The goal of the Antimicrobial Resistance Working Group is to better understand the rapid spread of antimicrobial resistance across the world, stave off the high mortality and morbidity resulting from infections with resistant bacteria, develop basic infrastructure to evaluate antimicrobial resistance across two disparate healthcare systems, and understand how health care providers make decisions around antibiotic prescribing.

With a focus on United Nations Sustainable Development Goals #3, Good Health and Well-Being, and #10, Reduced Inequalities, the Antimicrobial Resistance Working Group aims to coordinate responses to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) across academic, political, pharmaceutical and medical institutions. The group will develop basic infrastructure to evaluate antimicrobial resistance across two disparate healthcare systems and how health care providers made decisions around antibiotic prescribing. 

Specifically, the group will work to: 

1. Forecast, detect and prevent the emergence of AMR;   
2. Contribute to rapid identification of AMR to support better clinical decisions about the use of antimicrobials or alternative approaches to treating patients and;  
3. Illuminate how health care providers make decisions around antibiotic prescription and non-antibiotic interventions to treat infectious diseases.  
4. Implement behavioral interventions designed to prevent the spread of AMR in clinical settings worldwide. 

Through global efforts to prevent the spread of AMR, hundreds of thousands of lives can be saved. Learn more in our Buffett Brief on Antimicrobial Resistance, or explore more Global Working Groups' research in our collection of Buffett Briefs >>

READ THE BUFFETT BRIEF ON ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE

Co-leads:

Erica Hartmann (Civil and Environmental Engineering, McCormick School of Engineering)

Mehreen Arshad (Pediatrics, Feinberg School of Medicine)

Group members:

Katie Amato (Anthropology, Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences)

Salva Balbale (Feinberg School of Medicine)

Jim Davis (Argonne Lab)

Charlesnika Evans (Preventive Medicine, Northwestern Memorial Hospital)

Erica Hartmann (Civil and Environmental Engineering, McCormick School of Engineering)*

Faisal Mahmood (Adult Infectious Disease, Aga Khan University, Pakistan)

Leena Mithal (Feinberg School of Medicine)

Larry K. Kociolek (Lurie Children's Hospital)

James O'Dwyer (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)

Egon Ozer (Feinberg School of Medicine)

Sameer J. Patel (Feinberg School of Medicine)

Noelle Samia (Statistics, Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences)

Patrick Seed (Feinberg School of Medicine)

Student research assistants:

Valeria Castro (McCormick School of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering '25)

Grayson Donnelly (McCormick School of Engineering, Computer Engineering '25)

Andrew Watson (Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, Biology and Chemistry '25)

Research Activities

• The Antimicrobial Resistance Global Working Group established a data-sharing agreement among three hospital systems in Chicago and Evanston, Illinois, as well as Pakistan. The group is planning a pilot study in Chicago and Pakistan to understand the burden of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in community settings.
• The group has established research relationships at Aga Khan University and a partnership with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Pakistan. With these relationships established, the group is:
  • 1) establishing a pathogen surveillance program to understand the relationship between genomic, phenotypic and clinical characteristics associated with disease due to resistant organisms; 
  • 2) conducting a qualitative survey of providers on the reasons behind over prescription of antibiotics and
  • 3) expanding capacity for antimicrobial resistance surveillance in Pakistan and expand research collaborations among Northwestern, Aga Khan University and NIH-Pakistan. 
• The group secured a $2.5 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study antimicrobial resistance patterns and develop a roadmap for coordinating responses to antimicrobial resistance across academic, political, pharmaceutical and medical institutions. With the support of the grant, the group has expanded their focus to antifungal-resistant infections and are currently monitoring fungal pathogens in Pakistan. Their preliminary findings have underscored the importance of epidemiologic monitoring for clusters of unusual infections to positively identify potential novel pathogens.
• Undergraduate and graduate research assistants have supported the group's work. Read about Andrew Watson, a junior studying Biology and Chemistry at Northwestern University and working as an undergraduate research assistant for the Antimicrobial Resistance Global Working Group.
• The group completed a cross-sectional study on the prevalence of multi-drug resistant bacteria in Chicago mothers and infants and published a pre-print of their findings. The study shows that 14% of otherwise healthy mothers and 7% of babies are carriers of this high-resistant bacteria—the highest known prevalence in developed countries.  Group members are currently analyzing the data for a longitudinal study, which will continue to monitor infants in the cohort.
• Learn about key insights from Foreign Policy's antimicrobial resistance outbreak simulation convening government health ministry, NGO and industry leaders across the world—and the co-lead of the Buffett Institute's Antimicrobial Resistance Global Working Group, Professor Mehreen Arshad—to think through how to coordinate efforts across sectors and drive sustainable investment in research to tackle the mounting global crisis of antimicrobial resistance.