We are excited to announce that the Levy CIMAR’s own Alysse Wurcel, MD, MS, will present for our September 29^th Science Seminar, our first talk of the ’22-’23 season. Dr. Wurcel is an Attending Physician in Geographic Medicine and Infectious Diseases at Tufts Medical Center whose research focuses on disparities and equity in healthcare. She is primarily interested in the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases in people who use drugs and people who are incarcerated. Her talk is titled, “Antimicrobial Stewardship in Jails and Prisons: When Will Then be Now?”

Dr. Wurcel has written on many topics including racial disparities in the prescribing of antibiotics. Looking at inpatient data for one study, she and collaborators found that Black inpatients were less likely to receive cefazolin and more likely to receive clindamycin compared with White inpatients. Cefazolin is one of the first-line skin and soft tissue infection  treatments. Clindamycin is not recommended given frequent dosing and high potential for adverse effects including Clostridioides difficile infection. (Source)

You can learn more about Dr. Wurcel here.