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Interview with Dr. Mendelson

Dr. Mendelson’s research revolves around Infectious diseases in countries with high rates of antibiotic resistance (AR). He focuses on models of antibiotic stewardship, antibiotic prescription and response, hospital collaborations and the use of antibiotics in surgical pathways. Most his work centers around international policy development for infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance strategy.

Dr. Mendelson highlights how there are many players in the antibiotic game, not just scientists or doctors. Finance, food production and the general public are often in tandem with the science behind antibiotic resistance (AR). He stressed the importance of education and awareness as well as individual and national responsibility to use antibiotics in a poised manner. Using language that is clear such as "antibiotic resistance" vs "antimicrobial resistance" is also essential to the fight. Dr. Mendelson thinks that carefully planned use of antibiotics will be a lasting solution in addition to new therapies being created to fight bacteria.

Additionally, we asked for suggestions and things to consider when molding our project. Dr. Mendelson proposed that we carry out risk analysis to evaluate the chances of our therapeutic working and weighing the risks and benefits of this delivery system. He also advised us to be specific about what genes we are trying to target while remaining cautious. “Antibiotic Resistance isn’t just because of genes. Superbugs have multiple resistance mechanisms, disabling the genes doesn’t mean it’ll surefire die.”

Takeaway: Our conversation with Dr. Mendelson helped us be more considerate with the language we use when referring to antimicrobial resistance. When talking about antibiotics, this website only uses the terms "antibiotic resistant" or "drug resistant infection"; according to Dr. Mendelson, most of the population can understand these terms, a first step to combating AR worldwide. Dr. Mendelson also convinced us to carry out risk analysis for our protein delivery approach. .

Dr. London is a WGN radio correspondent and currently resides in rural Maine. Dr. London practices general medicine and is active in healthcare policy. Dr.London recently made news as she devised a reusable epinephrine autoinjector to combat Epipen’s controversial price increase.

Dr. London emphasized the importance of physician-patient relationships and public health policy to lowering the rate of antibiotic overuse. Hospitals are essentially hotbeds of bacteria, more so than individual physician practices. People without insurance (due to de funding) also have the tendency to wait until things are bad before rushing to the emergency room, where carers unfamiliar with the patient prescribe antibiotics “just in case” the problem is a bacterial infection, which it's often not. Dr. London believes our project is a clever idea, as antibiotic resistance must be attacked on all fronts with as many new ideas possible. The onus, however, lies with us to educate the public about gene editing, which often sounds like a dangerous idea to the average citizen.

Takeaway: We tried to take Dr.Londons emphasis on educating the average citizen that genetically modified does not inherently correspond to something negative. For example, while presenting to CTD students, we made an “ethical consideration slide” that balanced the pros and cons of potential genetic engineering applications. Projects such as experimental mosquito (i.e to fight Zika) or GMO foods often get a bad rep in the media, but have many positives such as disease eradication and feeding hungry populations.