Missed the National AMR Forum? Read a recap of the Forum and CO-ADD's Drug Discovery & Development Workshop below.

The 2017 National Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Forum on Friday 3 November bought together 200 clinicians, nurses, veterinarians, researchers, pharmacists and government representatives from across Australia to discuss the issue of antimicrobial resistance. Key topics for discussion included – antimicrobial stewardship, appropriate use of antibiotics, AMR surveillance in human and animal medicine, and the development of new antibiotics and novel ways to fight drug resistant infections. Keynote speakers included:

• Alison Holmes - Professor of Infectious Diseases at Imperial College and the Director of Infection Prevention and Control (DIPC) and Associate Medical Director for Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
• Anton Peleg - Professor of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology; Director, Department of Infectious Diseases The Alfred Hospital and Monash University, Melbourne. 

The Forum was held on One Health Day, an international campaign to promote a one health approach to solving the world’s problems, such as antimicrobial resistance. One Health uses trans-disciplinary approaches to address human, animal and environmental health issues. 

A copy of the Forum program (as a pdf) can be downloaded here. You can read more on the Forum here and on Twitter using the hashtag #AMR2017. 

CO-ADD’s Drug Discovery and Development Workshop, held prior to the Forum, was attended by about 20 medicinal chemists, researchers and PhD students. Topics including how to find potential new antibiotics and develop them into drugs were presented by the CO-ADD team and colleagues from School of Pharmacy at The University of Queensland and VAST Biosciences Pty Ltd. We received some great feedback and hope to host similar workshops in the future. 

The 2018 National AMR Forum will be held in Melbourne, Victoria. 

CO-ADD would like to thank the organisers from the Centre of Research Excellence in Redefining Antimicrobial Use to Reduce Resistance (CRE REDUCE), Queensland Statewide Antimicrobial Stewardship Program (Statewide AMS) and the National Centre for Antimicrobial Stewardship (NCAS) for the opportunity to be involved in the Forum.