Patrick McGann

Patrick McGann, PhD serves as Deputy Director of the Multidrug-Resistant Organism Repository and Surveillance Network (MRSN) at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR), where he oversees the Department of Defense's sole real-time surveillance system for multi-drug resistant bacteria across military healthcare facilities.

His research focuses on antimicrobial resistance mechanisms, hospital-acquired infection epidemiology, and next-generation sequencing applications for outbreak investigations. Dr. McGann's laboratory has evolved into a high-throughput sequencing core that tracks resistance gene transmission using both long and short-read technologies, with landmark contributions including the first U.S. detection of the mcr-1 colistin resistance gene in 2016.

Notable recognitions include:

• Army Achievement Medal (2019)
• Commander's Award for Civilian Service (2021)

With over 90 peer-reviewed publications, Dr. McGann actively mentors research staff in genomic epidemiology and serves as a peer reviewer for major scientific journals. His leadership in the MRSN directly informs antimicrobial stewardship policies across the Military Health System through real-time resistance tracking and outbreak response capabilities.