Alumna Isis Lamphier works behind the scenes to keep patients safe from microscopic bugs
By Jill Pease
Patients may never know her name, but they depend on her every time they walk through the hospital doors. Isis Lamphier, M.P.H., M.H.A., is a guardian against invisible threats — the infections that can derail recovery.
As the manager of infection prevention and control at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Lamphier’s job is part scientist, part educator and part sleuth as she implements policy, practice and products to keep patients infection-free while they are being cared for at a Moffitt facility.
Through her writing and leadership roles, Lamphier, a 2020 graduate of the University of Florida College of Public Health and Health Professions’ Master of Public Health program with a concentration in epidemiology, has also emerged as a national voice for the infection prevention community.
“Infection control is a great field because it’s always changing and there’s always more information to learn,” Lamphier said. “While many people think of front-facing patient jobs in health care, there are many behind-the-scenes roles in hospitals, including infection prevention, risk management and quality and patient safety. They are all equally important and help keep patients safe.”
The five years since her M.P.H. graduation have been a period of rapid career development for Lamphier. She earned a Master of Health Care Administration from the University of Arizona; serves as an author, contributing editor and editorial advisory board member for Infection Control Today magazine; and in recognition of her professional contributions at the local and national level, was named an Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology Champion for 2025, one of only a handful of individuals who receive the honor each year.
“Early in her career Isis worked in nursing home infection control, which was one of the toughest places to be doing infection control during the pandemic,” said mentor Cindy Prins, Ph.D., M.P.H., the former director of the UF M.P.H. program and currently an associate professor of population health sciences at the University of Central Florida. “You are either going to sink or swim and she definitely swam. She learned a lot and was able to prove herself. Her positive attitude and desire to learn have been helpful to her and she has moved up very quickly. She is a natural match for infection control.”
In a complex environment such as a hospital, where people are constantly moving in and out, every procedure, surface and interaction between patients, employees and visitors provides an opportunity for harmful microbes to spread.
Bugs can be transmitted from patient to patient, or patient to staff and vice versa, including the respiratory illnesses caused by rhinovirus and coronavirus, Lamphier said. Pathogens such as Legionella and Pseudomonas bacteria may take up residence in a health system’s water environments, including around sinks. And then there are the infections that can spread through patient care equipment that hasn’t been properly cleaned and disinfected. These may include Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, also known as Staph, and Candida auris, a fungus.
One of Lamphier’s favorite parts of her job is serving as a disease detective. To find the source of a pathogen, infection preventionists may need to search a hospital unit high and low, including in ceilings, air vents or behind walls. In one particular case, Lamphier identified a greenish-yellow sludge on a trash can as a potential source of mucor fungus and intervened before it caused illness.
Infection control practitioners are continually educating themselves on emerging pathogens and new technology, Lamphier said. In fact, that’s what inspired her involvement with Infection Control Today.
“A lot of infection control is researching on your own so every article and video is so valuable,” Lamphier said. “That’s how I started. I would reach out to the magazine and say, ‘Is there anything you need help with?’ Because sometimes there might not be an article related to the problem people are trying to solve.”
Lamphier has since written magazine articles on topics such as bird flu, Mpox, raw milk, glove usage guidelines and more. She has also contributed chapters and editorial support for two foundational texts in infection control: APIC Text and IC Made Easy: Your Key to Understanding Infection Prevention and Control, published by the Joint Commission, the organization that accredits U.S. health care systems.
Looking ahead, Lamphier plans to continue creating communications tools, including textbooks, articles and videos, for other infection control professionals. She also aims to expand her involvement in national leadership and research as she seeks to apply for designation as a Fellow of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology.
“Isis has been very open to new opportunities and eager to expand her knowledge and experience,” Prins said. “I think she is really going to make a lot of contributions to the field. It’s exciting to watch her career.”