Endotoxin in Critical Illness

Dr. Kellum is a Distinguished Professor of Critical Care Medicine, Medicine, Bioengineering and Clinical and Translational Science and holds an Endowed Chair in Critical Care Research from the University of Pittsburgh. He is currently on leave and serving as the Chief Medical Officer for Spectral Medical, a late-stage medical device company developing diagnostics and therapeutics for sepsis. Dr. Kellum received his medical degree from the Medical College of Ohio in 1984. His postgraduate training includes an internship and residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Rochester, NY, and a Fellowship in Critical Care Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. His research interests span various aspects of Critical Care Medicine but center in critical care nephrology, sepsis, and multi-organ failure. He has authored more than 750 publications, has won several teaching awards teaching, has given more than 500 seminars and invited lectures worldwide.

Debra Foster began her professional career as a Registered Nurse specializing in adult critical care. Shortly thereafter Debra joined the critical care clinical research team at Toronto General Hospital and became the project lead for a multi-national, multi-center clinical trial, the MEDIC study. The data was used for a successful 510k de novo submission to the FDA for the Endotoxin Activity Assay (EAA), notably the first IVD in the field of sepsis. Debra went on to follow the device to its commercial partner, where she was appointed Vice President of Clinical Development in 2011, and in 2021 became a clinical consultant of Spectral Medical. Debra has led the EUPHRATES and TIGRIS clinical trials, among many others, for a device to treat patients with endotoxemic septic shock. Debra has co-authored over 50 articles and lectured for academic and industry audiences worldwide on the topics of sepsis and clinical trials for sepsis.