Dr. Chris Daniel Reports on Efforts to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance

Dr. Chris Daniel filed a long post at smartglobalhealth.org on a discussion at the Instute of Medicine about  antimicrobial resistance (AMR), a worrisome trend in which infections prove resistant to treatment by antibiotics. Daniel wrote,

AMR’s human and economic costs are staggering. In the U.S. alone, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates 23,000 deaths annually from drug-resistant bacterial infections, $20 billion in direct health care costs, and $35 billion in lost productivity.  

The worst could be yet to come. Last week, the World Health Organization called AMR a threat “so serious that it threatens the achievements of modern medicine,” requiring action across all sectors of government and society. Echoing similar pronouncements by CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden and others, the WHO noted that “a post-antibiotic era – in which common infections and minor injuries can kill – far from being an apocalyptic fantasy, is instead a very real possibility for the 21st Century.”

SmartGlobalHealth.org is the website for the Global Health Policy Center at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington D.C. The Global Health Policy Center is a leading policy research institution focused on building bipartisan awareness about global health and its importance to U.S. national security.

Daniel is a senior associate with CSIS’s Global Health Policy Center, where he focuses on the intersection of global health and security, including health diplomacy. A retired U.S. Navy Captain with extensive interagency and international senior leadership experience, Daniel was the first Naval Officer to serve as Deputy Commander of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC), which conducts innovative and lifesaving research, development and acquisition to deliver, distribute and maintain medical information, products, supplies and equipment to the U.S. military community.

An earlier post by Daniel on a related issue, "Fighting Drug-resistant Malaria with Bad Drugs," appeared last November. The CSIS published his report, "Drug-Resistant Malaria: A Generation of Progress in Jeopardy," last November and a PDF of it is available here.

Jed Rubenfeld Co-Writes The Triple Package" with the One and Only Tiger Mom

We're a little late to the literary furor, but we certainly wanted to note the publication of the latest furor-provoking book co-write by classmate Jed Rubenfeld and his wife and fellow Yale Law professor, Amy Chua. "The Triple Package" looks at the success in the U.S. of specific ethnic groups and seeks to analyze the factors behind their success. Promotional materials lay out the book's thesis:

Why do some groups rise? Drawing on groundbreaking original research and startling statistics, The Triple Package uncovers the secret to their success. A superiority complex, insecurity, impulse control—these are the elements of the Triple Package, the rare and potent cultural constellation that drives disproportionate group success. The Triple Package is open to anyone. America itself was once a Triple Package culture. It’s been losing that edge for a long time now. Even as headlines proclaim the death of upward mobility in America, the truth is that the old-fashioned American Dream is very much alive—but some groups have a cultural edge, which enables them to take advantage of opportunity far more than others.

For those readers who have been living in an Internet-free isolation chamber for the past four years with no exposure to the furors of American culture, Chua  rose to notoriety in 2011 when she published "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom," about her distinctive mothering style involving her two daughters with Rubenfeld, Sophia and Lulu.

Doug McGrath Nominated for Tony Award-Best Book for "Beautiful: The Carole King Musical"

Versatile writer/director Doug McGrath snagged a Tony nomination for Best Book for his work on "Beautiful: The Carole King Musical," now packing them in at the Stephen Sondheim Theater in New York.

Beautiful earned seven nominations, including Best Supporting Actor for Jarrod Spector '03. McGrath and Spector spoke at a post-matinee Q&A held at the Princeton Club of New York on April 26, an event organized by Wendy Gerber and the Princeton in the Arts group.

Entertainment Weekly's review of the play said McGrath's "smart, well-crafted and funny book cleverly threads together a memorable catalog of early rock hits."