Global Health

GLOBAL CHILD HEALTH CLINIC

Dr. Michelow is a co-investigator on an NIH-funded grant entitled “Combatting AntiMicrobial Resistance in Africa Using Data Science (CAMRA)”. The project fosters collaborations between physician-scientists, molecular biologists, epidemiologists, pharmacists, and infection preventionists from Africa and the United States. The team studies invasive infections in Nigerian and Rwandan children, who have high mortality rates caused by bacteria that harbor genetic elements encoding extensive antimicrobial resistance. There are sparse diagnostic services in these regions and the precise mechanisms of drug resistance are poorly defined.

The research project has three primary goals:

  1. Comparatively study bacterial isolates from children, household animals and the environment using phenotypic and genotypic methods to inform trends in antimicrobial resistance and dynamics of transmission to children
  2. Identify inflammatory biomarkers associated with serious infections and signatures of resistant bacteria to create a portable screening tool for clinical care
  3. Evaluate the effectiveness of aminoglycoside-antimicrobial peptide complexes against multi-drug resistant organisms. Dr. Michelow mentors Pediatric Infectious Diseases fellows and other trainees who have an interest in global health research.

Dr. Melissa Held started the Global Child Health Clinic in partnership with Connecticut Children's to provide excellent care to refugee children, displaced children and travel medicine related needs. The clinic is primarily run by the UConn pediatric residents and supervised by Dr. Held and her colleagues to do the initial assessment for refugee, displaced or adopted children and make appropriate referrals. Additionally, the clinic, which is housed in the Infectious Disease division, also provides travel-related consultation and counseling to children.