Kenneth Urish, associate professor of orthopaedic surgery, School of Medicine, and of bioengineering, Swanson School of Engineering, presented his lecture Bad to the Bone: Orthopaedic Infection as a winner of the 2024 Pitt Health Sciences Ascending Star Award. The award recognizes highly productive and creative mid-career faculty members in the health sciences.
The most common major surgical procedure in the United States is joint replacement. Infection is the most severe complication and largest reason for failure of these operations. Infection is a devastating diagnosis, often requiring multiple surgical procedures over several years, with a mortality rate higher than that of most cancers. The Urish lab has focused on understanding the mechanism behind biofilm antibiotic tolerance and applying this understanding to current treatments for infection. Urish’s work has resulted in a new class of antibiotics (PLG0206), antibiotic delivery systems and bacteriophage therapy. These treatments can be applied across surgical and medical device infections.
