Student Researcher Spotlight
Joshua Khuvis is a 3rd-year MD student at Tufts University School of Medicine working with Tufts CIMAR's Shira Doron, MD, hospital epidemiologist and Director of Antimicrobial Stewardship at Tufts Medical Center (Tufts MC), and Tufts MC’s Antimicrobial Stewardship team to improve diagnostic stewardship in the hospital, specifically with respect to Clostridioides difficile. Josh is especially interested in tackling hospital-based practices around diagnosis of C. difficile to improve patient care and reduce unnecessary antibiotic use.
Josh has recently submitted an article on the “Impact of diagnostic stewardship interventions on C. difficile test ordering practices and results,” for publication with Doron, aiming to assess the burden of unnecessary diagnostic testing for C. difficile. The article will explore factors including incomplete clinical data to warrant testing or more appropriate alternative diagnoses like recent use of laxatives, to help in future targeted education for antimicrobial stewards. The article will also assess the effectiveness of interventions like alerts attached to electronic patient records intended to remind ordering providers about the clinical guidelines for ordering tests.
Outside of his research, Josh is interested in medical education. He volunteers in the Tufts tutoring group, Innovation, Diversity, Engagement, Achievement, and Service (IDEAS) in Medicine, an after-school program for Chelsea, MA, middle schoolers to learn about science and medicine. He also previously collaborated with Tufts faculty and other medical students to take medical curriculum and adapt it to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Before coming to Tufts, Josh earned an A.B. from Princeton University in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. He completed his senior thesis under Dr. Nicole Parrish at Johns Hopkins and Dr. Jessica Metcalf at Princeton, looking at sampling the rivers of the Chesapeake Bay watershed for antibiotic resistant bacteria in the wild and relating it to overuse of antibiotics in the agricultural industry. This research stoked his passion for antimicrobial stewardship amid growing concerns of the rapid development of resistance we are seeing both inside and outside the hospital.
In his free time, Josh enjoys spending time with his friends, ballroom dancing, learning new languages, and running.