PITTSBURGH (May 24, 2023) – The Board of Directors of Infectious Disease Connect has appointed Rima Abdel-Massih, M.D. as President and Chief Executive Officer, effective May 24, 2023. Dr. Abdel-Massih co-founded Infectious Disease Connect in 2019 and previously served as Chief Medical Officer.
“We are thrilled to announce Rima as ID Connect’s next leader,” said Brenton Burns, Executive Vice President of UPMC Enterprises, the innovation and venture capital arm of UPMC that helped to form ID Connect, and Chair of ID Connect’s Board of Directors. “She brings a rare combination of clinical depth, entrepreneurial understanding, and nationally recognized telehealth expertise to the role. We look forward to continuing our work with Rima and are confident in her strategic vision and ability to lead the company to even greater success as the demand for infectious diseases (ID) expertise continues to outpace the supply of qualified ID clinicians.”
Dr. Abdel-Massih succeeds David Zynn, who had served as president and CEO since the company’s founding. ID Connect now provides ID teleservices and clinical decision support technology to more than 80 hospitals.
“I am honored to have the opportunity to lead ID Connect and help bring academic level ID care to the 200+ million individuals that do not have access to ID specialists,” Dr. Abdel-Massih said. “I also look forward to building on the great work Dave Zynn started and I am especially excited to further leverage our technology assets to improve the efficiency of our unique Tele-ID solutions, including adult and pediatric ID specialized services, virtual antimicrobial stewardship, and infection prevention and control offerings.”
Dr. Abdel-Massih is an Associate Professor of Medicine and has been a faculty member at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and UPMC since 2009. She joined the Division of ID at UPMC after completing her transplant ID fellowship training at the Mayo Clinic. Rima is a member of the Infectious Diseases Society of America’s workgroup on the telehealth specialty and has extensive ID and tele-ID research. Among her many publications Dr. Abdel-Massih recently co-authored the August 2022 OFID article “In-Person Versus Tele-Infectious Disease (Tele-ID) Care: Is One Better?”
“I am proud to have led ID Connect during this time of exceptional growth and intense industry change,” said former CEO Dave Zynn. “Following the pandemic, physician burnout has continued to rise and every day, hospitals need to do more with less. ID Connect has been able to address these realities in creative and innovative ways. Under Rima’s leadership and the work of the company’s talented employees, ID Connect is perfectly positioned to continue its successful track record.”
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ID Connect is a world leader in telemedicine-enabled care of infectious diseases (ID), antimicrobial stewardship, and infection prevention and control. Spun out of leading academic medical center UPMC, the company’s research, technology, and data science are paired with world-class ID clinicians to effectively manage ID to help lower overall healthcare costs, make patients healthier, improve outcomes, and keep communities free of ID. For more information, go to IDCtelemed.com
For ID Connect media inquiries, please contact: media@idctelemed.com
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