Joanna Kimball, M.D.

Professional Background

Joanna Kimball, MD is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas. She completed her undergraduate and medical school studies at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri before returning to her hometown of Kansas City for her Internal Medicine residency at the University of Kansas Medical Center. Following residency, Joanna completed her fellowship in Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. While there, she developed and pursued interests in general infectious diseases, antimicrobial stewardship, transplant infectious diseases, medical education, and influenza vaccine failure. Since returning to KU, Joanna has joined the antimicrobial stewardship team where she now serves as medical director and also enjoys working with our great infectious diseases fellows and other learners on service.

Research

Overview

Joanna's research pursuits during fellowship included influenza vaccine failure and antimicrobial stewardship. Her influenza research demonstrated that older patients and immunocompromised patients are at increased risk for hospitalization with influenza vaccine failure. Her antimicrobial stewardship research focused on the strategies used to decrease concomitant vancomycin and piperacillin-tazobactam use at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and creating a model for future stewardship interventions. She presented both of these topics at ID Week 2020. At KU, she continues to pursue her interests in antimicrobial stewardship and medical education with current and recent research projects focusing on dalbavancin use, extended-infusion beta-lactams, health equity in antimicrobial stewardship, costs of MDRO infections, and C. difficile infections.