Faculty

John G. Bartlett, MD – Chairman
Professor of Medicine
John Hopkins University School of Medicine
Director, Aids Service
Johns Hopkins Hospital
Baltimore, MD

Louis B. Rice,  MD
Professor of Medicine
Case Western Reserve University
Chief, Medical Services
Medical Service III
Cleveland VA Medical Center
Cleveland, OH

Dennis L. Stevens, MD, PhD
Professor of Medicine
University of Washington School of Medicine
Seattle, WA
Associate Chief of Staff, Research and Development
Chief, Infectious Diseases Section
Veterans Affairs Medical Center
Boise, ID

Gregory J. Moran, MD, FACEP
ClinicalProfessor of Medicine
Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Dept. of Emergency Medicine and Division of Infectious Diseases
Olive View-UCLA Medical Center
Sylmar, CA

Robert C. Moellering, Jr., MD, MACP
Shields Warren-Mallinckrodt Professor of Medical Research
Harvard Medical School
Department of Medicine
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Boston, MA

This online presentation of an interactive live symposium that was a satellite to the ASM 47th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, in Chicago, September 19, 2007 will highlight Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and other resistant cSSSi and HAP/VAP infections, and will compare and contrast conventional and emrging antimicrobial therapies.

Infectious disease physicians have come to realize that serious, life-threatening infections, such as cSSSis and HAP/VAP, particularly with highly resistant bacterial strains, continue to result in unacceptably high levels of morbidity and mortality. To help stem the high morbidity and mortality rates associated with MRSA and other resistant bacterial infections, infectious disease specialists require education on the types of infections, potential pathogens involved, current treatment guidelines and the role of newer antimicrobial agents in the management of MRSA and other resistant bacterial infections. Lastly, "pathogen-focused therapy" is a new concept which uses culture data and clinical findings to define and adjust a patient's antibiotic therapy.

Symposium faculty have been asked to include the shifting epidemiology of MRSA and other resistant bacterial infections, guidelines for the evaluation and treatment of cSSSi and HAP/VAP infections, and the use of newer antimicrobial therapies in the prevention and treatment of these serious, life-threatening infections.