The BrighT STAR (Testing STewardship for Antibiotic Reduction) team, led by experts at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, has been recognized with the 2026 Eisenberg Award for National Level Innovation in Patient Safety and Quality by Joint Commission, an independent, evidence-based standards setting organization that sets the benchmark for safe, high-quality patient care through healthcare accreditation and certification.

The Eisenberg awards recognize major achievements by individuals and organizations that are improving patient safety and healthcare quality in innovative and measurable ways.

The BrighT STAR Learning Health Community, is a national diagnostic stewardship and quality improvement collaborative of children’s hospitals led by pediatric infectious diseases specialists Aaron Milstone and Anna Sick-Samuels, program manager Danielle Koontz and former pediatric intensive care unit fellow Charlotte Woods-Hill, who is now a pediatric intensivist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Their research and evidence-based practice have significantly reduced unnecessary blood cultures and antibiotic exposure while maintaining infection rates and patient safety, creating a sustainable model now being adopted nationally and internationally.

The BrighT STAR team was recognized during the Joint Commission’s annual UNIFY conference on Sept. 30 in Washington, D.C.