Joint Commission Appoints New Director of Infection Prevention and Control

The Joint Commission this week announced Sylvia Garcia-Houchins, MBA, RN, CIC, as its new director of infection prevention and control in the Division of Healthcare Improvement. Garcia-Houchkins will oversee the accreditor’s infection prevention and control initiatives.

According to a Joint Commission release, she has worked for more than 30 years in infection prevention and control in hospitals and long-term care facilities, along with eight years of clinical microbiology experience. Recently, Garcia-Houchins was director of infection control at the University of Chicago Medicine and was a consultant for Joint Commission Resources.

Garcia-Houchins has been a test writer and reviewer for the Certification Board of Infection Control and Epidemiology, as well as providing consulting services to healthcare organizations. Her areas of interest include high-level disinfection and sterilization and infection prevention and control during dialysis and renovation and construction.

Garcia-Houchins has an MBA from the Keller Graduate School of Management, a BA in biochemistry and molecular biology from Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., and a nursing degree from Truman College in Chicago.