Physician
Hospital Epidemiologist
Brigham and Women's Hospital

My research focuses on the epidemiology, consequences, and prevention of nosocomial infections; on infectious diseases in the community setting; and pharmacoepidemiology. Much of my current work involves the use of large health maintenance organizations' defined populations, extensive and often automated data, and their ability to make system-wide interventions. Recent research has involved developing consortia of such HMOs for this purpose.

Specific recent topics include:

Development of population-based methods for assessment of healthcare-associated infections, tuberculosis, and sexually transmitted diseases.

The use of prescription drugs, their effectiveness, and adverse reations.

Neonatal group B streptococcal infection.

Reducing inappropriate antibiotic prescribing in hospital and ambulatory settings and assessing the impact of these changes on health outcomes.

Platt R, Polk BF, Murdock B, Rosner B. Mortality associated with nosocomial urinary tract infection. N Engl J Med. 1982 Sep 9;307(11):637-42. [abstract]

Platt R, Zaleznik DF, Hopkins DF, Dellinger EP, Karchmer AW, Bryan CS, Burke JF, Wikler MA, Marino SK, Holbrook KF, Segal M. Perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis for herniorraphy and breast surgery. N Engl J Med. 1990 Jan 18;322(3):153-60. [abstract]

Andrade SE, Walker AM, Gottlieb LK, Hollenberg NK, Testa MA, Saperia GM, Platt R. Discontinuation of antihyperlipidemic drugs: do rates reported in clinical trials reflect rates in primary care settings? N Engl J Med. 1995 Apr 27;332(17):1125-31. Review. [abstract]

Donahue JG, Weiss ST, Livingston JM, Goetsch MA, Greineder DK, Platt R. Inhaled steroids and the risk of hospitalization for asthma. JAMA. 1997 Mar 19;277(11):887-91. [abstract]

Sands K, Vineyard G, Livingston J, Christiansen C, Platt R. Efficient identification of postdischarge surgical site infections: use of automated pharmacy dispensing information, administrative data, and medical record information. J Infect Dis. 1999 Feb;179(2):434-41. [abstract]