Antimicrobial Awareness Webinar

Andrew Conway-Morris

Consultant Intensivist

Dr Conway Morris is a critical care consultant and MRC Clinician Scientist based at the University of Cambridge.  He trained at the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh, undertaking a PhD in Edinburgh focused on immune failure in critical illness and nosocomial infection.  His research interests include neutrophil function and dysfunction in critical illness, where he identified complement component C5a as a key driver of dysfunction in patients.  He has also developed and tested a number of diagnostics for pneumonia, using both host and pathogen-focussed techniques.  His animating force is a desire to improve the management of infection in intensive care, and combat the rising tide of antimicrobial resistance.  He was recently awarded the Royal College of Anaesthetists 2023 Mackintosh Professorship.   He is the director of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine’s research and antimicrobial stewardship learning pathways.

: @andymoz78

Thomas Hellyer

Clinician scientist in critical care medicine

Senior clinical fellow / honorary consultant critical care medicine.

I am a clinician scientist in critical care medicine at Newcastle University and my clinical practice is based in the Royal Victoria Infirmary intensive care department. My research focuses on improving antibiotic stewardship in critically ill patients. Striking the right balance of effectively treating patients with severe infections while avoiding harms associated with antibiotic overuse, is challenging for critically ill patients.

My current research focuses on optimising antibiotic durations in patients with sepsis. RISC-sepsis is an NIHR EME funded project that is an embedded mechanistic trial within a large pragmatic RCT. We immune phenotype patients to determine whether sepsis-induced immune dysfunction impacts antibiotic stewardship interventions. SHORTER is an NIHR HTA funded pragmatic RCT that aims to determine whether short, fixed-course antibiotics (5 days) are safe and effective in critically ill patients with sepsis.

Bryan O'Farrell

Lead Pharmacist for Critical Care, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust

Bryan O'Farrell is the lead pharmacist for critical care and theatres at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust. He has over 20 years’ experience as a clinical pharmacist and has been working as a critical care specialist pharmacist for over 14 years.

In addition to his role at the Royal Free he also is part of the UK Clinical Pharmacy Association Critical Care Expert Group and he is an associate editor for the Journal of the Intensive Care Society. His interests include antimicrobial PK/PD in critically ill patients, renal replacement therapy, analgo-sedation, ICU delirium and drug error reduction systems.

: @BryanOFarrell1