Steven Q. Simpson, MD

Professor of Medicine, University of Kansas, Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine

Chief Medical Officer, Sepsis Alliance

Dr. Steven Q. Simpson is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Kansas in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine, where he previously served as Division Director, Director of three ICUs, Chair of the Sepsis Team, and Chair of Multidisciplinary Critical Care. He has done research in all areas of severe sepsis, from molecular and cellular mechanisms to translational studies to quality improvement studies. He was a founder, in 2005, of the Midwest Critical Care Collaborative, a multidisciplinary and interprofessional collaborative effort to improve the quality of critical care services throughout the Midwest. In 2007, he initiated the Kansas Sepsis Project, a statewide program to improve severe sepsis care and outcomes throughout the state via continuing education both in sepsis and in quality improvement principles, and via interprofessional collaboration. He is currently heading a BCBS-sponsored sepsis collaborative among Kansas City metro area hospitals and is a contributing faculty member of the ongoing Surviving Sepsis Campaign collaboratives, leading the effort in the Midwest. He is a participant in the 2016 review and update of the Surviving Sepsis Campaign Guidelines.

Laura Evans, MD, MSc

Associate Professor, University of Washington, Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine

Medical Director, Critical Care, University of Washington Medical Center

Dr. Evans is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington and the Medical Director of Critical Care at the University of Washington Medical Center. Her interests focus on patient safety and quality improvement, particularly sepsis, as well as preparedness for high consequence infectious diseases. Dr. Evans earned her MD at the University of Michigan and did her residency in internal medicine at Columbia University. She completed pulmonary and critical care medicine fellowship training and earned an MS in epidemiology at the U. of Washington. She joined the faculty of NYU and Bellevue Hospital in 2006. She led the evacuation of the Bellevue Hospital ICUs in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy and was the clinical lead for New York City’s Ebola treatment center. After 14 years in NYC, she returned to Seattle in 2019. She joined the steering committee of the Surviving Sepsis Campaign in 2012 and is the current Surviving Sepsis Campaign guidelines co-chair. She serves on the Council of the Society of Critical Care Medicine. She is Associate Editor of Critical Care Explorations and a member of the editorial board of Critical Care Medicine.