Meet our Ambassadors 500 – …

Francesca Chiara is the AMR Project lead at the Center for Infectious Disease Research and policy (CIDRAP) in France. Francesca is the director of the CIDRAP Antimicrobial Stewardship Project. Her primary focus is on antimicrobial resistance and promoting the effective translation of evidence-based science into sustainable public health interventions that can lead to policy change. Before joining CIDRAP, she worked at the Wellcome Trust, where she developed the antimicrobial resistance strategy and successfully established an international think tank, the Surveillance and Epidemiology of Drug Resistant Infections Consortium, aimed at strengthening antimicrobial resistance surveillance capacity in low- and middle-income countries. Francesca has led a number of international partnership programs and multi-country research projects to strengthen health systems and improve understanding of the burden of drug resistance infections. In 2019, she launched the AMR Register to increase access to industry generated antimicrobial resistance surveillance data.

Darcie Carpenter is Director Business Development at IHMA Inc, United States. Darcie joined IHMA in 2018 and has over 20 years clinical and industry experience focused on antimicrobial susceptibility and IVD clinical trials. She has experience with technical, clinical, clinical trials, regulatory and business development. Darcie holds a M.S. & Ph.D. University of Washington – Pathobiology as well as certifications in Infection Control. Previously work experience includes; 13 years with Beckman Coulter Microbiology – MicroScan product line (R&D and Clinical Trials), Anaerobe Systems (bacterial media manufacture) and Nevada Department of Public Health. Clinical work experience includes a total of six years with the following medical facilities: VA Medical Center Palo Alto, Stanford Medical Center and Barton Health. Darcie is an active participant in Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI), holding several positions. She has published book chapters and several peer reviewed articles and abstracts.

Christoph Kunas is a Product Manager Veterinary Diagnostics at Ender Diagnostics in Switzerland. Christoph is a veterinarian, a product manager and a scientist. His expertise is in developing, manufacturing and marketing diagnostic test solutions for farm animals globally. His conviction is that better diagnostics leads to evidence-based treatment and to the reduction of unnecessary use of antibiotics, curbing the effects of AMR. This can only work with the help of colleagues in agriculture, not against them, so Christoph looks for ways that provide benefits to society, veterinarians, farmers and last but not least: animals! In a world where the true implementation of the One Health concept is the best and most important tool we have, he looks forward to collaboration, creating an impact together!

Thelma Koo is a Research Assistant at Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, Accra, in Ghana. Thelma holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry from the University for Development Studies (2022). She interned at the West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens over during some vacations and she came to appreciate and understand why Antimicrobial Resistance isn’t so talked but actually should be. Currently, she is in the Parasitology Department at NMIMR and she looks forward to working and building capacity towards AMR and how she can contribute her quota towards drug discovery and the elimination of the menace of AMR.

Bhagwan Rekadwad is an Assistant Professor at Yenepoya Research Centre, Yenepoya, Mangalore in India. Dr. Bhagwan conferred a PhD for his research on the prokaryotic diversity of hot springs by Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada University in India in 2014. He worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the National Centre for Cell Science. He obtained expertise in DNA and RNA-based Microbial Systematics, Evolutionary Microbiology, Sequencing, Nucleic Acids Research and Bioinformatics. Later, he joined “the Oxford of the East,” i.e., Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, in 2019 as an Assistant professor. Bhagwan also serves as an expert on international and national grant panels. In the years 2022 and 2023, he was twice ranked on the AD World Scientific Ranking.

Heidi Rantala is the CEO at Bonalive Biomaterials in Finland. Heidi has been working for over fifteen years on medical devices eg. bioadhesion surface technology and with bioactive glass solutions. Today she is part of Bonalive. This company designs and produces innovative solutions to heal patients with bone defects and infections.