E. Yoko Furuya, MD

Dr. Yoko Furuya is a nationally recognized epidemiologist and specialist in infectious diseases, with 20 years of clinical experience. She is the Chief Epidemiologist and Medical Director of Infection Prevention & Control and Director of Antibiotic Stewardship for all campuses of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital (NYPH) including the university hospitals of Columbia and Cornell. She is also Associate Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in the Division of Infectious Diseases (ID). Dr. Furuya graduated from Harvard University with a major in English literature. She then received her M.D. degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, where she also underwent residency training in internal medicine. Subsequently, she moved to New York and completed additional training with a clinical fellowship in infectious diseases at Columbia University. During this time she received a Masters of Science degree in Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. Since completing her medical and epidemiologic training, Dr. Furuya has become a leader in healthcare epidemiology both locally and nationally. She has published nearly 70 articles in the peer-reviewed literature and has served as an investigator on numerous NIH- , CDC-, and New York State Department of Health-funded studies looking at multidrug-resistant organisms, infection prevention and control practices, and costs of antimicrobial resistance. She served on the joint CDC/Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) Outbreak Response Training Program advisory panel, establishing a national training program for healthcare epidemiologists on responding to pandemics and emerging infectious diseases. Based on her experience addressing outbreaks such as the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, Ebola, and measles, she has been interviewed numerous times in print, radio, and TV including for CNN, CBS, NPR, and the New York Times, including most recently about the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2018, Dr. Furuya was honored for her achievements in the field of healthcare epidemiology by being recognized as a Fellow of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA).