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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today  $26 million in grants through 2020 to five academic medical centers conducting research to prevent healthcare-associated and antibiotic-resistant infections as part of the agency’s Prevention Epicenters Program. The recipients are: Chicago Prevention and Intervention Epicenter at Rush University and Cook County Health and Hospitals System; Duke University and the University of North Carolina; The Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and University of California, Irvine; The University of Pennsylvania; and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and BJC Healthcare Prevention Epicenter. The funding is part of CDC’s Antibiotic Resistance Solutions . The Chicago Epicenter also received $4.45 million from CDC’s Safety and Healthcare Evaluation and Research Development contract to develop and test regional approaches for preventing transmission of antibiotic-resistant germs between health care facilities. “For nearly two decades, the Epicenters have advanced the fight against healthcare-associated infections with practical clinical innovations that have saved lives,” said CDC Director Tom Frieden, M.D. “Antibiotic-resistant infections are on the rise, making this research even more critical today than ever.”