Ms. Soule has broad experience practicing and teaching about infection prevention and control, health care epidemiology and quality and performance improvement in the US and throughout the world, consulting with individual organizations, health systems, and Ministries of Health. She has published extensively in the field of infection prevention control, serving as the editor-in-chief of the first curriculum for infection prevention and control in the US and author and/or editor for multiple toolkits and books for the Joint Commission Resources/Joint Commission International (JCR/JCI). She served on the editorial board of the American Journal of Infection Control for 26 years as an associate editor and coeditor of the Global Perspectives Section. She was a co-editor of Best Practices in Infection Prevention and Control: An International Perspective, First and Second Editions co-published jointly by JCI and the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA).
Barbara served as a consultant for Joint Commission Resources and Joint Commission International (JCR/JCI) for over 17 years until she retired in 2022. Before JCR/JCI, Barbara worked as Director of Infection Control and Epidemiology, Director of Safety, and Director of Quality Management Services for 25 years at Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia, Washington. She is a Past President of The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) and has served on many APIC committees. With the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), she is past chair of the External Affairs Committee and served on the Education and Research Committees. From 2007-2010, Ms. Soule was a member of the CDC’s Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC), a committee that advises Health and Human Services on infection prevention and control issues.
Barbara has received several prestigious awards including APIC’s Carol DeMille Award (1989), the highest honor of the organization, the President’s Distinguished Service Award (2009) from APIC, and the Advanced Infection Preventionist Award from SHEA (2009). In addition to being a registered nurse, she has a degree in psychology and sociology from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri and a master’s degree in public administration with a concentration in health policy from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. She has been certified in infection prevention and control since 1983.