January 2021 brought news of the passing of John Bartlett, MD, who was a mentor, colleague, and friend to many. In the initial years of our grant, he played a fundamental role in building ARLG and made significant contributions to our mentoring program. As a tribute to his leadership and legacy, we have given our fellowship program a new name, the Dr. John G. Bartlett ARLG Fellowship.

John’s early work to design and lead the ARLG Mentoring Committee stemmed from his dedication to support early career researchers and sustain ongoing exploration into the threat of antibacterial resistance. The program has now provided development opportunities to more than 45 mentees, and it continues to grow.

John’s commitment to supporting mentees and early-stage research may have originated from his own career experience, which included pioneering the establishment of early HIV treatment guidelines and ground-breaking work on the connection between C. difficile and antibiotic-related colitis. His expertise also spanned other areas including bioterrorism, respiratory tract infections, anaerobic pulmonary infections, and antimicrobial resistance. He fulfilled academic roles at UCLA, Tufts, and Johns Hopkins University where he was instrumental in starting and leading the Infectious Disease Division.

His inspiring career along with his reputation for generosity and compassion make John an ideal namesake for the ARLG fellowship award. His legacy exemplifies our commitment to mentoring and supporting the next generation of infectious diseases researchers. Like John, their contributions to combat the threat of antibacterial resistance will help to improve the lives of countless people well into the future.

Learn more about the Dr. John G. Bartlett ARLG Fellowship.

A July WebMD article titled “Antimicrobial Resistance Threat Continues During COVID” highlighted commentary from Vance Fowler, MD, and Tori Kinamon , MD Candidate at the Duke University School of Medicine, and recipient of the FDA Antibacterial Drug Resistance (DOOR) Fellowship. The input came from an online media briefing sponsored by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) the previous day and formed the foundation of the article’s content.

The article underscores the urgency of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and the potential complications from COVID-19 treatments. Dr. Fowler and Kinamon provide insight on these topics as well as information on the critical importance of new research and the work happening now on innovative strategies.

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The European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) selected Prof. Herman Goossens (University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium) to receive its most prestigious award, the ESCMID Award for Excellence in Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases 2020. At the recent European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) 2021 online conference, Prof. Goossens presented his keynote recipient lecture and accepted his award, which was delayed due to last year’s COVID-19 cancellations.

His keynote presentation titled “Transcending European clinical research in infectious diseases through collaboration to break down traditional silos” outlined difficulties in the EU COVID-19 clinical research response and highlighted the need to focus on partnerships and clinical trial networks to streamline research. The alliance between ARLG and COMBACTE is one example of this type of collaboration and correlates to Prof. Goossens’ work as vice-chair of the European Clinical Research Alliance on Infectious Diseases (ECRAID)-Base and the coordinator of The Platform foR European Preparedness Against (Re-) emerging Epidemics (PREPARE).

The ESCMID executive committee selected Prof. Goossens for the award in recognition of his significant contributions in the areas of clinical microbiology and infectious diseases. He is the author of more than 600 Web of Science papers, which have been cited close to 25,000 times. Prof. Goossens has presented at more than 400 international events and received many past honors and awards.

Get On-demand access to this lecture and other great ECCMID21 content.

The Food and Drug Association (FDA) selected Air Force 2^nd Lt. Tori Kinamon, MD Candidate at the Duke University School of Medicine, to receive an FDA Antibacterial Drug Resistance (DOOR) Fellowship. The one year fellowship, which begins June 2021, is with the Office of Infectious Diseases Division of Anti-infectives led by Sumanthi Nambiar, MD.

The fellowship evaluates ordinal endpoints using the Desirability of Outcome Ranking (DOOR) approach for anti-infective clinical trials for indications such as hospital-acquired bacterial pneumonia/ventilator-associated bacterial pneumonia (HABP/VABP), complicated urinary tract infections (cUTI), complicated intra-abdominal infections (cIAI) and acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections (ABSSSI). DOOR is an innovative approach used in clinical trials to evaluate the global benefits and risks of an intervention.

The Food and Drug Association (FDA) offers this fellowship opportunity through the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE).

ARLG primary investigator, Thomas L. Holland, MD, is being honored alongside Cameron R. Wolfe, MBBS, and the Division of Infectious Diseases, all with Duke University Hospital, to receive the Presidential Award. Holland, Wolfe, and members of their team were nominated for the award in recognition of their leadership and service efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Presidential Awards represent Duke University’s highest honor and are granted each year to select staff and faculty who personify Duke’s values and legacy. Holland is being recognized for his work leading the COVID-19 in-patient clinical teams and keeping infectious diseases colleagues informed of important COVID-19 challenges. Wolfe led Duke’s Biological and Emergency Preparedness team and served as a Chair of the Atlantic Coast Conference COVID-19 Medical Advisory Group. Their unflagging dedication and effort also included work in community outreach, vaccine development, and infection prevention.

This year’s awards will be presented by Duke University President Vincent Price during a virtual ceremony on April 14. We extend our congratulations to Drs. Holland, Wolfe, and all of the honorees.

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We congratulate Yohei Doi, MD, PhD, on his promotion to Professor of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh! Dr. Doi is the chair for ARLG’s Gram-Negative Committee which advances research and improves patient outcomes by designing clinical trials for gram-negative infections and mentoring ARLG junior investigators.

Dr. Doi also serves as the Director of the Center for Innovative Antimicrobial Therapy (CIAT) at the University of Pittsburgh as well as the Professor and Chair of Microbiology at Fujita Health University in Aichi, Japan. His primary topics of research include the genetic and molecular basis of emerging antimicrobial resistance mechanisms, inhibitor-based drug discovery, colistin resistance in Acinetobacter baumannii, and the rapid diagnosis of resistance using phenotypic, genetic, and lipidomic approaches.

We are deeply saddened to share news of the passing of our mentor, colleague, and friend John Bartlett, M.D. on Jan. 19. John’s career included academic positions at UCLA, Tufts, and Johns Hopkins University where he also helped to establish the Infectious Disease Division and served as its chief for 26 years. His early work demonstrated the connection between C. difficile and antibiotic-related colitis and he was an early pioneer in establishing HIV treatment guidelines. As a renowned expert in many subjects, John’s work had a profound effect on areas including respiratory tract infections, bioterrorism threats, anaerobic pulmonary infections, and antimicrobial resistance.

In addition to the many significant contributions that helped build the ARLG, John designed and led the ARLG mentoring committee in the initial years of the grant. To date, the ARLG mentoring program has provided mentorship and career-development opportunities to more than 45 mentees and has achieved John’s vision to train the next generation of clinician scientists in antibacterial resistance.

Widely remembered for his kindness and generosity, John’s legacy and the impact of his work will continue to benefit and inspire others for generations to come. We extend our heartfelt condolences to John’s family and many friends. Those wishing to make a memorial contribution in honor of Dr. Bartlett can donate a tribute gift to the IDSA Foundation which will be recognized in the IDSA Jean and John G. Bartlett Member Lounge in Arlington, Virginia.

IDWeek 2020 is here! One on-demand presentation you won’t want to miss is Session 175:  Pediatric Infections and Immunology. W. Charles Huskins, MD, MSc will discuss his oral abstract titled “Randomized Double-blind Controlled Trial of Short vs. Standard Course Outpatient Therapy of Community Acquired Pneumonia in Children (SCOUT-CAP)”.

“The SCOUT-CAP study uses innovative, clinically intuitive statistical advances to answer a common, important clinical question, ‘How long is long enough?’ for pediatric outpatients responding to their treatment for community-acquired pneumonia.”

— Vance Fowler, MD, MHS

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See our full list of ARLG presentations here.