Trish Perl, M.D.

  • H. Ben and Isabelle T. Decherd Chair in Internal Medicine, in Honor of Henry M. Winans, Sr., M.D.
  • Internal Medicine - Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine
  • Antimicrobial-resistant infections
  • Endocarditis

Biography

Trish M. Perl, M.D., M.Sc., is a Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center. She specializes in general infectious diseases and is an internationally recognized expert in infections acquired in health care, antimicrobial-resistant infections, respiratory infections, and endocarditis.

Dr. Perl earned her medical degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After completing a residency and a fellowship in internal medicine at McGill University’s Royal Victoria Hospital, she received advanced training in infectious diseases and clinical epidemiology through fellowship training at the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics.

She also holds a Master of Science in epidemiology and biostatistics from McGill University.

Certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in infectious diseases, Dr. Perl joined the UT Southwestern faculty in 2016. In addition to being the Chief of Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine at UTSW, she serves on numerous committees on the state and national level, including the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Ad-Hoc IPC Experts Panel, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s COVID Team B Advisory Committee, the Texas Medical Association’s Committee on Infectious Diseases, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (MIDB) study section.

She is a member of the American College of Physicians, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the Society of Healthcare Epidemiology, and the Dallas County Medical Society, and she serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Public Health and Infection Control.

Dr. Perl’s research interests include antimicrobial resistance, C. difficile, respiratory infections and their prevention, and health care-associated infections, and she has received significant grant support for her work. She has delivered scores of international, national, and regional lectures; contributed to numerous books, including Practical Healthcare Epidemiology; and published a number of academic articles.

Among many other honors, in 2020 Dr. Perl received the Senior Scholar Award from the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA).

Education & Training
  • Fellowship - University of Iowa Medical Center (1988-1992), Infectious Diseases
  • Residency - McGill University Faculty of Medicine (1983-1987), Internal Medicine
  • Medical School - University of North Carolina School of Medicine (1979-1983)
Professional Associations & Affiliations
  • American Board of Internal Medicine
  • American College of Physicians
  • American Society for Microbiology
  • Dallas County Medical Society
  • Infectious Diseases Society of America
  • Society of Healthcare Epidemiology of America
  • Texas Medical Association
Honors & Awards
  • D Magazine Best Doctor 2021-2022
  • SHEA Senior Scholar Award 2020, Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA)
  • SHEA Lectureship 2019, Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA)
  • Teaching Excellence Award 2010, Bloomberg Johns Hopkins School of Public Health
  • SHEA Mentor Scholar Award 2010, Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA)
  • Young Investigator Award 1999, Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA)
  • Fellowship Career Award 1997, Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA)
  • Highest Possible Teaching Score 1995, Introduction to Clinic Medicine, University of Iowa
Books & Publications
Research
  • Antimicrobial resistance
  • C. difficile
  • Respiratory tract infections
  • Coronavirus and influenza infections
  • Health care-associated infections
  • Infection prevention and control
  • Resistant gram-negative and gram-positive infections
  • S. aureus infections
  • Surgical site infections

Clinical Focus

  • Antimicrobial-resistant infections
  • Endocarditis
  • Respiratory infections

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