Antibiotics: Cherish or Perish | Dr. Elizabeth Hermsen | TEDxOmaha

Antibiotics are a precious commodity that we need to cherish to save lives. We are faced with an incurable epidemic of antibiotic resistant bacteria that can be spread from person to person. If we are not to return to the pre-antibiotic era where death from infection was a constant we need to change our behavior quickly. Any operation, childbirth, organ transplants, cancer treatments, chest infections and septic cuts, taking antibiotics has become the norm, the expected, the fall back choice. If we don’t get an antibiotic we feel cheated. That needs to change. The medical profession and all of us have a critical role to play in deliberate stewardship of this resource. A native Omahan, Dr. Elizabeth Hermsen is the Head of Global Antimicrobial Stewardship at Merck & Co., Inc., where she focuses on optimizing antimicrobial use through education, research, and advocacy. She received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Nebraska Medical Center followed by a pharmacy practice residency at The Nebraska Medical Center, and an infectious diseases fellowship and master’s degree in business administration at the University of Minnesota.