In Memoriam
Dr Thomas O’Brien
Colleagues of APUA are deeply saddened to hear of the recent passing of Dr Thomas O’Brien, previous Vice President of APUA.
Dr Thomas F. O'Brien was the first director of the division of infectious diseases at what is now Brigham and Women's Hospital and warned of the increasing danger of antimicrobial resistance decades ago.
Together with Dr John Stelling, Dr O’Brien codirected and cofounded the World Health Organization’s Collaborating Centre for Surveillance of Antimicrobial Resistance.
On behalf of the Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics (APUA), Dr O'Brien was instrumental in preparing the WHO report on "Antibiotic resistance: synthesis of recommendations by expert policy groups" in 2001 with then APUA President, Prof. Stuart B. Levy. You can read that report here
Dr O'Brien leaves a strong legacy in the field of antimicrobial resistance and our thoughts are with his family and friends and this very sad time.
Read more about Dr O'Brien in this heartfelt obituary in the Boston Globe Media.
Giuseppe Cornaglia
Giuseppe was well known to both APUA and ISAC and will be greatly missed.
He played a hugely significant role in the history of ESCMID, guiding it through a period of transformation, widening its global reach and introducing several key strategic initiatives.
Giuseppe received the APUA Leadership in 2011 Award to recognise ESCMID and Dr Cornaglia for their invaluable work in establishing effective expert study groups and educational initiatives in developing countries to control antibiotic resistance and improve treatment.
ISAC had a special relationship with Giuseppe as he was ESCMID President when ISAC and ESCMID held joint ICC – ECCMID congresses in Munich (2007) and Milan (2011).
Jacques F. Acar (1931 – 2020)
Prof. Acar began his career as an infectious disease specialist at Hôpital Claude Bernard, Paris, France and then trained in microbiology at the Pasteur Institute and Harvard Medical School. Prof. Acar became Professor in Clinical Microbiology at Université Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris and led the research unit on antimicrobial resistance at the university as well as the laboratory for medical microbiology at the Hospitals of Saint Joseph and Broussais in Paris.
Jacques F. Acar was a founder member and former President of the ISID (International Society of Infectious Diseases) and one of the founding members of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID).
Prof. Acar was prolific in the fight against antimicrobial resistance. In the 1970s, together with Prof. Thomas O’Brien, he established one of the earliest systems of antimicrobial resistance surveillance in hospitals. In 1981, when the Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics (APUA) was founded, he became a member of the scientific advisory board. Under the auspices of ESCMID, different study groups were launched to study antibiotics and bacterial resistance – he founded the European Study Group for Antibiotic Resistance (ESGAR) along with Prof. F. Baquero and Prof. G. Cornaglia who also sadly passed away recently. Latterly, he still worked for the Advisory Group on Integrated Surveillance of Antimicrobial Resistance (AGISAR) and as a senior expert at the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE)
