University of Texas Health Science Center At Houston
Dr. Malik is an Associate Professor in the Department of Critical Care at MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC) where she has managed the care of immunocompromised patients in the medical and surgical intensive care units for 19 years. Dr. Malik’s clinical research and quality improvement interests involve sepsis in cancer patients. She is the Chair of the multi-disciplinary Institutional Sepsis Program at MDACC, which aims to improve outcomes for cancer patients with sepsis. Institution of the Sepsis Program for adult patients in 2020 successfully reduced the institution’s Vizient Sepsis Mortality Index below 1.0 by using a Best Practice Alert, Sepsis Screening tool, Sepsis Order Sets and Algorithms, Sepsis metrics on electronic Dashboards, and educational materials. The Program has since been implemented in our pediatric patients as well. In addition to these quality improvement initiatives, Dr. Malik’s ongoing research includes a study evaluating the correlation of circulating neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) and cell-free DNA with presence of sepsis and septic shock in solid tumor patients. Dr. Malik also leads the annual World Sepsis Day educational events at MDACC since 2012. Dr. Malik’s extramural work involves serving as an Executive Committee member of the Global Sepsis Alliance (GSA), as a member of the Steering Committee for World Sepsis Day, and as the Chair for the GSA Fellowship program.