The Carolina Antimicrobial Stewardship Program (CASP) honored five collaborators with Super Steward Awards. The award recipients were Thomas Alexander, MD, MPH; Mandy Bowen, RN; Jenna Kaplan, PharmD, BCPPS; Mallory McClester Brown, MD, and Andrea Reed, MT (ASCP). CASP created the awards in 2022 to recognize colleagues’ efforts to champion stewardship in their settings.
“CASP’s success is built on relationships. We rely on people across UNC Hospitals, from different disciplines, to identify opportunities and work with us as collaborators to expand the reach of antimicrobial stewardship. The Super Steward awards help recognize and celebrate their dedication,” said Nikolaos Mavrogiorgos, MD, CASP medical director. He, along with Anne Lachiewicz, MD, CASP attending physician; Michael Swartwood, CASP data analyst; and Bill Wilson, PharmD, BCIDP, CASP’s pediatric pharmacy lead; recognized the fifth cohort of awardees in June.
Bill Wilson presented a joint awards to Thomas Alexander, a physician at UNC Children’s who specializes in pediatric hematology-oncology (PHO), and Jenna Kaplan, lead PHO pharmacist. The pair spearheaded two recent collaborations between PHO and CASP. The Pediatric Fever and Neutropenia Guideline was published in November 2022 and is undergoing an update currently. The Antimicrobial Primary Prophylaxis for Children with Hematologic & Oncologic Malignancies was published in February 2024. Both addressed areas of substantial practice variability that frequently resulted in antibiotic overuse in a population at high risk of C. difficile and antimicrobial-resistant infections.
Antimicrobial stewardship in this high-risk population is challenging, however, as life-threatening infections occur frequently. His nominators noted that Dr. Alexander regularly attended and participated actively in meetings, gathered support from multiple stakeholders within the PHO team, including other physicians, pharmacists, and nursing staff, and led the education of his colleagues on the new pathways, securing their buy-in. The collaboration is ongoing.
As the lead inpatient pharmacist for PHO, Dr. Kaplan was crucial in pathway design. The feedback we have received is that the pathways are clear and user-friendly, which is largely thanks to her efforts. She has also been the primary individual responsible for ensuring that the pathways are used and followed at the point of care. She sought feedback from multiple stakeholders across disciplines, leading to meaningful improvements.
CASP attending physician Anne Lachiewicz presented Mandy Bowen with the next award. Bowen is a ventricular assist device (VAD) nurse coordinator with Transplant Services. Preventing and managing infections requires vigilance, teamwork, and patient-centered dedication. For 20 years, Bowen has provided care for patients with ventricular assist devices, many of whom are at heightened risk for highly consequential infections. VAD coordinators typically manage 15-20 patients on IV antibiotics at any given time, without specific training in infectious diseases or pharmacology. Infection has become the primary comorbidity after LVAD implantation for current generation devices. She has become a staunch partner and advocate in efforts for infection prevention and appropriate antibiotic use.
From the inpatient setting, through discharge, and long-term outpatient follow-up care, Bowen is an ever-present patient guide. She is a master patient-educator, translating best practices of infection prevention and early warning signs of infection in a patient-centered manner, her nominators shared.
She glues multidisciplinary teams together through facilitating communication, process improvements that streamline time from infection diagnosis to most appropriate and targeted antibiotic treatment, and safe administration and monitoring of antibiotics in patients at high risk of toxicities. In her work, Bowen models the core principles of infection prevention, judicious antibiotic use, innovation in workflows, quality improvement initiatives, and mentorship and education to teammates. She teaches her VAD coordinator colleagues how to manage LVAD patients and optimize antimicrobial therapy plans, especially to maximize adequate treatment and avoid antimicrobial resistance.
Nick Mavrogiorgos presented the next award to Mallory McClester Brown, a geriatrician in Family Medicine and the residency program director and vice chair of education in Family Medicine. Dr. McClester Brown is a very effective antimicrobial steward, promoting appropriate use of antimicrobials in older patients in the Family Medicine Center, UNC Hospitals, and in a local long-term care community. In 2025, she played a central role in creation of an educational video by CASP on the diagnosis and treatment of urinary tract infections in older patients. Dr. McClester Brown played a major role in the NC CLASP project, which provided education on appropriate diagnosis of infections and appropriate use of antibiotics to long-term care facilities staff around the state. As the residency director for Family Medicine, she ensures the next generation of physicians have an in-depth understanding of their roles as antibiotic stewards.
She is described as the type of physician who leads by example in this space, and who embodies quality care and responsible antibiotic use with a pragmatic, thoughtful approach that inspires others to do the same. As in all spaces in her clinical and teaching work, she is intentional, compassionate, and adept at the nuanced communication and critical thinking that enable her to not only understand best practices, but to effectively communicate and enact them in collaboration with patients, learners, and multidisciplinary care team members.
As a colleague shared:
There are many providers who are brilliant at practicing evidence-based medicine, and many who are compassionate and skilled communicators. What sets Dr. McClester Brown apart is her ability to simultaneously excel in both of those domains. This has led to effectiveness in her practice around antimicrobial use, and in her ability to lead and teach learners and colleagues.
Andrea Reed has been a long-time CASP collaborator and expert resource in her role as the senior analyst with Epic’s Beaker team. Since its inception in late 2024, she has served as a member of CASP’s Diagnostic Stewardship Working Group, providing analyses on use of various high-cost, low yield, and/or inappropriately used tests to assist the group on where and how to focus efforts. Her analyses are often the backbone of these meetings, spurring discussion and facilitating evidence-based decision-making, Michael Swartwood shared as he presented her with the award. Reed was also a lead author on an ID Week 2025 research poster on downstream effects of tightening criteria on the UA with Reflex Culture orders in UNC Hospitals’ outpatient clinics and the Emergency Department.
Reed brings her unique expertise and experience to provide information and analyses that are a cornerstone of evidence-based decision making in antimicrobial stewardship.
CASP congratulates the awardees and thanks all those who submitted nominations.
Read about previous winners.