Ariel D. Szvalb, MD FACP FIDSA
Department of Infectious Diseases, Infection Control, and Employee Health, Division of Internal Medicine
Present Title & Affiliation
Primary Appointment
Associate Professor, Department of Infectious Diseases, Infection Control and Employee Health, Division of Internal Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Education & Training
Degree-Granting Education
| 1996 | University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, ARG, MD, Medicine |
Postgraduate Training
| 2016-2016 | Quality Improvement, Clinical Safety and Effectiveness Program, Session 24, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX |
| 2013-2013 | Course, Infection Control Fellows Course, Infectious Diseases Society of America and Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, Arlington, VA |
| 2013-2013 | Course, Diploma in Tropical Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX |
| 2011-2013 | Clinical Fellowship, Infectious Diseases, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX |
| 2006-2008 | Clinical Residency, Internal Medicine, St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center. Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY |
| 2005-2006 | Clinical Internship, Internal Medicine, St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center. Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY |
| 1999-2001 | Clinical Residency, Internal Medicine, Instituto de Investigaciones Medicas 'A. Lanari.' University of Buenos Aires, School of Medicine, Buenos Aires |
| 1998-1999 | Clinical Residency, Internal Medicine, Hospital de Clinicas 'Jose de San Martin.' University of Buenos Aires, School of Medicine, Buenos Aires |
Board Certifications
| 2021 | Basic Life Support (CPR and AED) |
| 2018 | American Board of Internal Medicine Maintenance of Certification |
| 2014 | American Board of Internal Medicine. Infectious Diseases |
| 2008 | American Board of Internal Medicine |
Experience & Service
Academic Appointments
Assistant Professor, Department of Infectious Diseases, Infection Control and Employee Health, Division of Internal Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2013 - 2020
Administrative Appointments/Responsibilities
Internal Medicine and Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant Unit Attending Physician, Hospital Universitario Austral. Austral University, School of Medicine, Buenos Aires, 2008 - 2011
Intensive Care Unit Staff Physician, Clinica del Sol, Buenos Aires, 2001 - 2005
Internal Medicine Attending Physician, Instituto de Investigaciones Medicas. University of Buenos Aires, School of Medicine, Buenos Aires, 2001 - 2005
Institutional Committee Activities
Member, Medical Records, 2022 - Present
Elected Member, Faculty Senate, 2015 - 2018
Member, Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee, 2014 - 2021
Honors & Awards
| 2020 | Fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, Infectious Diseases Society of America |
| 2020 | Multi-Year Appointment Award. The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX. 2020-2023, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center |
| 2020 | Institutional Research Grant, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center |
| 2019 | Fellow of the American College of Physicians, American College of Physicians |
| 2016 | Certificate of Recognition as OneConnect Super User for the support provided to colleagues during the OneConnect go-live, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center |
| 2016 | Recognition for Plan Project. Nephrostomy-related Urinary Tract Infections. Proper Urine Sampling and Labeling, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center |
Professional Memberships
Selected Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Viola GM, Szvalb AD, Malek AE, Chaftari AM, Hachem R, Raad II. Prevention of device-related infections in patients with cancer: Current practice and future horizons. CA Cancer J Clin. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 36149820.
- Chaftari AM, Hachem R, Malek AE, Mulanovich VE, Szvalb AD, Jiang Y, Yuan Y, Ali S, Deeba R, Chaftari P, Raad I. A Prospective Randomized Study Comparing Ceftolozane/Tazobactam to Standard of Care in the Management of Neutropenia and Fever in Patients With Hematological Malignancies. Open Forum Infect Dis 9(6):ofac079, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 35663286.
- Mori N, Szvalb AD, Adachi JA, Tarrand JJ, Mulanovich VE.. Clinical presentation and outcomes of non-typhoidal Salmonella infections in patients with cancer. BMC Infect Dis 21(1):1021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 34587893.
- Szvalb AD, Malek AE, Jiang Y, Bhatti MM, Wurster S, Kontoyiannis DP. Serum (1,3)-Beta-d-Glucan has suboptimal performance for the diagnosis of Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia in cancer patients and correlates poorly with respiratory burden as measured by quantitative PCR. J Infect 81(3):443-451, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32650108.
- Malek AE, Viola GM, Seiler GT, Szvalb AD. Disseminated Nocardia farcinica infection in immunocompromised patient. Infection 48(3):487-488, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32144593.
- Malek AE, Nieto Y, Szvalb AD, Siddiqui S, Shafi MA, Hwang JP, Raad II, Torres HA. Hepatitis B Virus-associated Liver Failure in a Patient With B-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma After Anti-cancer Therapy Including Ibrutinib. Clin Lymphoma Myeloma Leuk 20(3):e124-e127, 2020. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 31932250.
- Szvalb AD, Kontoyiannis DP. Acute acalculous cholecystitis due to Fusarium species and review of the literature on fungal cholecystitis. Mycoses 62(9):847-853, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 31166627.
- Alfayez M, Burger JA, Kadia T, Xu TH, Szvalb AD, Pemmaraju N. Plesiomonas shigelloides gastroenteritis in a patient with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Leuk Lymphoma:1-2. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 31305193.
- Szvalb AD, El Haddad H, Rolston KV, Sabir SH, Jiang Y, Raad II, Viola GM. Risk factors for recurrent percutaneous nephrostomy catheter-related infections. Infection 47(2):239-245, 2019. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 30406481.
- Szvalb AD, Rolston KV, Mori N, Tarrand JJ, Mulanovich VE. Infections with the agent of 'kennel cough' in patients with cancer. J Infect 78(1):48-53, 2019. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 30048653.
- Chaftari AM, Hachem R, Szvalb A, Taremi M, Granwehr B, Viola GM, Amin S, Assaf A, Numan Y, Shah P, Gasitashvili K, Natividad E, Jiang Y, Slack R, Reitzel R, Rosenblatt J, Mouhayar E, Raad I. A Novel Nonantibiotic Nitroglycerin-Based Catheter Lock Solution for Prevention of Intraluminal Central Venous Catheter Infections in Cancer Patients. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 61(7), 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 28416559.
- Vargas-Cruz N, Reitzel RA, Rosenblatt J, Jamal M, Szvalb AD, Chaftari AM, Hachem R, Raad I. In Vitro Study of Antimicrobial Percutaneous Nephrostomy Catheters for Prevention of Renal Infections. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 61(6), 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 28320713.
- Vargas-Cruz N, Reitzel RA, Rosenblatt J, Jamal M, Szvalb AD, Chaftari AM, Hachem R, Raad I.. Antimicrobial Percutaneous Nephrostomy Catheters for the prevention of Renal Infections: In vitro studies. Antimicrob Agents and Chemotherapy, 2017.
- Roberts NJ, Zhang L, Janku F, Collins A, Bai RY, Staedtke V, Rusk AW, Tung D, Miller M, Roix J, Khanna KV, Murthy R, Benjamin RS, Helgason T, Szvalb AD, Bird JE, Roy-Chowdhuri S, Zhang HH, Qiao Y, Karim B, McDaniel J, Elpiner A, Sahora A, Lachowicz J, Phillips B, Turner A, Klein MK, Post G, Diaz LA, Riggins GJ, Papadopoulos N, Kinzler KW, Vogelstein B, Bettegowda C, Huso DL, Varterasian M, Saha S, Zhou S. Intratumoral injection of Clostridium novyi-NT spores induces antitumor responses. Sci Transl Med 6(249):249ra111, 2014. PMID: 25122639.
- Szvalb AD, Raad II, Weinberg JS, Suki D, Mayer R, Viola GM. Ommaya reservoir-Related Infections. Clinical Manifestations and Treatment Outcomes. J Infect 68(3):216-24, 2014. e-Pub 2013. PMID: 24360921.
Abstracts
- Szvalb AD, Marten CA, Cain KE, Taylor J, Huang S, Viola GM. Risk Factors for Recurrent Percutaneous Nephrostomy Tube Infections in Patients with Gynecological Malignancies. ID Week 2022, Washington, D.C, 2022.
- Szvalb AD, Malek AE, Jiang Y, Kontoyiannis DP. Serum (1-3)-ß-D-glucan has suboptimal performance for the diagnosis of Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia and correlates poorly with respiratory burden measured by quantitative PCR in patients with cancer. 30th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, 2020.
- Malek AE, Nieto Y, Szvalb AD, Siddiqui S, Shafi MA, Hwang JP, Raad II, Torres HA. Hepatitis B Virus Reactivation in Patients with Hematologic Malignancies after Anticancer Therapy Which Included Ibrutinib. IDWeek 2019, Washington, DC, 2019.
- Szvalb AD; Kontoyiannis DP; Viola GM; Jiang Y; and Rolston KV. Test performance of (1,3)-beta-D-glucan for the diagnosis of Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia in patients with cancer. 28th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, 2018.
- El Haddad H, Viola GM, Jean Y, Raad I, Rolston K, and Szvalb A. Percutaneous Nephrostomy Tube-related Infections. Open Forum Infectious Diseases 4(Suppl 1): S349, 2017. e-Pub 2017.
- Szvalb AD, Mori N, Viola GM, and Mulanovich VE.. Bordetella bronchiseptica infections in cancer patients. 27th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, 2017.
- Chaftari AM, Hachem R , Szvalb AD, Taremi M, Granwehr B, Viola G, Sapna A, Assaf A, Numan Y, Shah P, Gasitashvili K, Natividad E, Jiang Y, Slack R, Reitzel R, Rosenblatt J, Mouhayar E, and Raad I.. A Novel Non-Antibiotic Nitroglycerin Based Catheter Lock Solution for the Prevention of Intraluminal Central Venous Catheter Related Bloodstream Infections (CRBSI) in Cancer Patients. ID Week 2016, New Orleans, LA, 2016.
- Mori N, Szvalb A, Adachi J, Jiang Y, and Mulanovich V. Non-Typhoidal Salmonella Infections in Cancer Patients. Open Forum Infectious Diseases 1(1):S168, 2014. e-Pub 2014.
- Szvalb AD, Raad I, Weinberg JS, Suki D, Mayer R, and Viola GM. Ommaya Reservoir-Related Infections: Clinical Manifestations and Treatment Outcomes. IDWeek 2013, San Francisco, CA, 2013.
- Szvalb AD, Raad I, Weinberg JS, Suki D, Mayer R, and Viola GM. Ommaya Reservoir-Related Infections: Clinical Manifestations and Treatment Outcomes. Division of Internal Medicine, 2013 Research Retreat, Houston, TX, 2013.
- Szvalb AD, Raad I, Weinberg JS, Suki D, Mayer R, and Viola GM. Ommaya Reservoir-Related Infections. 3rd Infections in Cancer Symposium. The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2013.
- Karol EA, Larramendy M, Socolovsky M, Leston J, and Szvalb A. Somatotopic arrangement of human postgasserian fibers in trigeminal neuralgia.A computarized analysis using the multielectrode technique. Neurosurgery Volume 47(2)(August 2000):542-543, 2000.
Book Chapters
- Szvalb AD and Rolston KV. Skin and Soft Tissue Infections among Cancer Patients. In: Oncologic Critical Care. Springer: USA, 2019.
Letters to the Editor
- Nahmod KA, Nahmod VE, Szvalb AD. Potential mechanisms of AT1 receptor blockers on reducing pneumonia-related mortality. Clin Infect Dis 56: 1193-4, 2013.
Grant & Contract Support
| Title: | Novel Foley Catheter with Intra-Urethral Peri-Catheter Disinfection for Prevention of Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTIs) in Cancer Patients with Catheter-Managed Urine Drainage |
| Funding Source: | IRG |
| Role: | Principal Investigator |