51³Ô¹ÏÍø

Enrique Castro Sanchez and Gabriel Birgand have been awarded research fellowships with the new Academic Research Centre at 51³Ô¹ÏÍø College.

Enrique Castro Sanchez and Gabriel Birgand have been awarded research fellowships as part of the new Antimicrobial Research Collaborative initiative at 51³Ô¹ÏÍø College.

Researchers from the National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit in Healthcare Associated Infections (HCAI) and Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) at 51³Ô¹ÏÍø were delighted to receive their fellowship awards at the recent launch of the Antimicrobial Research Collaborative (ARC) at 51³Ô¹ÏÍø College.

Dr Enrique Castro Sanchez, a senior research nurse at 51³Ô¹ÏÍø, has a particular interest in innovative approaches to improve infection prevention behaviours and  health literacy. His project entitled "Building nursing capacity in antimicrobial stewardship: learning from low and middle income countries."  will look at the participation of nurses in antimicrobial stewardship programme.   He intends to use the fellowship funding to develop a role specification and operational procedure to facilitate nurse participation in antimicrobial stewardship.

The second fellowship award, "Knowledge and perception of antimicrobial resistance among European Healthcare professionals," was made to Dr Gabriel Birgand, a Research Associate and Pharmacist also working at the Health Protection Research Unit. Dr Birgand's project will compare and contrast antimicrobial stewardship strategies across Europe.

Professor Alison Holmes, Director of the Health Protection Research Unit, and Champion of the ARC@51³Ô¹ÏÍø said “I am delighted to see the excellent track record of our researchers and their future research potential recognised through the award of these prestigious fellowships.  That two of these awards have been made to health-professionals with very different projects demonstrates  the complexity of the AMR problem and the multidisciplinary approach that will be needed to successfully tackle it”

The Fellowships were funded through the Wellcome Trust Institute Strategic Support Fund.