Phillip S. Barie, MD, MBA, FCCM, discusses decontamination of the digestive tract and oropharynx in an attempt to prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia. He discusses a recent article published in The New England Journal of Medicine, "Decontamination of the Digestive Tract and Oropharynx in ICU Patients." Barie is Immediate Past President of the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM), as well as professor of surgery and public health at Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York. He is also the director of surgical critical care and the surgical intensive care unit at New York Presbyterian Hospital. While Barie has not authored either of these articles, he is considered an expert in this field, which is very important to critical care practice.