Monday, May 8, 2023 - 12:00pm
Location:
Drown Hall, Room 210
Bench to the Bedside: Using Translational Research to Improve Care of Women with Urinary Tract Infections
Dr. Elizabeth Hirsch
PharmD, FCCP, FIDSA,
Associate Professor, Department of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology
University of Minnesota, College of Pharmacy
Urinary tract infections (UTI) are among the most frequently encountered bacterial infections in the United States with an annual incidence of over 8 million. Appropriate treatment of UTI is critical for optimal outcomes and requires use of agents that are active against the infecting pathogen. Until recently, susceptibility profiles of uropathogens were largely predictable; however, rapid emergence of antibiotic resistance in recent years presents a significant challenge for UTI management. Oral fosfomycin is recommended as a first-line antibiotic for treatment of acute uncomplicated UTI in women; however, a significant barrier to its widespread clinical use is the difficulty in performing susceptibility testing: This talk will discuss Dr. Hirsch’s career path to pharmacy and translational research, along with in vitro and mouse models used in her laboratory to determine the optimal methods for fosfomycin susceptibility testing—with the ultimate goal of translation to improved care of patients with UTI.
Dr. Elizabeth Hirsch received her B.S. and PharmD degrees from Creighton University. She then completed a PGY1 pharmacy practice residency and an infectious diseases pharmacotherapy fellowship. Dr. Hirsch served as faculty at Northeastern University and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts, from 2011-2017, before moving her research program to the University of Minnesota in 2017. Her translational research program focuses on the detection and treatment of multidrug-resistant gram-negative infections, with the overall goal of improving the use of antimicrobials for patients with resistant bacterial infections. She has published over 50 peer-reviewed papers, and her research program has been supported by federal, foundation, and industry sponsors. Dr. Hirsch has served as an appointed advisor to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) Subcommittee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing since 2017 and is a member of the ongoing IDSA 2019 update of the urinary tract infection guidelines expert panel.
Light lunch provided. RSVP: go.lehigh.edu/benchbedsidetalk
Sponsored by: Health, Medicine, and Society Program and Department of Chemistry
Department:
Health, Medicine and Society