Gina Pugliese, RN, vice president of the Premier Safety Institute, died March 4.
Ms. Pugliese served as a leader at the Premier Safety Institute for 17 years and served as a strategic advisor and vice president emeritus for Premier. The Premier Safety Institute, part of Premier, is a healthcare alliance of 3,000-plus U.S. hospitals and 110,000 other providers collaborating to improve healthcare quality and affordability.
A national thought leader in healthcare safety improvement, Ms. Pugliese was director of safety for the American Hospital Association prior to joining Premier. She was a fellow of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology in America, which established the Gina Pugliese Scholarship in 2005. The scholarship supports training for a non-physician infection preventionist "who shows outstanding interest and leadership in the field or works in a resource limited setting."
Ms. Pugliese, who authored 140-plus publications, served on national committees for the CDC, CMS, FDA, The Joint Commission, Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, among others. She was also a member of the HHS Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee. In 2001, she received the Carol DeMille Outstanding Achievement Award from the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology.
In lieu of flowers, Ms. Pugliese requested donations to the Gina Pugliese Scholarship.