secretary of the World Union of Wound Healing Societies. He is an associate editor of the International Wound Journal, a member of the editorial board of Wound Practice and Research, Chronic Wound Care Management and Research journal and is a member of the advisory committee for Post Graduate Wound Care education at Monash University. He was awarded an OAM in the Queens birthday Honours in 2006 for his work in wound care as a researcher, educator and clinician. He was recognised at the 2008 World Wound Healing Congress in Toronto with a life time achievement award for his work in wound management.
Prof. Dr. Harikrishna K.R. Nair, is the Chairman of the ASEAN Wound Council & President of the Malaysian Society of Wound Care Professionals (MSWCP). He holds the position of Recorder, Executive Board, World Union of Wound Healing Societies and Vice President of the Asian Wound Care Association. Currently, he leads the Wound Care Department in Kuala Lumpur General Hospital, Malaysia as well as The National Advisor for Primary Health Ministry of Health Malaysia.
Besides being a prolific speaker & trainer in both local & international arena, he has also published many international wound care related studies & is the Editor in Chief of Wounds Asia Journal & the Journal of Wound Care Silk Road Supplement. He is a faculty member of NADI and Chairman DCOM, Professor of The Institute of Health Management, Austria, Chairman of Pressure Injury Prevention Committee, KLH and a member of the National Technical Committee on Wound Care MOH. He is also an Adjunct Professor, Dept of Surgery, IMS, BHU, INDIA and The Executive Director of The College of Wound Care Specialists since 2017.He is the Course Director of The Certificate in Clinical Wound Care (CCWC) since 2017 which is the first certification programme started in Malaysia.
Donna Angel is a Nurse Practitioner in Wound Management at Royal Perth Hospital, Western Australia. She has held this position since 2006. She is a Board Member for the Australian Journal, Wound Practice and Research, and is currently the Book Editor. She is the past secretary for Wounds Australia, past president for Wounds Australia WA Branch and immediate past secretary for the IWII. Donna is member of the Australian and New Zealand Venous Leg Ulcer Advisory Panel. She also has a panel appointment with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency. Donna’s main area of research is wound sampling techniques. She has several publications on wound management and vascular surgery.
Keryln is the current Chair IWII Evidence Committee and participated in the development of the Infection Consensus Document in 2008 and 2016. She was appointed a Fellow of the Australian Wound Management Association (now Wounds Australia) in 2006 and awarded Life Membership of the Australian Association of Stomal Therapy Nurses in 2015 for professional contributions to these clinical domains.
Dr. Lindsay Kalan is an Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the School of Medicine and Public Health. She obtained her PhD in Biochemistry from McMaster University where she the studied evolution of antibiotic resistance in the environment and clinic.
Dr. Nicola Waters is a Registered Nurse with wound-related experience in clinical practice, education, industry and research. Nicola is an Associate Professor in the School of Nursing at Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, BC. She completed a Masters in Science in Wound Healing and Tissue Repair at Cardiff University and is currently an honorary tutor in the MSc. program. Nicola holds a PhD from the University of Calgary.
David is a Fellow of the College of Family Physicians of Canada. He is currently Medical Director of the Outpatient Chronic Wound Management Clinic at the Parkwood Institute, London, Clinical Adjunct Professor of Family Medicine, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University and Associate Scientist in the Parkwood Research Institute, part of the Lawson Health Research Institute. David is a founding board member and Past President of the Canadian Association of Wound Care (now Wounds Canada), founding co-chair of the Canadian Lymphedema Framework and one of the founding members of the World Alliance for Wound and Lymphedema Care.
Emily is Adjunct Associate Professor with the Wound Management and Healing (WHAM) Node located at Curtin University, Australia. She works on wound-related research, evidence reviews and educational material for healthcare professionals, including those in in low resource countries. Emily also has extensive experience as a research methodologist in Australia and internationally.
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Paulo Jorge Pereira Alves completed PhD in Nursing from Universidade Católica Portuguesa in 2015. He is an Assistant Professor at Universidade Católica Portuguesa and has published 35 articles in specialized magazines and 37 works in proceedings of events, has 10 book chapters and 5 published books. Supervised 6 PhD Dissertation’s and more than 15 master’s dissertations and co-supervised 11 in the Health Sciences area. Between 2007 and 2020 he participated in 5 research projects. Currently participates in 3 research projects, involving Wound Simulation/education, Epidemiology of Wounds and Prevention and treatment of wound Infection Coordinator of the Wounds Research Lab, in his professional activities he interacted with 167 collaborators in co-authorship of scientific works, the most frequent terms in the context of scientific, technological and artistic-cultural production are: Nursing, Wound Care, Chronic Wounds, Surgical and Traumatic Wounds, Prevention, Teaching, Education, Health Care and Pressure Ulcers. Has 1 registered product Patent and 182 other items of technical production. President of the Portuguese Wound Management Association, Member of the Committee of the Institute of Skin Integrity and Infection Prevention, Member of the SILAHUE and Trustee of the Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel. Collaborates with EWMA in the Teach the Teachers Project and the UCM Model (university COnference Model.
Steven is CEO of the 5D Health Protection Group, a leading independent contract research organisation (CRO) involved in the research and innovation of antibiofilm and antimicrobial agents and microbiology/biofilm testing, Director of the Centre of Excellence in Biofilm Science and a Professor (honorary) at the University of Liverpool. Over the last 28 years, Steven has held senior microbiology positions in the NHS, the Centres for Disease Control (CDC) and senior academic and Vice President positions in R&D in numerous medical device and woundcare companies. He has invented and commercialised many medical devices, including wound dressings, which have made a significant impact on patient outcomes. He holds a PhD in biofilms and microbiology from the University of Leeds, and two MScs in Medical Microbiology and Health Sciences from the University of Manchester. He has written over 450 scientific publications and conference abstracts and edited/authored eight textbooks on biofilms, microbiology, public health and infection control. He has been awarded over £15million of grant funding for his research into biofilms, medical devices, diagnostics and antimicrobial development. He also sits on many international advisory boards linked to infection prevention and control, including the new national biofilm innovation centre.
Kimberly LeBlanc is known globally as an innovative nurse leader. She is the current Academic Chair of the Association for Nurses Specialized in Wound Ostomy and Continence Care’s (NSWOCC) Wound Ostomy and Continence Institute (WOC Institute) and an Advanced Practice and Certified Wound Ostomy Continence nurse working with KDS Professional Consulting. She holds a Doctorate of Philosophy in Nursing from Queen’s University. Kimberly is an Adjunct Professor with the University of Western Ontario Masters in Wound Care Program and an Affiliate Lecturer at McGill University. Kimberly is a past president and founding member of the International Skin Tear Advisory Panel and the co-chair of the Canadian Pressure Injury Advisory Panel. Kimberly has lectured extensively on wound and ostomy care and has numerous publications and book chapters on wound and ostomy related topics. She sits on the editorial boards of Advances in Skin & Wound Care and Canadian Nurse. In 2016, Kimberly was awarded the prestigious Canadian Nurses Association Order of Merit for Nursing Education and 2018 she was awarded the NSWOCC Presidents award for her contribution to WOC nursing in Canada. In 2020, she was inducted as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Nursing’s, (FCAN). In 2021 she was awarded the World Union of Wound Healing Societies award for outstanding contributions to innovation in skin integrity at the global level.
Department of Immunology and Microbiology, Costerton Biofilm Centre, University of Copenhagen, Denmark and Department of Clinical Microbiology, Copenhagen University Hospital, Denmark Prof Bjarnsholt is a global expert in the role of biofilms in chronic infections, with over 180 peer reviewed publications in the biofilm field including the ESCMID guidelines for biofilm treatment and Consensus guidelines for the identification and treatment of biofilms in chronic nonhealing wounds published in WRR. His research focuses on biofilm formation and the role of bacterial biofilm in chronic infections, both in vitro, animal models and ex vivo material from chronic infections. Bjarnsholt is interested as to how bacteria initiate biofilms in the human body and why the immune defense seems to fail both in the initial infection and later in the chronic infection. His research also seeks to develop tools and methods to enable fast diagnosis of these infections, for better treatment and possible prevention. For this, Bjarnsholt works in close collaboration with clinicians at most of the major hospitals in Denmark.
Master of Science (Clinical Skin Integrity and Wound Management), University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom; International Interdisciplinary Wound Care Course (IIWCC), University of Toronto, Canada; Registered Nurse (RN); Registered Midwife (RM); Clinical Wound Nurse Specialist in Private Practice, CliniCare, Ballito, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa; Lecturer, School of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa – Post Graduate Wound Care Certification Course; Wound specialist educator in the Asian, Middle Eastern and African regions; Specialist consultant for clinical practice, medical funders and corporates; Owner of CliniCare wounds + stoma, providing specialized wound and stoma management in the clinic, hospital, sub-acute and home environment. Owner of CliniCare mom + baby clinic – in Ballito and Umhlanga, Kwa Zulu Natal, South Africa; Committee, International Wound Infection Institute; Committee, International Surgical Wound Complication Advisory Panel; Past National and Regional President and current member of Society of Private Nurse Practitioners South Africa (SPNP); Member, Wound Healing Association of Southern Africa Founder of KwaZulu Natal Regional Stoma Support Group South Africa; Publications authored, co-authored and lead authored. Trish is passionate about providing holistic patient care, and whilst constantly and consistently improving patient care, empowers multidisciplinary health care practitioners to “be the change” in improving patient care within an interdisciplinary team!
NP, MSN, CWCN, CWS
Nurse Practitioner, Wound Clinic, Family Health Centers of San Diego, San Diego, California
Susie Seaman is a Board-Certified Family Nurse Practitioner, Wound Care Nurse (CWCN), and Wound Specialist (CWS). She holds a Master's degree in Nursing from San Diego State University, and a Family Nurse Practitioner Certificate from the University of California, San Diego. She has been a Certified Wound Ostomy and Continence Nurse for 32 years, practicing in the home health care arena for eight years before moving to the outpatient clinic setting 24 years ago. Ms. Seaman founded the Sharp Grossmont Hospital Wound Healing Center in La Mesa, California in 1998 as an adjunct to their Hyperbaric Oxygen program. She left there in 2006 to open a wound clinic for Sharp Rees-Stealy, a 600+ provider multi-specialty medical group with offices throughout San Diego. She left the wound clinic environment in January 2019 to work for Infectious Disease Consultants in La Jolla, California where she oversaw antibiotic therapy for patients with skin and soft tissue infections, osteomyelitis, and other challenging infections. Ms. Seaman is now back in wound care, having started a wound clinic in 2022 for Family Health Centers of San Diego, one of the nation’s ten largest Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC). In this setting, she is honored to support their mission to provide caring, affordable, high quality health care to everyone, with a special commitment to uninsured, low-income and medically underserved persons. Ms. Seaman has been a principal investigator on several research projects involving wound and ostomy care. Her Master’s thesis examined Braden Scale scores and the incidence of pressure ulcers in the home hospice setting. Ms. Seaman speaks nationally on a variety of topics, including chronic wound care, wound assessment, lower extremity wounds, topical therapy, and use of advanced technologies. She has also authored numerous articles and book chapters on both wound and ostomy care. She has a special interest in the treatment of lower extremity ulcers and the diagnosis and treatment of atypical wounds.
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