Gabrielle Gussin, PhD, Recognized for Outstanding Early-Career Research

More than half of residents in traditional nursing homes carry at least one multidrug-resistant organism (MDRO), and the burden is even higher in ventilator-capable skilled nursing facilities. 

“Despite these risks, long-term care remains understudied and under-resourced,” says Gabrielle Gussin, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Medicine at UC Irvine School of Medicine, whose research characterizes the burden of these pathogens while identifying opportunities for prevention. 

“We recently showed that even residents who do not require ventilator support face a higher risk of MDRO carriage when placed in ventilator-capable facilities, suggesting that the care environment itself may contribute to this risk,” says Gussin. 

In recognition of this work, Gussin was one of 10 inaugural recipients of the 2026 Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) Early Career Abstract Recognition Award. The award recognizes “outstanding research by early-career professionals in healthcare epidemiology, infection prevention and antimicrobial stewardship.” 

Award-Winning Work to Prevent Infections 

Gussin received the award on Oct. 22, 2026, during IDWeek in Washington, D.C., the joint annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, the HIV Medicine Association and the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society. 

She was recognized for her abstract, “Carriage of Endemic and Emerging Multidrug-Resistant Organisms in Ventilator-Capable Skilled Nursing Facilities,” which examines the burden of endemic and emerging resistant pathogens in high-risk long-term care settings. 

Gussin also received the SHEA Yoshikawa-High Abstract Award, which honors an individual at IDWeek for an accepted abstract that focuses on solving healthcare epidemiology, antibiotic stewardship and infectious disease issues in the long-term care setting. 

“I’m incredibly grateful and honored to receive these two awards,” says Gussin. “As an early career researcher, these recognitions reinforce the importance of shining a light on infection prevention challenges in long-term care settings, where residents face a disproportionately high burden of MDROs yet are often overlooked in research and prevention efforts.” 

Gussin also expressed gratitude for her mentor, Susan Huang, MD, MPH, chancellor’s professor of medicine in UC Irvine’s Division of Infectious Diseases. “I’m grateful to my incredible mentor, and to our entire research team, for making this work possible.” 

Creating Safer Long-Term Care 

Gussin’s broader research focus is on how antibiotic-resistant pathogens spread across healthcare settings and how we can identify practical prevention strategies. 

“This includes research on who is most at risk for MDROs and how these pathogens spread within nursing homes,” she says. 

One recent project examined the shared carriage of MDROs among nursing home roommates — work that was also presented at IDWeek. Other studies have evaluated interventions designed to reduce MDRO transmission, including antiseptic bathing, decolonization and environmental cleaning. 

Recent work published in JAMA Network Open compared universal decolonization with enhanced cleaning in nursing homes, building on earlier research demonstrating that decolonization alone can reduce MDRO carriage and infection-related hospitalizations. 

In addition, with support from the National Institutes of Aging IMPACT Collaboratory and NextSteps Network, Gussin is studying antibiotic use in U.S. nursing homes, comparing estimates derived from administrative data and electronic health records. 

“Together, these projects aim to inform more effective infection prevention and antibiotic stewardship across long-term care,” says Gussin. “Ultimately, our goal is to create safer environments for all residents in long-term care.” 

Learn more about Gussin in “From Patient to PhD.”

— Shani Murray