The Global Health Institute’s January Global Health Tuesday Webinar is scheduled for Tuesday, January 27, 2026, from 9-10am CST. Laurel Legenza, Associate Professor, School of Nursing, UW–Madison, moderates a timely conversation on Local to Global Rise in Antimicrobial Resistance.
Legenza will lead the discussion with panelists François Franceschi, Head of Asset Evaluation and Development and Serious Bacterial Infections Project Leader, Global Antibiotic Research & Development Partnership (GARDP); and Dr. Erta Kalanxhi, Fellow and Director of Partnerships, One Health Trust.
Please register for the webinar with this link.
MEET THE MODERATOR:
LAUREL LEGENZA
Associate Professor, School of Nursing, UW–Madison
Laurel Legenza is an associate professor in the School of Nursing at UW–Madison. Prior to her appointment, she was a postdoctoral fellow and director of Global Health at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Pharmacy. Legenza is interested in addressing health inequities locally and globally and is leading research projects in Wisconsin and South Africa connected to antimicrobial stewardship and strengthening health systems. She is also an active member of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP).
MEET THE PANELISTS:
FRANÇOIS FRANCESCHI
Head of Asset Evaluation and Development and Serious Bacterial Infections Project Leader, Global Antibiotic Research & Development Partnership (GARDP)
François Franceschi has worked at GARDP since April 2018 and has over 30 years of experience in the area of antimicrobials. Prior to working with GARDP, François served as Program Officer for Therapeutics Development (antibacterial and antifungal) at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in Bethesda, Maryland, where he also served as NIAID’s liaison to CARB-X and as a member of its Scientific and Milestone Review Boards. From 2002 to 2012, he held various Director positions in Antibiotic R&D at Rib-X Pharmaceuticals (now Melinta Therapeutics) in New Haven, Connecticut. From 1990 until 2002 François was Principal Investigator at the Max Planck Institute for Molekulare Genetik in Berlin, Germany, where his research was devoted to the structure and function of ribosomes, especially in complex with antibiotics. His group at the MPI was a pivotal part of an international consortium headed by Ada Yonath, the winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2009.
François earned a PhD in Chemistry at the Frei Universität Berlin, and his undergraduate degree in Biology at Universidad Simon Bolívar in Venezuela.
Dr. Erta Kalanxhi
Fellow and Director of Partnerships, One Health Trust
Dr. Erta Kalanxhi is a Fellow and Director of Partnerships based in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
At the One Health Trust, Dr. Kalanxhi is involved in projects across several countries in Africa and Asia. She leads OHT’s efforts to advocate the value of vaccines as a critical tool for mitigating antimicrobial resistance in low- and middle-income countries and collaborates with the World Health Organization to develop policy briefs on the implementation of national strategies for antimicrobial resistance. Additionally, Dr. Kalanxhi contributes to the Mapping Antimicrobial Resistance and Antimicrobial Use Partnership project, which aims to close the knowledge gap on antimicrobial use and resistance in 14 African countries.
As Director of Partnerships, Dr. Kalanxhi is involved in developing communication strategies at OHT and forging collaborations with other organizations committed to addressing pressing global health issues today.
Dr. Kalanxhi received a Ph.D. in cancer research from the University of Oslo and an MSc in epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.