The AMR Narrative

Facebook X-twitter Instagram Linkedin Youtube
Menu

Founder

The AMR Narrative / About Our Work / Founder

Vanessa Carter

Founder

Vanessa became an AMR patient advocate in 2013 after surviving a serious car accident and 10-year facial reconstruction that caused a highly-resistant MRSA infection on her face.
She was a patient advisor to several organisations including CIDRAP (USA) and served for three years as a member of the WHO Strategic Technical Advisory Group on AMR (STAG-AMR) between 2020 – 2023. She currently serves as a lay member to the Advisory Committee on Antimicrobial Prescribing, Resistance and Healthcare Associated Infection, UK (APRHAI) and is a civil society champion at the Africa CDC. Vanessa is also currently Chair of the WHO Task Force of AMR Survivors.

She has won awards for her advocacy including a Woman of Stature (WOS) Woman of the Year Award, FINDdx Voices for Diagnostics Award, and Antibiotic Guardian Award in the Community Communications category organised by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).

She further was awarded an e-Patient Scholarship at Stanford University Medicine X in the USA.

With a professional background in marketing, Vanessa has also lectured on various topics including effective communication and infodemic management in relation to AMR, and completed training by the WHO in 2020.

She has also advocated the importance of patient and public involvement and engagement. Originally from South Africa, she now resides in the UK and has worked globally.

Vanessa was also the founder and currently serves as an Executive Director for The AMR Narrative.

 

Winner of the Antibiotic Guardian Community Communications Award 2020

Andrea Hartley

Andrea has worked in health communications and campaigning for 3 decades. She is committed to fighting AMR through timely and appropriate communications globally,.

Andrea set up Skating Panda, the creative social and environmental impact consultancy, over a decade ago and drives its impact and growth. Focused on original and lasting public interest communications as well as issue strategy and advocacy, the Panda team has a track record of prompting tipping points in the status quo that drive better social and planetary outcomes.

Andrea’s combination of commercial marketing and development experience with deep issue knowledge have been sought by decision-makers at global summits, corporate and NGO board members, and have enabled her to set up multi-million fundraising platforms and push through policies that change and save lives. 

Andrea is Vice Chair of mothers2mothers, the world’s largest employer of women living with HIV, and a Board Director of Maymessy, a food poverty social enterprise.

A lifelong advocate for gender equality, she played a key role in establishing the UK’s Women’s Equality Party.

Esmita Charani

Professor Esmita Charani is a pharmacist and researcher investigating how we use antibiotics in different cultural and social contexts. She works with teams in the UK, India, and South Africa to develop research programmes investigating all aspects of antimicrobial resistance in human populations with a focus in hospital settings.

She has experience in communicating her research with patients and the public through various media including animations, blogs, and educational videos.