Great week in Lyon at the G7 One Health meeting and WHO Collaborating Centres forum. Reconnecting with key leaders and old friends, building new collaborations, and feeling the collective purpose of 400 CCs in the room and 200 online, from a network of ~850 - real purpose and momentum ahead #AMR
Great to attend the CARA lab launch in St Lucia last week - an excellent milestone for regional AMR capacity. Strong momentum with #CARPHA and #UKHSA colleagues (many from my division). Excited to continue and strengthen this collaboration over the next year. Regional press here: lnkd.in/eTJKSAX7
Very excited to have been elected as a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health by Distinction. Grateful recognition of the public health work I’ve contributed - and energised to do even more in the years ahead. Huge thanks to my sponsors Prof Susan Hopkins and Dr Richard Pebody. #PublicHealth #FPH
Proud of our #UKHSA & #UCL team to have led Exercise Bellerophon - a 2‑day multi‑sector antimicrobial resistance preparedness event with NHSE, MHRA, DHSC, UKHSA & Oxford HPRU. Challenging scenario, great collaboration, and many valuable lessons to strengthen AMR resilience across England.
Christmas reading highlight:
“Any company or group building artificial superintelligence with current methods will kill everyone.”
Keen to get to the main argument but I’ve always thought the Terminator 2 (and before that War Games and Maximum Overdrive) argument was prescient
Excited to share @ukhsa.bsky.social's first Japan-UK (Alicia Demirjian) Fellow's Report on #AntimicrobialResistance Drug Development - tinyurl.com/bdfpwbm4
✅ Stronger public sector coordination
✅ Public-private partnerships
✅ AI-driven infrastructure
✅ Global collaboration
✅ Training future leaders
🦠 Our new study in the UK SIREN cohort over winter 2023/24: SARS-CoV-2 (21.8%), flu (5.3%) & RSV (7.3%) were common among healthcare workers - each linked to considerable staff absence (35.8% in total), with a combined 10,168 days of sick leave taken.
🔗 journalofinfection.com/article/S016...
Thrilled to be at my alma mater @LSHTM for the launch of the WHO/BMJ Global Health Community Hand Hygiene Guidelines—and to join the keynote panel. Sobering stats—1.7B still lack access to soap & water! Available here tinyurl.com/49333mmb 🧼🌍 #HandHygiene #PublicHealth #WHO
🚨The largest-ever regional training on molecular AMR detection just wrapped up in Trinidad, hosted by CARPHA, with support from UKHSA, PAHO, and the Fleming Fund.
Proud that my team contributed to this milestone, supporting regional efforts to build lab capacity.
🔗https://tinyurl.com/ysd2xztd
📢 New research from Oxford AMR/HCAI HPRU:
We applied an EHR-wide association study to uncover risk factors for E. coli bloodstream infections over 6 years
🧠 Frailty-related factors (renal/UTI, cancer, GI) drive risk
🛠️ Highlights need for multifaceted prevention strategies
doi.org/10.1016/j.ji...
The best thing about global ‘one health’ events that are held in the zoo, is that at the end of the day you get to go to the zoo….
Delighted to have played an incredibly modest role in commenting on (and hopefully in some small way shaping) the draft pandemic agreement - this will be a great tool for global cooperation, preparedness plans, and equity in response and access for diagnostics/therapeutics for the challenges ahead.
We aim to improve regional capacity to monitor AMR, respond to resistant infections, and build long-term resilience against future threats, with a core focus on strengthening surveillance and enhancing laboratory capacity, bridging national and regional efforts including the UK Overseas Territories
Delighted to help launch our Caribbean Antimicrobial Resistance Alliance (CARA) in Barbados - a joint initiative between the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) and the UK Health Security Agency Health (UKHSA), supported by the UK’s Fleming Fund - with joint working with PAHO
t.co/fACtT6sf5h
Over the weekend I said to my 4 year old son 'let's race' - and he held my hand and said 'let's win together'. Need to bring more of that spirit to work and life....
Had a wonderful chat with @emrsa15.bsky.social, Andy Borman, and Mariyam Mirfenderesky on the @icmatters.bsky.social podcast about C. auris control - could have chatted for hours about this difficult bug and the present and future challenges it presents
infectioncontrolmatters.com/2025/04/30/c...
Pope Francis was a true servant leader, a most decent man, inclusive and humble, and forthright about social justice. A great loss indeed.
A very happy Easter to all who celebrate - many things as I get older and (somewhat) wiser continue to amaze me. That Peeps (truly an abomination) are ‘artificially flavoured’ is not one of these things…
Very useful @onisillos.bsky.social - as a reviewer also
There are many ways that my homeland of Northern Ireland produces talent and influence beyond its diminutive size, very well done to Rory
Our review of novel antimicrobial surveillance for the novel drug subscription model pilot - ceftazidime/avibactam use and susceptibility testing increased in the lead up to the pilot, as did (low) levels of resistance, and in the context of treatment
www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2...
We just published a study identifying the role/needs of teachers/schools in infection prevention and control post COVID-19, highlighting their pivotal place in preventing communicable disease, and further training needed to support the educational workforce. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Very useful summary of public health infectious disease threats seen in England since the COVID-19 pandemic, including work highlighting the economic benefits of health protection interventions and in identifying health inequalities across infections
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67e281...
Delighted to have appeared on this excellent www.digitalamr.org / The Naked Scientists podcast on current and future AMR challenges - if you are interested, we have an entire lecture series available on YouTube at youtube.com/@digitalheal...
Not yet David, we do hope to do this for the next iteration
Never too early for coffee
Contains updated sections on:
• introduction and background
• investigations in clinical laboratories
• screening of patients and contacts
• management of patients testing C. auris positive (colonised and infected)
• infection prevention and control
• notification, reporting and information sharing
Delighted to announce the updated national Candidozyma auris (Candida auris) guidance (for healthcare settings in England) is now available: gov.uk/government/p...
A summary of recommendations provides a concise overview of the guidance to support adoption and implementation across acute healthcare
I used to love this view when I was a student - would often sit and revise in/overlooking the gardens
