Kassem A. Hammoud, MD

Professional Background

Dr. Hammoud is an associate professor in the division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Kansas Health System; he is also a fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

Dr Hammoud received his medical Degree from the Faculty of Medical Sciences at the Lebanese University in Beirut, Lebanon in 2002. He went to Wichita, KS and completed his internal Medicine residency at the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita in 2006. From there he Went to Kansas City and finished his Infectious Diseases fellowship at the University of Kansas Health system in 2008. After that, he joined the Infectious Diseases department at the Health System in 2008.

He has collaborated with multiple centers in the US trying to better understand histoplasmosis, the best way to diagnose it, its manifestation and treatment in the immunocompromised host. He published several papers related to this topic.

Dr Hammoud was the medical director for Antibiotic Stewardship Subcommittee from 2/2009 to 6/2013. He ran 2 pilot’s studies in the medical intensive care unit and the surgical intensive care unit, each for 6 months. This showed mild decrease in intensive care length of stay and a significant decrease in antibiotic use and cost without negatively affecting the outcome or the mortality.

• MD, Medical Doctor, Faculty of Medical Sciences at the Lebanese University
• Internship, Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences at the Lebanese University, Lebanon
• Residency, Internal Medicine, Kansas University School of Medicine-Wichita, Wichita, Kansas
• Clinical Fellowship, Infectious Diseases, University of Kansas Health System, Kansas City, KS

• Infectious Diseases Society of America, Member, 2006 - Present

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Research

Overview

Dr Hammoud focus has been on clinical research and on reporting unusual aspect of infections. He has a special interest in endemic fungal infections and invasive fungal infections.

He has collaborated with multiple centers in the US trying to better understand histoplasmosis, the best way to diagnose it, its manifestation and treatment in the immunocompromised host. He published several papers related to this topic. He also published a case series and review of the literature about HLH associated with histoplasmosis and case reports related to this topic.

His other interests are about the safety of antibiotics and HLH, he worked on the topic on vancomycin nephrotoxicity. This showed that vancomycin is more nephrotoxic compared to other antibiotics like linezolid and daptomycin. He also published a large retrospective cohort study comparing nephrotoxicity of the recommended high trough levels of vancomycin to lower trough levels; this showed that vancomycin is more nephrotoxic at the high recommended trough levels. He published several papers on HLH triggered by various infections.

Dr Hammoud also writes and updates the topic of bartonellosis in Medscape, He is also an expert lecturer for an Online CME course coordinated by Medscape and the CDC, titled: Experts Insight on Clinical Considerations in Bartonella Infection. February 2023. ((This is a nationally recognized activity by the CDC)).

Dr Hammoud is the director and host of the Kansas City International Infectious Diseases society. This group meets monthly and presents cases. Participants are from the KC metro area involving 10 hospitals, Wichita, Topeka, Lawrence, University of Missouri Columbia, Springfield, Cape Girardeau, Eire Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Japan. The Kansas City International Infectious Diseases Society was founded more than 20 years ago. Participants include fellows/residents from the KUMC, UMKC, University of Missouri Columbia. All meetings are CME lectures (10 CME credits per year).