Antimicrobial Resistance in the Environment Webinar Series

For more information, contact avantika.singh@un.org and nada.hanna@un.org.

This webinar series is organised by the Quadripartite - the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UNFAO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH).

Susan Vaughn Grooters AMR Technical Analyst,Chemicals and Health Branch, UNEP

Susan Vaughn Grooters serves as an Antimicrobial Resistant Technical Analyst for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Ms. Grooters has focused her more than 20-year professional career addressing AMR working with civil societies, academics, governments,and intergovernmental organizations.

Dr Sasha Koo-Oshima Head of FAO Water and Deputy Director, Land and Water Division

Sasha has nearly 35 years of experience in international assistance and policy development in agriculture water and environment/natural resource management. Currently, she is the Deputy Director and Head of Water at the UN Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO),leading programs on sustainable land and water management and governance, data and information, One Health and anti-microbial resistance (AMR) in the environment, and integrated water resources management with linkages to climate, health, and food and nutrition security. She formerly served as Senior Advisor to the Minister (Administrator) at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and as Secretariat of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), where she directed and managed international environmental health and water programs, strategized in the development of rules and guidelines on point-source and diffuse pollution controls for protecting health and the environment through the GEF Caribbean Wastewater Revolving Fund and the Millennium Challenge Corporation Cabo Verde Compact on sustainable water infrastructure financing. She is now on the Governing Boards of the World Water Council and the CGIAR’s Water Land Ecosystems, and UNEP Global Partnerships on nutrient and wastewater management, circular economy, and is implementing and supervising a substantial set of country projects. She published, sponsored and peer-reviewed extensively on international water issues, such as the UN World Water Development Reports, FAO-WHO Wastewater Reuse Guidelines for Agriculture, FAO reports on Agriculture-Nature Based Solutions,Wealth of Waste: The Economics of Wastewater Reuse, Desalination and Agriculture,Agriculture Water Quality Guidelines for China, and the OECD country Water Governance reviews.

Kate Medlicott Team Lead, Sanitation and Waste, WHO HQ

Kate Medlicott is the Sanitation and Waste team leader within the WASH team at the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland.In this role Kate is responsible for translating evidence to policy and practice through WHO guidelines on sanitation and health, safe use of wastewater and recreational water quality and associated tools such as sanitation safety planning and sanitary inspections.Kate also lead health sector collaborations where sanitation is a critical components of risk and disease control such as antimicrobial resistance, neglected tropical diseases and environmental surveillance on COVID-19.

Dr Maggie Montgomery Technical Officer, Sanitation and Waste, WHO HQ

Maggie Montgomery,PhD, is an environmental engineer with experience in community water supply and sanitation, wastewater treatment and public health research. Since 2010,she has worked in the Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Health team at the World Health Organization, most recently focusing on water, sanitation and hygiene in health care facilities. In her spare time she enjoys hiking, getting dirty with her kids and writing poetry.

Dr Nada Hanna Environmental AMR Capacity Development Expert, Chemicals and Health Branch, UNEP

Nada Hanna is an environmental health and global One Health expert grounded in pharmacology, with over 10 years of international experience in the relevant fields.She works as environmental capacity development expert at the UNEP; in strengthening the involvement of environment sector of 5 MPTF countries in the development and implementation of AMR National Action Plans. She also worked as environmental capacity development expert at the FAO. She has a PhD in Health Systems and Policy (Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, Department of Global Public Health). For her PhD, she focused on the integrated assessment of environmental and human health risks of antibiotic residues and resistance in various environmental compartments of the Western Pacific and the South-East Asia Regions of the World Health Organization (WHO), particularly China and India, and developed methods for the prioritisation of antibiotics for the purposes of remediation and for development of Environmental and Health policy. She is a licensed pharmacist (University of Pharmacy, Syria) with a Master’s degree in environmental and public health (Cyprus International Institute and Harvard School of Public Health) and a Master’s degree in Biomedicine (Skövde University, Sweden).She has professional experience in the area of Environmental Medicine and Global Public Health, at Karolinska Institutet, Sweden and has participated in national and international research projects such as a WHO assignment on “Antibiotic Residues in the Aquatic Environment of the South-East Asia Region of the WHO: A Risk Factor for Antibiotic Resistance as well as on IMPACT, a One Health Sino-Swedish integrated multi-sectoral partnership project for antibiotic resistance containment. She also has experience indifferent health sectors of Syria, such as in teaching as a Lecturer at the University of Pharmacy and in pharmaceutical production as Head, antibiotic production in pharmaceutical manufacturing.

Faustina Gomez  Technical Officer, WHO SEARO

Faustina Gomez is an international health professional with experience in managing development and public health programs in the area of water sanitation and hygiene(WASH) and Climate change in the Asia region. As the Technical officer at the WHO-South East Asia Regional Office (SEARO), she is responsible for country support, capacity building and program management for WASH and climate change. Faustina’s experience in the area of WASH focuses on WASH in healthcare facilities and its linkages with climate resilience,quality of care, equity and inclusion, among others. She has provided Technical Assistance(TA) to countries in the region in planning, designing, implementing, and monitoring several donor-funded projects. Faustina has developed training and technical products and has spearheaded initiatives to strengthen the capacity of national authorities in the region towards scaling up action and progress on key determinants of environmental health.

Avantika Singh Programme Assistant, Pollution-Free Ecosystems Unit, Ecosystems Division, UNEP

Avantika Singh supports the implementation of the wastewater portfolio (project and programme management and the coordination of the Global Wastewater Initiative) at UNEP in Nairobi, Kenya. She holds a Bachelor of Technology in Genetic Engineering (during which her thesis work focussed on AMR) and is currently pursuing her Master of Science in International Relations and Diplomacy. She joined UNEP as an intern in June 2021. After completion, she has resumed her duties as Programme Assistant for the wastewater portfolio.

Stephanie Croft Technical Officer, Inspection Services Group, WHO HQ

Stephanie Croft is a Chemist by training and currently working with WHO as a Technical Officer in the Inspection Services Group of the consolidated WHO Pre-qualification Team for Medicines, Vaccines, Devices and Diagnostics and Vector Control products. Experienced in GMP, GCP and GLP Regulatory Inspections with over 8 Years at the international level. With Health Canada’s Bureau of Pharmaceutical Sciences, was an assessor of the quality of generic medicines. Has conducted over 100 inspections in 35 countries such as India, China and France.

Steve Brooks Advisor, AMR Industry Alliance

Steve Brooks currently serves as an Advisor to the Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Industry Alliance and chairs the Manufacturing Work Group of the Alliance. Prior to this engagement, Steve gained almost 37 years of pharmaceutical industry experience in the UK and the US in roles of increasing complexity, scope and responsibility. Steve has mentored many colleagues, formally and informally, developed and implemented major corporate programs and is a recognized EHS leader in the pharmaceutical industry.Steve Brooks joined Pfizer as a Discovery Chemist in the UK in 1982. He moved into Health& Safety in 1989 and held positions of increasing responsibilities in the company’s Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) organization in the UK/EU and US. Steve led Pfizer’s Global EHS organization from 2007 to 2018 during which time he assumed responsibility for Business Resiliency and Environmental Sustainability for the company. Steve and his leadership team were responsible for developing strategy, policies and standards, and for driving continuous improvement in the management of relevant risk across all Pfizer divisions and locations.In his Pfizer role, Steve was also responsible for monitoring and where appropriate, seeking to influence the external environment on EHS matters of importance to Pfizer and/or to the bio-pharmaceutical industry. In this capacity, Steve was a committee member of relevant trade associations and other external organizations, where he played important roles especially in areas at the intersection of the environment and public health.Steve holds an honours degree in Chemistry from Bath University, UK, is a Chartered Safety Practitioner (UK) and a professional member of the American Society of Safety Engineers.

Prof David W Graham Professor of Ecosystems Engineering,Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

David Graham bridges water engineering, molecular ecology, biochemistry, and public health protection, and is expert in socio-technical approaches for reducing the spread of infectious disease in the environment. Graham has had projects in over 20 countries that include environmental, animal, and human dimensions, especially work aimed at mitigating the transmission of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) across sectoral boundaries (i.e.,environment, clinic, farm). He was very active in the UK COVID-19 pandemic response,working for the UK Health Security Agency and Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, and was short-listed for the 2020 Times Higher Education STEM Award for his project“Engineering a halt to superbugs”.

Nicolai Schaaf Team Leader, Water and Pharmaceuticals, Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI)

Nicolai leads the work on water and pharmaceuticals and the project Responsible Antibiotics Manufacturing Platform (RAMP). The work includes extensive stakeholder dialogue about shared responsibilities along the lifecycle of pharmaceuticals to prevent pollution of water bodies. Given the global threat of antibiotic resistance, the focus is on technical solutions and promoting market and policy instruments for responsible manufacturing of antibiotics. In this role, Nicolai works with governments, international agencies, pharmaceutical industry, researchers, technology providers, and civil society organizations.

Dr Martín Minassian Technical Assistant, WOAH Regional Representation for the Americas

Dr Martín Minassian was born in Argentina and graduated as a veterinarian in 1998 at the University of Buenos Aires. Since 2010 he has been working as Technical Assistant at the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) Regional Representation for the Americas,participating in actions to support and assist Member Countries in the development and implementation of WOAH Standards, training of Delegates and Focal Points, as well as improving the interaction between Veterinary Services, governmental authorities,international organisations and the private sector. He has also been part of the development and implementation of various projects on Antimicrobial Resistance in the Americas and led the Secretariat of the Americas Committee for Veterinary Medicinal Products (CAMEVET). Currently, he coordinates of the WOAH activities in the Antimicrobial Resistance Project in Peru, funded by the Multi-Partner Trust Fund (MPTF).His previous experience at the Argentinian Veterinary Services includes the participation in the preparation of comments for the modification of the WOAH Standards and the coordination of national Codex Alimentarius committees, including the Task Force on Antimicrobial Resistance (TFAMR). He also served at the Board of Directors of the Veterinarians Professional Council as well as the Argentinian Veterinary Medicine Society.

Ana Luisa Pereira Mateus Scientific Coordinator, Department of Antimicrobial Resistance and Veterinary products, WOAH

Dr. Ana Mateus is a veterinarian and an epidemiologist. She is a Scientific Coordinator at the Antimicrobial Resistance and Veterinary Products department at the World Organisation for Animal Health since October 2021. Previously Ana worked for several years in academia in the UK where she was involved in research on antimicrobial use and antimicrobial resistance in companion and food-producing animals in Europe and in Low and Middle Income Countries and was responsible for teaching veterinary public health to under and postgraduate students.

Webinar 1: Understanding the basics of environmental AMR for national action

The first webinar provided an overview of: 

• The basics of environmental AMR including global AMR risk to human and animal health, food systems, ecosystems, livelihoods and economies
• Overarching principles and terminologies, foundational understanding of key sources of environmental AMR and approaches to prevent and control AMR in the environment 
• Strategies to strengthen the involvement of the environment in NAPs and processes

Watch the recording of Webinar 1 in English, French and Spanish.

Webinar 2: Sources, drivers and impacts on AMR in the environment

The second webinar provided an overview of:

• Sources of AMR in the environment including communities, health care facilities, pharmaceutical manufacturing, and animal and crop production
• Risks these sources pose to AMR in the environment
• Data available to understand how these sources may contribute to AMR in the environment
• Potential consequences of inaction on AMR in the environment as well as potential benefits of addressing the risks of AMR in the environment from these sources

Watch the recording of Webinar 2 in English, French and Spanish.

Webinar 3: Technical solutions for prevention and control of AMR in the environment 

The third webinar provided an overview of:

• Conceptualization of how to prevent and control AMR in the environment through point source and diffuse mechanisms
• Description of effective approaches to preventing and controlling AMR in the environment through safely managed water and sanitation systems, approaches to improve pharmaceutical manufacturing processes and agri-food production
• Understanding of implementing effective approaches in practice

Watch the recording of Webinar 3 in English, French and Spanish. 

Webinar 4: Governance approaches for prevention and control of AMR in the environment

This fourth webinar provided an overview of:

• Understand the overall AMR National Action Plan (NAP) process and the role of AMR in the environment in NAPs
• Describe effective approaches for governance for AMR in the environment at the global level and for NAP design and implementation at the country level

Watch the recording of Webinar 4 in English, French and Spanish.