Overview
Welcome to the Infectious Disease Department at Hartford Hospital! The Infectious Disease Department is comprised of a diverse group of physicians and advanced practitioners (PAs and APRNs) who specialize in the diagnosis of simple and complex disease states, the majority of which are infectious. Infectious Disease physicians are typically Internists, certified through the Board of Internal Medicine, who then obtain further training to specialize in Infectious Diseases.
Your body is home to trillions of microorganisms; most of which don’t cause any harm and many of which are even beneficial. However, sometimes those organisms can cause diseases. You can also contract diseases from other people, food, the environment, and animals. Infections can be caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites, and prions (abnormal proteins). Infections can be acute (short-term) or chronic (long-term, usually more than 6 months) and can be challenging to treat. We work with all specialties to create a collaborative environment that benefits the patient.
We see patients within the hospital setting, our out-patient clinic, and in the doctor’s office. Our focus is on preventative medicine; to help patients not develop an infectious process to begin with by providing counseling, vaccines when available, and medications which may stop an infection from occurring. We also provide services for Travel Medicine which include vaccines and counseling to keep patients safe during travel.
Besides seeing patients, we also perform duties that benefit the hospital, which in turn benefits our patients. Chief among those duties is antimicrobial stewardship, which is the proper utilization of antibiotics. Over prescription of antibiotics can lead to adverse outcomes for patients, as well as lead to antimicrobial resistance. We also are responsible for working with Infection Prevention to minimize infections within the hospital setting, thus making it safer for patients. Finally, we also perform administrative duties, research, and educational teaching of medical students, residents, and fellows.
Meet our team at Hartford Hospital
 Dr. Ulysses Wu
System Director of Infectious Disease, Chief Epidemiologist and Chief Antimicrobial Steward of Hartford Healthcare
Associate Professor, University of Connecticut School of Medicine
Associate Professor, Quinnipiac Frank Netter School of Medicine
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 Dr. Paul Anthony
System Medical Director of Colleague Health for Hartford Healthcare
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 Dr. Patrick Cahill
Director of HIV Primary Care Community Care Clinic
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 Dr. Faiqa Cheema
Medical Director, Infection Prevention & Epidemiology, Hartford Hospital
Medical Director, Transplant Infectious Disease
Assistant Professor, University of Connecticut School of Medicine
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 Dr. Lavanya Jitendranath
Hartford Hospital Lead for Antimicrobial Stewardship Program
System Lead for Orthopedic Infectious Disease Quality Initiative
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 Dr. Eunsun Lee
Assistant Director, Infectious Disease, Hartford Hospital
Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Connecticut School of Medicine
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 Dr. Ann Palmer
Site Director for Internal Medicine Residency, University of Connecticut School of Medicine
Assistant Professor, University of Connecticut School of Medicine
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 Dr. Shaheena Shan
Assistant Director of Infectious Disease, Hartford Hospital
Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Connecticut School of Medicine
Site Director, Infectious Diseases Fellowship, University of Connecticut School of Medicine
Chair, Resident & Fellow Council, CT-ACP
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 Ana Caceres, APRN
Infectious Disease Practitioner
Community Care Center - HIV/Primary Care
Ryan White Grant Center of Excellence
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