Catherine Liu receives Dr. Ali Al-Johani Award

Congratulations to Dr. Catherine Liu, professor (Allergy and Infectious Diseases), the 2023 recipient of the Dr. Ali Al-Johani Award for exceptional patient care. This award recognizes exceptional medical care and compassion to transplant patients and families. Awardees are nominated by their fellow caregivers at Fred Hutch.

Since 2001, the Fred Hutch’s Clinical Research Division faculty have nominated a member for the award, which was established by a former leukemia patient, Dr. Ali Al-Johani, with a contribution in gratitude for the excellent patient care he received.

Dr. Liu specializes in the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases that affect patients with weakened immune systems, particularly those with cancer and recipients of hematopoietic stem cell transplants, also known as blood stem cell transplants.

As director of the antimicrobial stewardship program at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, her goal is to optimize antibiotic use to prevent the emergence and spread of drug-resistant microbes and achieve the best clinical outcomes for patients.

She also directs the outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy program at Fred Hutch, which manages patients transitioning from hospitalization to an outpatient setting who require intravenous antibiotics.

In these roles, she develops guidelines to promote the appropriate use of antibiotics and leads a multidisciplinary team of advanced practice providers and pharmacists to assist clinicians with antimicrobial dosing and selection as well as monitoring for medication side effects.