Leadership & Faculty - Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program

Dr. Baumgarten serves as the Vice President of Medical Affairs at Ochsner Main Campus and the System Medical Director of Infection Control and Prevention. She earned her medical degree from LSU and completed her internship and residency at the University of California in Fresno. She completed her infectious diseases fellowship at Ochsner and has been on staff at Ochsner since the summer of 2000. She is board certified in infectious diseases. Dr. Baumgarten is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and a fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Her professional interests include hospital quality and preventing infections in hospitalized patients.

Physician Listing | Selected Publications

Dr. Christopher Blais is the Associate Medical Director at Ochsner Westbank. He served as the Chair of the Department of Infectious Diseases from 2012-2025. A native of New Orleans, Dr. Blais received his bachelor’s degrees from the University of New Orleans in Chemistry and Biological Sciences. He earned his medical degree from the LSU School of Medicine in New Orleans in 1994 where he was elected to membership in Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. He completed his internship, internal medicine residency, and infectious diseases fellowship at LSU in 1999. While completing his infectious disease training, he earned a Master’s in Public Health in Epidemiology from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. After serving on the faculty at LSUHSC from 1999-2001, he entered private practice where he remained until joining the Ochsner medical staff in 2010. In 2011, Dr. Blais completed the American Medical Association – Medical College of Wisconsin Fellowship in Physician Ethics and Professionalism. His clinical and professional interests include general infectious diseases, infections of the central nervous system, medical ethics and professionalism, and palliative medicine. Dr. Blais is board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in internal medicine, infectious diseases, and palliative medicine. He is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and the Infectious Diseases Society of America. He is a member of the Louisiana State Medical Society and the American Medical Association.

Physician Listing | Selected Publications

Dr. Bonnin-Serralles joined the Infectious Diseases faculty in 2022. She earned her medical degree from the University of Puerto Rico. She completed her Internal Medicine residency and Infectious Diseases fellowship at Ochsner. She is board certified in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases. She is a member of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Her clinical interests include general infectious diseases and HIV. She provides care at Ochsner Medical Center and Ochsner West Bank.

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Dr. Bourgeois joined the Infectious Diseases faculty in 2023. She is a New Orleans native. She earned her medical degree from Tulane University School of Medicine. She completed Internal Medicine residency at Tulane University School of Medicine and continued at Tulane for her fellowship in Infectious Diseases. She is board certified in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases. She is a member of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Her clinical interests include general infectious diseases and HIV. She provides care at Ochsner Medical Center and Ochsner West Bank.

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Dr. Burlette earned her Docter of Pharmacy at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Pharmacy in Little Rock, AR. She completed her PGY1 Pharmacy Practice residency at St. Bernards Medical Center in Jonesboro, AR, and her PGY2 Infectious Diseases residency at The University of Kanas Health System in Kansas City, KS. She is a member of the Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists (SIDP) and American Society of Health-System Pharmacist (ASHP). Her areas of interests including antimicrobial stewardship, antimicrobial pharmacokinetics, infections in immunocompromised hosts, and medical education.

Dr. Cocco joined the Ochsner Clinic Foundation Department of Infectious Diseases in 2020. She received her medical degree from Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2014. She completed her Internal Medicine residency training at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in 2018 and Infectious Diseases fellowship training at Ochsner Clinic Foundation in 2020. During her fellowship training, she received the Gerald P. Bodey Immunocompromised Host Fellowship Training Award at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. She is an active member of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, and American Society of Transplantation. Her clinical and research interests include infections in the immunocompromised host and medical education.

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Dr. Yewande Dayo joined Ochsner Health in 2021, and currently serves as the System Antimicrobial Stewardship Clinical Pharmacist working closely with Ochsner’s Department of Infectious Diseases. Dr. Dayo works alongside Dr. Blais to lead Ochsner Health’s Antimicrobial Stewardship Program and support local infectious diseases and antimicrobial stewardship clinicians with programs and initiatives. She earned her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Howard University, completed her PGY1 Pharmacy residency at the Washington DC Veterans Affairs Medical Center and her PGY2 Infectious Diseases Pharmacy residency at the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Houston, Texas.

Dr. Dayo is passionate about antimicrobial stewardship and its impact on public health. She believes that it is very important to empower patients by educating them and helping them to be meaningful participants in their health. She is a member of several pharmacy organizations including the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) and Making a Difference in Infectious Diseases (MAD-ID), she has served as a member of the newsletter committee in the American College of Clinical Pharmacy ID PRN committee (ACCP ID-PRN) and currently serves as a member of the antimicrobial stewardship committee in the Society of Infectious Disease Pharmacists (SIDP).

Selected Publications

Jonathan M. Hand, MD, FIDSA, FAST is Section Head of Transplant Infectious Diseases, Medical Director of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program, and Associate Research Medical Director of Infectious Diseases at Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans. He is Associate Professor of Medicine at The University of Queensland School of Medicine Ochsner Clinical School and the Xavier Ochsner College of Medicine and a Fellow of both IDSA and AST.

Dr. Hand served as Principal Investigator at Ochsner for the HOPE in Action Trial leading to the first HIV-to-HIV transplant in Louisiana and the Gulf South and was co-author on the landmark NEJM publication establishing the safety of HIV-to-HIV kidney transplantation, directly shaping U.S. and global transplant policy.

He created the American Society of Transplantation’s Antimicrobial Stewardship Working Group and co-led the first White Paper on Antimicrobial Stewardship in Transplantation.

Policy and leadership roles include Co-Chair of the AST OPTN Policy Committee, Transplant ID Councilor (USA) for The Transplantation Society, ESCMID Collaborative Center Site Lead establishing Ochsner Health as one of the first U.S. centers to earn this designation, inaugural member of the Antibacterial Resistance Leadership Group (ARLG) Immunocompromised Host Working Group, founding physician member of Roon's transplant ID community, and instructor at the inaugural Johns Hopkins Pamela Tucker Certificate Course in Transplant & Oncology Infectious Diseases.

As Associate Medical Director and Co-Chair of the Louisiana Organ Procurement Agency Advisory Board, he is one of the few transplant ID physicians in the U.S. with a formal OPO medical directorship.

He serves as Associate Editor of JHLT Open and Clinical Transplantation, on the editorial board of Transplant Infectious Diseases, and on the editorial advisory board of JAC-AMR. His research interests include infectious complications of transplant donors and recipients, vaccines, infectious diagnostics, therapeutics and antimicrobial stewardship with national and international collaborator.

Physician Listing | Selected Publications

In addition to her administrative role as system medical director of patient safety at Ochsner Health, Dr. Kemmerly actively practices as an infectious diseases physician at Ochsner Medical Center New Orleans and as physician chair of the system antimicrobial stewardship subcommittee. She is board certified in internal medicine and infectious diseases, and is a fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, where she served on several committees and a member of the board of directors. She has been part of Ochsner Health since 1988 and has held multiple leadership roles, including president of the medical staff executive committee at Ochsner Medical Center. Dr. Kemmerly played a crucial role in Ochsner Health’s Covid-19 pandemic response and has led various multidisciplinary quality and safety initiatives. In 2022, she co-authored a book on optimizing hospital safety and quality grades. Thanks to her many contributions to the field, she was named a Master of the American College of Physicians in 2009 and received the Louisiana Chapter Laureate Award in 2011. She has been recently honored by Becker’s Hospital Review as a “Patient Safety Experts to Know” in 2025 and 2026.

Physician Listing | Selected Publications

Dr. King earned his Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Mississippi, School of Pharmacy. He completed his PGY1 Pharmacy Practice residency at Methodist University Hospital in Memphis, TN and went on to complete a PGY2 Infectious Diseases residency at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, MS. Dr. King specializes in management of complex infectious diseases, antimicrobial stewardship strategies, and clinical microbiology. He is an active member of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists, American Society of Microbiology, Clinical & Laboratory Standards Institute, and American College of Clinical Pharmacy. His practice and research interests include medical mycology, molecular detection of antimicrobial resistance, antimicrobial stewardship practice improvement, and antimicrobial toxicology.

Selected Publications

Dr. Andrea Linscott earned her PhD from University of North Texas in Denton. She completed her fellowship training in Clinical and Public Health Laboratory Microbiology at UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, California. Dr. Linscott is board certified by the American Board of Medical Microbiology and has been on staff since 2008.

Selected Publications

Dr. Markwell joined the Ochsner Clinic Foundation Infectious Disease faculty in 2018. She earned her medical degree from the Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston and completed her public health, residency and fellowship training at Tulane University School of Medicine. Her clinical and research interests include mycobacterium infections, travel and tropical medicine and public health. She is board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in Internal Medicine and Infectious Disease and is also certified in travel medicine through the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. While Dr Markwell’s main clinical practice is at the Ochsner Medical Center on Jefferson Highway in New Orleans, she also provides infectious disease consultation at the OMC-Baptist and OMC-Westbank campuses.

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Dr. Rivera Rivera is a dual-fellowship-trained Infectious Diseases physician and the Medical Director of Infection Control. She earned her medical degree from the Ponce School of Medicine and completed her Internal Medicine residency at Hospital de la Concepción in Puerto Rico. She then moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, to complete specialized fellowship training in both Infectious Diseases and Transplant-Immunocompromised Host Infectious Diseases at Ochsner Medical Center. Dr. Rivera Rivera’s expertise spans clinical operations and academic medicine, with specific focus areas in Infection Control, Antimicrobial Stewardship, infections in Ventricular Assist Devices (VADs), and prosthetic joint infections. Board-certified in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, she maintains active memberships with the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the Louisiana State Medical Society.

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Divisha Sharma, MD is a Transplant Infectious Diseases attending in the Department of Infectious Diseases at Ochsner Clinic Foundation, which she joined in 2025. Raised in a family of physicians in India, she earned her medical degree in Meerut in 2015, completed a transitional year residency at Bayonet Point Hospital, and finished Internal Medicine residency at Manatee Memorial Hospital in Florida (2022). She went on to complete an Infectious Diseases fellowship at the Medical College of Georgia (2024) and a Transplant Infectious Diseases fellowship at the Medical University of South Carolina (2025). Dr. Sharma’s clinical and research interests include infections in immunocompromised hosts, antimicrobial stewardship, and invasive fungal infections. She is dedicated to medical education, and is an active member of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the American Society of Transplantation, and the Mycoses Study Group Education & Research Consortium. She is board-certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in both Internal Medicine and Infectious Disease.

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Dr. Brooke Stayer joined Ochsner Health in 2024. Currently, she serves as one of the System ID/Antimicrobial Stewardship Clinical Pharmacists, where she co-leads Ochsner’s Antimicrobial Stewardship Program and leads the Pharmacy ID Collaborative. She collaborates with multiple disciplines on stewardship initiatives, formulates policies and procedures, ensures regulatory compliance, tracks clinical and medication use metrics, and develops and advances EPIC EHR clinical decision support, order sets, and treatment algorithms. She also provides ID consultations and precepts pharmacy residents in stewardship and research.

Dr. Kelsey Trimble transitioned to the Ochsner Health system team in 2024, as the System Pediatric Antimicrobial Stewardship Clinical Pharmacist. She earned her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from University of Louisiana Monroe and completed her PGY1 Pharmacy residency at Children’s of Alabama in Birmingham.