Christopher J. Graber, MD, MPH
 Asst. Clinical Professor of Medicine, UCLA School of Medicine
Asst. Director for Academic Development, UCLA-Affiliated Program in Infectious Diseases
Staff Physician, Infectious Diseases Section, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System

Division of Infectious Diseases, 111F
11301 Wilshire Blvd.
VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System
Los Angeles, CA 90073
Tel: (310) 268-3015
Fax: (310) 268-4928
christopher.graber@va.gov

Interests:

My research interests primarily lie in the clinical and molecular epidemiology of Staphylococcus aureus colonization and disease, with particular focus on community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and its interaction with HIV infection. I am currently studying the incidence of and potential risk factors for staphylococcal infection in the Veterans Aging Cohort Study, which follows a cohort of approximately 3,000 HIV-infected veterans matched 1:1 to HIV-uninfected veterans at eight VA sites nationwide.

I also have a general interest in the clinical epidemiology of antibiotic toxicity and resistance. Two projects currently underway that pertain to this interest are 1) identifiying the relationship between achieved vancomycin trough levels and nephrotoxicity and 2) determining the effect that introducing ertapenem to our hospital formulary has had on antimicrobial usage patterns and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns in nosocomial Pseudomonas aeruginosa and extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing or imipenem-resistant gram-negative rods.

As Assistant Program Director for Academic Development for the ID fellowship program, my priority is to assist in fellows' academic development by meeting regularly with the fellows to identify appropriate research projects that can be completed in time for abstract submission to a scientific meeting by the end of the fellowship.

Journal Articles:

Graber CJ, Jacobson MA, Perdreau-Remington F, Chambers HF, Diep BA. Recurrence of skin and soft tissue infection caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in a primary care HIV clinic. Journal of the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. 2008 (in press).

Liu C, Graber CJ, Karr M, Diep BA, Basuino L, Schwartz BS, Enright MC, O'Hanlon SJ, Thomas JC, Perdreau-Remington F, Goodman D, Gordon S, Gunthorpe H, Jacobs R, Jensen P, Leoung G, Rumack J, Chambers HF. A population-based study of the incidence and molecular epidemiology of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus disease in San Francisco, 2004-5. Clinical Infectious Diseases 2008; 46: 1637-1646.

Diep BA, Stone GG, Basuino L, Graber CJ, Miller A, des Estages SA, Jones A, Palazzolo-Ballance A, Perdreau-Remington F, Sensabaugh GF, DeLeo FR, Chambers HF. The ACME and SCCmec linkage: convergence of virulence and resistance in the USA300 clone of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Journal of Infectious Diseases 2008; 197: 1523-1530.

Diep BA, Chambers HF, Graber CJ, Szumowski JD, Miller LG, Han LL, Chen JH, Lin F, Lin J, Phan TH, Carleton HA, McDougal LK, Tenover FC, Cohen DE, Mayer KH, Sensabaugh GF, Perdreau-Remington F. Emergence of multidrug resistant community-acquired methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus clone USA300 in men who have sex with men. Annals of Internal Medicine 2008; 148(4): 249-57.

Graber CJ, Schwartz BS. Failure of decolonization in patients with infections due to mupirocin-resistant strains of community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology 2008; 29(3): 284-5.

Graber C. Skin and soft tissue infections caused by community-acquired methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus in the HIV-positive population. Bulletin of Experimental Treatments for AIDS 2007; 19(4): 20-26.

Graber CJ, Lauring AS, Chin-Hong PV. Clinical problem-solving. A stitch in time--a 64-year-old man with a history of coronary artery disease and peripheral vascular disease was admitted to the hospital with a several-month history of fevers, chills, and fatigue. New England Journal of Medicine 2007; 357: 1029-34.

Graber CJ, Wong MK, Carleton HA, Perdreau-Remington F, Haller BL, Chambers HF. Intermediate vancomycin susceptibility in a community-associated MRSA clone. Emerging Infectious Diseases 2007; 13(3): 491-3.

Akintoye SO, Brennan MT, Graber CJ, McKinney BE, Rams TE, Barrett AJ, Atkinson JC. A retrospective investigation of advanced periodontal disease as a risk factor for septicemia in hematopoietic stem cell and bone marrow transplant recipients. Journal of Oral Surgery, Oral Medicine, Oral Pathology, Oral Radiology, and Endodontics 2002; 94: 581-8.

Graber CJ, Almeida KNF, Atkinson JC, Javaheri D, Fukuda CD, Gill VJ, Barrett AJ, Bennett JE. Dental health and viridans streptococcal bacteremia in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients. Bone Marrow Transplantation 2001; 27: 537-542.

Book Chapters

Graber CJ, Schaberg DR. "Staphylococcal and Enterococcal Infections" in Infectious Disease in the Aging, 2nd Edition, Yoshikawa TT and Norman DC, editors (in press).

 

2008