Director of Infection Control
Jefferson Health New Jersey
Disclosure: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.
Maria L. Vacca MSN, RN, CIC is the Director of Infection Prevention and Control at Jefferson Health New Jersey. Beginning as a critical care nurse at Jefferson Health Northeast, Maria found her passion in the world of Infection Prevention and Control. In 2013 she was reconginzed for her work in reduction of Catheter Associated Urinary Infections by the Hospital Association of Pennsylvania and was published as the lead author for this work in Critical Care Nurse. In 2015, she won the overall safety and quality award for her work in reduction of Surgical Site Infections while at Penn Medicine. Maria earned her black belt in lean six sigma in 2018 and was awarded the overal operations award by Penn Medicine for her work in reduction of Immediate Use Steam Sterilization utilizing Six Sigma methodology. Today, Maria continues to drive change and process improvement at Jefferson Health New Jersey in the Infection Prevention world by using data for early recognition of potential problems, leading multidisciplinary teams to identify best practice and to implement and sustain meaningful change.