Blogs

Last week we were treated to an excellent Member Spotlight presentation by Dr. Gil Patterson, Chief Medical Officer for Food Animal Services at VetNOW. VetNOW is a medical technology company that helps veterinarians expand their reach and provide better service. Here are six key takeaways I learned during the presentation: VetNOW started as a telemedicine company but is migrating into the medical technology space by incorporating new technologies, such as sensors, and databases and integrating them to provide more tools to the veterinarian. A variety of factors, such as a shortage of veterinarians, industry demands for increased levels of expertise, ...
It’s hard to believe it’s been nearly 20 years since Eric Lax’s book, The Mold in Dr. Florey’s Coat , was published. For those who haven’t yet read it, The Mold in Dr. Florey’s Coat is a highly entertaining portrayal of the discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming, and the heroic efforts by Howard Florey, Norman Heatley, and Ernst Chain to translate that discovery into practical use as a β-lactam antibiotic. While Fleming did isolate a mold that he happened to observe on a Petri dish, and did some subsequent work showing the mold suppressed Staphyloccal growth and that an extract of culture broth suppressed bacteria from a sinus infection, he ...

Turning the Page

I have written many iterations of this post and none of them have felt quite right. How do I turn the page on a chapter of my life that has been so impactful? The last five years with NIAMRRE have been amazing, challenging, and incredibly rewarding. I have been given many opportunities to grow and learn new skills. When I was hired as the administrative assistant back in December 2018, I was NIAMRRE’s second employee. As we built NIAMRRE’s foundation and it began to grow, my job morphed and grew right along with it. I have seen the opportunities and taken them to learn new skills: website editing, HTML coding, email marketing, managing social media, and ...
The beginning of July marked the end of an era in NIAMRRE’s history, as University of Nebraska-Lincoln Charles Bessey Professor in the School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Dr. Rod Moxley, stepped away from his role as a member of NIAMRRE’s Advisory Council in anticipation of his upcoming retirement. Here in the NIAMRRE Operations Center, we wanted to take a few moments to express our gratitude for Rod’s contributions to the Institute; as many may already know, Rod was an early champion of NIAMRRE and part of the team that submitted the proposal that was ultimately selected for launching NIAMRRE. Rod also served as the first chair of the ...
Each NIAMRRE member organization appoints an advisor to serve on our Advisory Council. This council provides input and advice on the institute’s strategic planning, serves as the primary liaison between member organizations and the NIAMRRE Operations Center, and provides subject matter expertise necessary to drive the efforts of the NIAMRRE mission. July 1 marked the start of the third year of the Advisory Council, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the advisors who served in 2022-2023, thank our previous council chairs, and welcome our new chair and vice chair. I cannot thank our advisors from the last year enough for all their advice, ...
The National Institute for Antimicrobial Resistance Research and Education is proud to announce our Executive Director, Dr. Paul Plummer, was appointed as the new Council Chair for the US Presidential Advisory Council on Combating Antimicrobial Resistance Bacteria. The appointment was announced at the 23 rd PACCARB public meeting on Thursday, March 23 in Arlington, VA. “I am humbled and honored to be appointed as the new Council Chair for PACCARB,”Dr. Paul Plummer said. “ Dr. Martin Blaser (retiring chair), Dr. Lonnie King (past co-chair) and Dr. Michael Apley (retiring co-chair) have led PACCARB well over the last seven years and I pledge to do my best to ...
AMES, IOWA (February 13, 2023) – The National Institute of Antimicrobial Resistance Research and Education (NIAMRRE) seeks nominations for the NIAMRRE Leadership Council. The NIAMRRE Leadership Council is a group of individuals that function in an advisory capacity to the NIAMRRE Executive Director and Operations Center. This group differs from the NIAMRRE Advisory Council in that they may work externally from member institutions, providing review of administrative and fiduciary accountability, and applying a high level national and global perspective to NIAMRRE strategies and program prioritization. The Leadership Council meets virtually on a quarterly basis, ...
Yesterday NIAMRRE kicked off the second cohort of our One Health Interprofessional AMR Education Program. Over the next four months, the cohort will participate in a variety of asynchronous activities that are being hosted on NIAMRRE’s Learning Center and attend synchronous sessions via Zoom. The cohort of 30 individuals is a diverse mix of practitioners, scientists, faculty, and students representing industry, academia, and government, that covers all One Health disciplines (human, animal, plant, and environmental health) from across North America. After a very successful first cohort, we were very encouraged by the number and breadth of applications we ...
NIAMRRE kicked off 2023 with an Operations Center Roundtable for the January Member Spotlight. Taking a bit of a different format, we utilized a zoom meeting which allow for more interaction between the audience and the NIAMRRE staff. As part of the roundtable, we shared highlights from 2022. Some highlights included: 2022 Annual Conference: our first in person conference was hosted by the University of Nebraska – Lincoln, May 16-18 and was attended by 87 people from across academia, industry, and government. Interprofessional Education (IPE): we launched our inaugural cohort of One Health AMR IPE at the conference. The cohort continued to work within ...
Here at NIAMRRE we take a strong stand on taking a One Health perspective on antimicrobial resistance. This stance provides numerous opportunities to discuss what One Health means to us and what having such a perspective means for efforts in the antimicrobial resistance space. Certainly a number of different groups have worked to better define and describe One Health, but that discussion often is complex, long and nuanced. Recently the One Health High Level Expert Panel (OHHLEP) released a comprehensive definition from their perspective ( https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1010537 ) and that definition has subsequently ...
*The following press release was released today on the NIAMRRE website, https://www.niamrre.org/5qwn * AMES, IOWA (September 7, 2022) – The National Institute of Antimicrobial Resistance Research and Education (NIAMRRE) and five partner institutions have received a $1.5 million cooperative agreement award from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) to support a project designed to improve antibiotic stewardship by prioritizing the most significant diseases in food animal production and identifying alternative treatment strategies. The funding will support research using a multi-pronged, standardized methodology ...
The National Institute of Antimicrobial Resistance Research and Education (NIAMRRE) is pleased to announce the selection of the initial cohort for its One Health Interprofessional Antimicrobial Resistance Education workshop. The cohort of 33 individuals, representing all One Health disciplines (human, animal, plant, and environmental health), is a diverse mix of practitioners, consultants, staff, faculty, and students from across the United States. “The concepts of One Health and Interprofessional Education are both rooted in understanding how individual components of systems work together,” said Dr. Paul Plummer, NIAMRRE Executive Director. “It was imperative ...
The National Institute of Antimicrobial Resistance Research and Education (NIAMRRE) Operations Center is pleased to announce it is now accepting sponsorship registrations for the 2022 NIAMRRE Annual Conference, to be held May 16-18, 2022 in Lincoln, Nebraska. The 2022 event will be the first in-person conference for NIAMRRE, bringing together researchers, educators, and professionals from across the One Health spectrum. Sessions will focus on interprofessional education; AMR and the environment; new and improved mitigation strategies, therapeutics, and prophylactics; data sharing (local to global) and artificial intelligence; and risk factors and new and emerging ...
With th e theme fo r our f all research symposium focused on graduate students and their research discoveries, we wanted to look ahead to post-graduation and provide both students, recent graduates, and faculty insight into working with – and for – industry. While the science is a critical component of both academia and industry work, the methods and motivations for the two have some differences. J R Tait, Director of Genetics Product Development at NEOGEN Corporation, moderated a panel comprised of Michelle Kromm (Hormel Foods), Patrick Klepcyk (Iowa State University), Rick Sibbel (Executive Veterinary & Health Solutions LLC), and Jeff Knittel ...
The National Institute of Antimicrobial Resistance Research and Education (NIAMRRE) Operations Center will have reduced staffing and hours from December 23, 2021 - January 3, 2022. In accordance with Iowa State University holidays, the office will be closed on: Thursday, December 23, 2021 Friday, December 24, 2021 Monday, December 27, 2021 Friday, December 31, 2021 During this time, staff members in the Operations Center may take additional personal time to spend with friends and family. The office will return to full staffing on Monday, January 3, 2022.
NIAMRRE is hiring! We are seeking a learning and development specialist to work closely and collaboratively with universities, industry, subject-matter-experts, and other stakeholders to develop and administer online training and education programs for the antimicrobial resistance community. This position will be primarily responsible for creating online modules for an industry-based antibiotic stewardship certification and a companion animal infection control certification for a time-delineated project, with additional mission-focused projects assigned as needed. Our team is looking for someone with experience building online courses in LMS software and translating ...
NIAMRRE is hiring! We are seeking a communications specialist to take the lead in execution of a comprehensive communications strategy for the institute, working collaboratively with the NIAMRRE team and our members to identify priority themes, messaging, and tactics for reaching NIAMRRE stakeholders. Our team is looking for someone with multimedia experience, including web, social media, press, and presentation content. The ideal candidate will possess a passion for science communication and the desire to learn, grow, and innovate on a small team. At NIAMRRE, our values include transparency, innovation, and collaboration. Our communications specialist will ...
On September 22, 2021, President Biden announced the 30 members of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), among them is distinguished scientist Dr. Catherine Woteki, who serves on the National Institute of Antimicrobial Resistance Research and Education (NIAMRRE) Leadership Council. PCAST is a body of external advisers charged with making science, technology, and innovation policy recommendations to the President and the White House. “On behalf of all NIAMRRE members, I congratulate Dr. Woteki on her appointment by President Biden to PCAST,” said NIAMRRE Executive Director Dr. Paul Plummer. “We are excited that she will bring ...
Today, the National Institute of Antimicrobial Resistance Research and Education (NIAMRRE) announced the National Institute for Animal Agriculture (NIAA)—a nonprofit that convenes and serves as a resource to leaders in the animal agriculture industry—as a new member in the fight against antimicrobial resistance (AMR). NIAA has been a frontrunner in adopting One Health in the animal agriculture space and has a strong legacy of convening stakeholders across the food system to discuss and address current and emerging issues to support economic, environmental, and social sustainability of animal agriculture. “NIAA is a transformative organization that is committed ...
The National Institute of Antimicrobial Resistance Research and Education (NIAMRRE), a member organization that drives cross-sector engagement and coordinated action to address the global threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), today announced the Center for Global Health Innovation (CGHI) as a new member. “We are excited to welcome the Center for Global Health Innovation as a new member, whose mission is focused on improving health outcomes for all. This new partnership is complementary to our strengths at NIAMRRE, bringing together cross-sector leaders to address AMR using a One Health approach – achieving the best health for people, animals, plants, and ...