Postdoc Receives Fellowship to Study the Impact of Poor-Quality Medicines for Tuberculosis on Antimicrobial Resistance
By Liz Sheeley
Carly Ching, a postdoctoral associate, has been awarded The USP Quality Institute Fellowship in Quality Medical Products. She will continue to study the role of poor-quality medicines in fostering antimicrobial resistance, which, her advisor, Professor Muhammad Zaman (BME), says “continues to be one of the greatest public health challenges of our time.”
“We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Ching as our first fellow at Boston University in the Quality Institute’s expanded fellowship program,” says Erin Wilhelm, director of the USP Quality Institute. “Quality medicines are important to public health in general, but they are especially critical to ensuring the success of strategies aimed at addressing AMR.”
Ching will investigate the role of substandard fluoroquinolone antibiotics, a common tuberculosis treatment, in contributing to resistance. Using E. coli as a model for tuberculosis, the research entails lab-based tests to model how resistance emerges among tuberculosis-causing bacteria when exposed to substandard treatments, or medicines that either lack the correct dose of the active ingredient or contain impurities that may harm patients. The research will also include a field survey to measure medicine quality in a particular region where tuberculosis is prevalent.
The USP Quality Institute is an independent research-center that generates and disseminates research and data on the benefits of quality medicines, helping to build a foundation for a healthier world. Through its partnerships with leading academic research institutions, the Quality Institute will inform evidence-based policy decisions that can help increase the availability of quality medicines everywhere.