Research
Interests
Dr. Owens’ research interests include antimicrobial pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, antimicrobial stewardship (serves on the IDSA/SHEA Guideline Committee in this area), C. difficile-associated disease (one of the individuals who discovered the epidemic, BI/NAP1 strain), health outcomes & economics, as well as antimicrobial therapy in the geriatric population, among others. He has functioned as the principle investigator and co-investigator on numerous Phase I-IV studies since 1995 and has over 100 abstracts and publications in the peer-reviewed literature including journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine and Clinical Infectious Diseases. He has recently served as the editor-in-chief of two books on antimicrobial stewardship (2005, Marcel Dekker) and antimicrobial resistance (2007, Informa Healthcare). In 2006, he and his coauthors were awarded the “James H. Nakano Citation for Outstanding Paper Published in 2005” by the National Center for Infectious Diseases and the CDC, and the “Infectious Diseases Pharmacotherapy Impact Paper of the Year award” by the Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists. The antimicrobial stewardship program run by Drs. Owens and Stogsdill, has won two Paul M. Cox, Jr., Memorial medical quality awards at Maine Medical Center (2003, 2006). In 2007, Dr. Owens was selected to author the C. difficile-associated disease module for Pharmacotherapy Board Certification for ACCP.
Dr. Owens locally, nationally and internationally represents Maine Medical Center and has furthered his profession by serving as a member of the CLSI subcommittee on inpatient medication use and was appointed as consultant to the Anti-Infective Advisory Committee of the FDA (SGE status) in 2006. He is also a member of the editorial boards of Pharmacotherapy, Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, TheraDoc, and the Tarascon Pocket Pharmacopeia and serves as an ad hoc reviewer for numerous other journals that include the New England Journal of Medicine, Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, the Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal, and Clinical Infectious Diseases. |
Selected
Publications
Owens RC Jr, Patel KP, Nicolau DP, Banevicius MA, Quintiliani R. and Nightingale C.H. Pharmacokinetics and Bioavailability of Ciprofloxacin in Patients with AIDS. Antimicrobial Agents & Chemotherapy 1997;41(7):1508-1511.
Owens RC Jr, Banevicius MA, Nicolau DP, Nightingale CH and Quintiliani R.
Evaluation of In-vitro Synergy Between Tobramycin and Selected -lactams Against Gram-Negative Nosocomial Pathogens. Antimicrobial Agents & Chemotherapy 1997;41(11):2586-2588.
Keung AC-F, Owens RC Jr, Eller MG, Weir SJ, Nicolau DP and Nightingale CH. Pharmacokinetic Evaluation of Rifapentine in Patients Infected with HIV: A Phase I Study. Antimicrobial Agents & Chemotherapy1999;43(5):1230-1233.
Onyeji CO, Bui KQ, Owens RC Jr, Nicolau DP, Quintiliani R and Nightingale CH. Comparative Efficacies of Levofloxacin and Ciprofloxacin Against Streptococcus Pneumoniae in a Mouse Model of Experimental Septicemia. International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents 1999;12:107-114.
Owens RC Jr and Ambrose PG. Antimicrobial Therapy. Clinical Use of the Fluoroquinolones. Medical Clinics of North America. 2000;84(6):1447-1469.
Owens RC Jr, Tessier P, Nightingale CH, Ambrose PG, Quintiliani R, Nicolau DP. Pharmacodynamics of ceftriaxone and cefixime against community-acquired respiratory tract pathogens. International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents 2001;17:483-489.
Ambrose PG, Owens RC Jr, Garvey MJ, Jones RN. Pharmacodynamic Considerations in the Treatment of Moderate to Severe Pseudomonal Infections with Cefepime. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy 2002;49:445-453.
Ambrose PG, Bhavnani SM, Owens RC Jr. Clinical Pharmacodynamics of Quinolones. Infectious Disease Clinics of North America. 2003;17:529-43.
McDonald LC, Killgore GE, Thompson A, Owens RC Jr, Kazakova SV, Sambol SP, Johnson S, Gerding DN. Emergence of an Epidemic, Toxin Gene Variant Strain of Clostridium difficle Responsible for Outbreaks in the United States Between 2000 and 2004. New England Journal of Medicine2005;353:2433-2441.
Owens RC Jr, Rice LB. Hospital Based Strategies to Reduce Resistance. Clinical Infectious Diseases 2006;42:S173-81.
Owens RC Jr, Nolin TD. Antimicrobial-Associated QT Prolongation: Pointes of Interest. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 2006,43:1603-11.
Dellit TH, Owens RC Jr, McGowan JE Jr, Gerding DN, Weinstein RA, Huskins WC, Paterson DL, Fishman NO, Carpenter C, Brennan PJ, Billeter M, Hooton TM. Infectious Diseases Society of America and the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America Guidelines for Developing an Institutional Program to Enhance Antimicrobial Stewardship. Clinical Infectious Diseases. 2007;44:159-77.
Owens RC Jr. Clostridium difficile-Associated Disease: Changing Epidemiology and Implications for Management. Drugs. 2007;67:487-502.
Fawley WN, Underwood S, Freeman J, Baines SD, Saxton K, Stephenson K, Owens RC Jr, Wilcox MH. Efficacy of Hospital Cleaning Agents and Germicides Against Epidemic Clostridium difficile Strains. Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology 2007;28:920-5.
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