AMR Advisory

Egwu Kenneth Chukwuebuka is a 500 level Pharmacy student at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He is the Media and Publicity Team Lead at Community Health Awareness Network (CHANET) and a member of the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC), the International Society for Infectious Diseases (ISID), American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH), and the Green Child International Organisation. He serves as the state coordinator for Enugu State Slum and Rural Health Initiative Network (SHRIN), and the Media Director for African Global Youth Forum (AGYF).

Kenneth has garnered tons of experience from lots of organisations where he volunteers. He served as the Class Rep for Leaders club Academy (LAC) during the 2019/2020 Academic session. He is presently an Ambassador for AMR Insight and has used his position to recruit many other students. He is the regional secretary for Living Every Day Above Depression (LEAD). He was a content creator for Speak Up Stand Out (SUSO) program, 2021 and a member of Climate Science Nigeria and serves as an Ambassador to his school. He has received numerous awards and certificates for his outstanding performances in essay writing and academics. In 2016, He received an award as the best-performing student in his class in secondary school. The same year he led his school, together with his team to finish as the first runner-up in Ochudo Foundation Quiz. In 2018, he won the quiz competition organized by the Pharmaceutical Association of Nigerians Students (PANS). In 2020, he finished as the first runner-up in the Pharmacy Day Essay Competition organized by Health Leap Initiative (HLI). Together with his partner, they finished as the 2nd runners-up in the Entrepreneurship Competition for Pharmacy Students organized by Venn Cares.

He has certifications in Leadership and Influence from Stratford College of Business and Management (United Kingdom) and Applied Social Media Marketing from Charles Start University (Australia). He is also a graduate of the Global Health Emerging Leaders Program, 2021 and was among the 25 students from sub-Saharan Africa accepted for the Ducit Blue Foundation One Health Pan African AMR Internship/Mentorship Program in 2021. He was among the 40 successful applicants globally accepted for the Future Leaders Against AMR 2022 program. He strongly believes in the use of Social Media to promote the safe use of antimicrobials. He was also among the 40 persons selected for the Pharma Incubation Hub Cohort 4 Mentorship Program where he serves as the Cohort Rep to facilitate the successful running of the program. He recently graduated from the Pharmacy Society of Nigeria-Young Pharmacists Forum (PSN-YPG) Research Mentorship Program and was among the few selected for the first Cohort.

He currently undergoes a training in Effective Altruism with Effective Altruism Nigeria and where he is remarked for his outstanding contribution. Kenneth is an ardent activist in the field of Antimicrobial Resistance and utilizes every opportunity to educate the public about Antimicrobial Resistance. His team, made up of 4 persons from Nigeria and 1 from Ghana recently finished as finalists in the Innovate4Health Competition organized by the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, ReACT, and the International Federation of Medical Students Association (IFMSA) after proposing an intervention that will help reduce the arbitrary use of antimicrobials among Farmers in Northern Nigeria. Kenneth is currently the Coordinator of the One Health Scenario, a project organized by One Health in Action Initiative (OHAI) that aims to promote One Health. Together with Anna, Kenneth also host AMR Twitter space discussions aimed at educating the general public about AMR and creating AMR champions. Kenneth believes that no one is safe until everyone is safe and uses his social media as a starting point for his AMR advocacy.

Over these decades, Claire has worked and consulted for the NHS in the UK at facility and national level, the World Health Organization (WHO) at global, regional and country level, UNICEF, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, WaterAid and other NGOs, governments and the corporate sector. She has also volunteered for a range of societies. She has been part of a large number of WHO guidelines, reports and training tools and led on the WHO implementation manual for surgical site infection prevention as well as a number of other globally acclaimed improvement tools aimed at turning recommendations into practice. She has received a number of awards, including for the WHO global annual hand hygiene campaign, an academic analysis of the language used to influence hand hygiene action, and patient experience in the NHS, and is widely published.

Olayinka Fakorede is an antimalarial drug-resistance survivor.

She is also a medical doctor from Nigeria with an interest in infectious disease and antimicrobial resistance. She has led youth organisations like the World Health Students’ Alliance (WHSA) to organise an Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Conference, as well as to write policy documents on control of infectious diseases and AMR and has also led AMR Advocacy Working Groups.

Olayinka is currently completing an MPH in Global Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Her goal is to continue strengthening global health systems to tackle infectious diseases and AMR.

Julie is CEO and co-founder at KS Healthcare Consulting and has an international portfolio
of work, including senior technical expert with World Health Organisation. Her areas of focus
include the development, implementation and evaluation of guidelines and implementation-
related resources in the field of patient safety, quality, AMR, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
(WASH) and infection prevention and control. She was previously President of the Infection Prevention Society of the UK and Ireland, Assistant Director at the English National Patient
Safety Agency and Director of the award winning national cleanyourhands campaign.

Julie is an honorary advisor at Tropical Health Education Trust and a steering group member of Health Information for All (HIFA). She is also a trained clinical hypnotherapist.

Her most recent book focuses on the social rather than the technical aspects of preventing infections in healthcare.

Victoria is a qualified pharmacist and a tenacious leader! She has an extensive portfolio of practice spanning many sectors and countries and is widely recognised for her work at a global level. Victoria became the first executive director of the CPA in April 2016. She has built a strong team, redefined the charity’s mission and led the organisation from strength to strength, including pioneering the Commonwealth Partnerships in Antimicrobial Stewardship (CwPAMS) programme.

Mary is a retired nurse and a 2-time sepsis survivor who has become a public speaker to raise awareness of antibiotic resistance and the danger of the prevalence of bacterial infections in the healthcare setting. Since her infection she has studied microbiology, epidemiology, and worldwide statistics on infections as well as costs to patients and health centers.

Mary also speaks to antibiotic stewardship and visits the U.S. Congress annually to meet with her representatives and committees to help ensure funding for new research, novel therapies, and the antibiotic pipeline. She has also been featured in journals by the IDSA, Women’s Health, Harvard Health, and New England Journal of Medicine as well as having her story on websites by many in the healthcare realm. She resides in Louisiana, USA with her husband and pets and is now working on a book regarding her story to help others and give hope to those living with infections. Mary’s work can be seen at www.marymillard.org

John oversaw communications and engagement for the two-million-member social network Inspire. A former journalist, he was group publisher at HCPro, a health care regulatory publishing and training company. John served on the Association of Health Care Journalists’ board of directors and was an AHCJ officer. John is a volunteer committee member of the Society for Participatory Medicine and the nonprofit advocacy organizations SCAD Alliance and AnCan. He has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in journalism. He now is a healthcare communications consultant.

Ella Balasa is a patient advocate, consultant, and a person living with cystic fibrosis. She was diagnosed at 18 months old and has experienced countless hospitalizations since being a child. She has committed her time to empowering patients and advancing research and healthcare strategies through her connections with researchers, pharmaceutical companies, and patient organizations.

She is an advocate for the development of novel therapies for the treatment of antibiotic-resistant infections and speaks publicly to raise awareness of AMR as well as about the value of the patient perspective in research. Ella also has a passion for writing; distilling clinical information for patient communities, and sharing about the hardships yet triumph that comes with living with a chronic illness. She has been recognized as a 2022 Health Union Social Health Award winner for Healthcare Collaborator and serves on research committees with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and the Patient Insights Board for Medidata.

Through opportunities working with healthcare organizations and sharing her health journey, she aims to affect the healthcare landscape by raising awareness of cystic fibrosis, empowering self-advocacy in other patients, and delivering valuable patient insights to organizations. More of her work and experiences can be found at www.ellabalasa.com.

Francesco M. Labricciosa is a Medical Doctor from Italy. After earning a post-graduate diploma in Primary Care Medicine, he consolidated his experience in different healthcare settings, and then became a specialist in Hygiene and Preventive Medicine.

Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), optimal and prudent use of antimicrobials, and awareness towards consumption of these medications represent his main fields of interest.

Since 2016, he has been collaborating with the Global Alliance for Infections in Surgery. He participated in several international research projects about prevention and management of healthcare-associated infections, surgical antibiotic prophylaxis, antimicrobial therapy in intra-abdominal infections, and antimicrobial stewardship programs. He has co-authored more than 35 articles published in peer-reviewed medical journals.

Moreover, Francesco works with several medical communication agencies in designing and finalising educational materials aimed at diversified audiences. Finally, he takes an active role in science communication blogging about antimicrobial use and AMR.

From carpenter to accountant after becoming a full-time wheelchair user after a spinal cord injury, Jason now helps others that were tradesmen through his accounting practice called J. Jervis Accounting Services. He has over 25 years of experience gained from both construction, accounting, and the charitable or voluntary sector.

Jason is skilled in account preparation, bookkeeping, cloud accounting, payroll, and VAT returns. He also has a bachelor’s degree in accounting and business management from the Open University, a bachelor’s degree in accounting from CIMA, AAT Level 4 Accountancy and an advanced bookkeeping certificate from the IAB, among others.

Jason has also worked as a voluntary treasurer for Knowledge Pool, the RSPCA, and Hazlehurst Close Association.

He has a special interest in AMR being a patient and user of antimicrobial medicines himself.

Pernilla Rönnholm worked for 35 years within the Swedish NHS, now working within pharmaceutical company. In 2011, Pernilla gave birth to two twin girls three months prematurely. During the birth, klebsiella pneumonia was transmitted, which led to sepsis. At eight days old one of the girls passed away. In 2013 she established a non-profit organisation called Prematurföreningen Mirakel and since then she has also advocated the importance of raising awareness for AMR, supporting families and NICU in innovative ways like donating funeral clothes, made by donated wedding dresses to babies born during week 12 – 40, give access to tactile massage for women with complications, writing articles and debating in media and EU. Making a difference today and tomorrow.

Nour’s mother first developed an infection of her kidneys and urinary tract a few months after a surgery on her spinal column. Her infection was caused by drug resistant bacteria, which required some isolation from others and the use of higher generation antibiotics. It was the beginning of a series of hospitalisations, treatment failures and even home administration of intravenous antibiotics – all complicated by the weak health system in Lebanon. Even as an infectious disease clinical pharmacist, Nour felt helpless about her mothers’ situation. This feeling of helplessness inspired her become a champion for AMR in the Middle East. 

She is board certified infectious diseases clinical pharmacist and an antimicrobial resistance health policy researcher and advocate. She trained in Beirut -Lebanon, New Jersey, and North Dakota. She has an MSc in Global Health Policy from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and 8 years of experience in planning and implementing hospital Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs (ASP) as the leader of the AMS Program at large healthcare facilities in Jeddah and Riyadh. She has worked at the Pasteur Institute in Cambodia as a clinical trials research assistant and as a consultant to the Eastern Mediterranean Regional WHO office on scaling up hospital antimicrobial stewardship. She is also a member of the WHO Taskforce of  Antimicrobial Resistance Survivors (2023-2025).

Marc Mendelson is an Infectious Diseases specialist and clinician scientist at Groote Schuur Hospital, University of Cape Town.

He has over 10 years of experience working in the field of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) across clinical, research and policy domains.

He works with the South African government to shape national AMR policy, co-founded the South African Antibiotic Stewardship Programme with Prof Adrian Brink, and works with multiple international organisations such as the WHO, World Economic Forum, Access to Medicines Initiative and the Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP) to help shape strategic development of interventions to mitigate the AMR pandemic.