Annual Report (2011/2012) of the Canadian Antimicrobial Resistance Alliance (CARA)
CARA is headquartered in the Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Manitoba. Research collaboration is extensive in Manitoba, across Canada with CARA network of ~25 sites in 8 of 10 provinces. Collaboration extends to ~35 sites in the US. The official website of CARA is www.can-r.ca.
In 2011/2012 CARA presented 39 ICAAC/IDSA/ECCMID/ASM/CACMID/AMMI abstracts and published ~21 papers. A 2012 highlite was the submission of a CANWARD 2007-2011 invited supplement in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemoterapy (JAC impact factor > 5). This invited supplement was focused on CARA’s national surveillance study assessing antimicrobial resistance in Canadian hospitals-CANWARD. Another 2012 highlite was the growing new collaboration with Dr. Matt Gilmour at the National Microbiology Laboratory (NML regarding the national Streptococcus surveillance program).
Other highlites for CARA include: the growing participation of our new staff Drs. Philippe Lagace-Wiens, Andrew Walkty, Sergio Fanella and Bullard; the strong and growing collaboration with Dr. Mike Mulvey’s group at the National Microbiology Laboratory (NML); the full integration of Dr. James Karlowsky back into our research group; the quality of research and awards obtained by our graduate students (Andrew Denisuik and Alyssa Golden); fully immersing Dr. Heather Adam back to Winnipeg as a microbiologist at DSM and essential researcher within CARA; as mentioned above, the success of our national surveillance study (CANWARD 2007 – present) assessing antimicrobial resistance in Canadian hospitals (submitted supplement to JAC in 2012); CARA’s participation in the publication of the Canadian practice guidelines for surgical intra-abdominal infections; hosting visiting professor’s including DR. Neil Woodford; the strong collaboration with Dr Alfred Gin and IMS Canada regarding antimicrobial usage in Canada; the growing collaboration with Drs. Sheryl Zelenitsky and Robert Ariano regarding antimicrobial pharmacodynamics/Monte Carlo simulations; the growing collaboration with Cangene Corp in Winnipeg; the productive (6 patents; 20 papers) collaboration with Dr. Frank Schweizer (chemist at the Fort Garry campus) focusing on the discovery/development of aminoglycoside fusion antibiotics; and the growing success of our official website www.can-r.ca.
A huge thank you to Drs. Joanne Embree, Ethan Rubinstein, Amin Kabani, Frank Plummer and Alan Ronald for their support and encouragement.
Submitted November 9, 2012 by George G. Zhanel, Professor of Medical Microbiology, University of Manitoba and Research Director of CARA