British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy
| Abbreviation | BSAC |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1971 |
| Purpose | Working to prevent infectious diseases around the world |
| Headquarters | Birmingham, United Kingdom |
President | Professor Andrew Seaton |
Former President | Dr David Jenkins |
CEO | Michael Corley |
The British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC) is a UK-based multi-professional organisation committed to preventing infectious diseases and tackling the growing threat of drug-resistant infections – one of the top global public health and development threats.[1]
As one of the world’s largest networks of infection specialists, BSAC has thousands of members[2] and works with a wide range of stakeholders, including researchers, scientists, health care providers, policymakers, and industry leaders to support their work and help them reach a global audience.
On receiving BSAC's highest award, the Garrod Medal,[3] in 2021, Dame Sally Davies, the UK's Special Envoy on Antimicrobial Resistance, commented: "For fifty years, BSAC have been at the forefront of the global fight against AMR...enabling communities globally to be more than the sum of their parts."[4]
Activities
Current BSAC activities include:
- Publishes the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy[5] and its sister publication, JAC-AMR.[6]
- Provides accreditation to hospitals as part of its Global Antimicrobial Stewardship Scheme (GAMSAS),[7] a programme of work that was used as a case study in the Government of the United Kingdom's National Action Plan on antimicrobial resistance, ‘Confronting antimicrobial resistance 2024 to 2029’.[8]
- Out-patient parenteral antibiotic therapy (OPAT) Initiative. The OPAT Initiative is involved in the development of a body of evidence that include good practice recommendations, a business case toolkit and a patient management system to support clinicians in the provision of parenteral antibiotics away from the hospital in-patient setting.[9]
Former activity includes the BSAC Resistance Surveillance Project, a twenty-year undertaking in the systematic surveillance of antimicrobial resistance in infections of the blood (bacteraemia) and lower respiratory tract.[10] The almost 100,000 isolates gathered during the project were subsequently transferred to the University of Dundee in partnership with the University of St Andrews and made available for further research.[11]
References
- ^ World Health Organization
- ^ BSAC website
- ^ Garrod Lecture & Medal
- ^ via Twitter
- ^ Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy website
- ^ JAC-AMR website
- ^ GAMSAS website
- ^ Confronting antimicrobial resistance 2024 to 2029
- ^ Out-Patient Antimicrobial Therapy website
- ^ "Two Decades of BSAC Resistance Surveillance". Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. 80 (Supplement 4). October 2025. ISSN 1460-2091.
- ^ "Universities gifted 'invaluable' collection". University of Dundee. 22 November 2021. Retrieved 25 January 2026.