PAR-18-604 Vet-LIRN Network Capacity-building Proposal Project Summary/Abstract The impact of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in veterinary medicine, as in human healthcare, is widespread and can often include negative patient outcomes and increased treatment costs. Resistant bacteria can contaminate hospital environments and can pose a public health risk of zoonotic transmission. Antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASP) have become the foundation for responding to the antimicrobial resistance crisis in human healthcare, but ASPs in veterinary practice remain significantly undeveloped. At the Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine (OSU-CVM), we began developing a Veterinary ASP for our OSU Veterinary Medical Center (OSU-VMC) in 2015. The OSU-CVM BuckeyeASP now provides a framework based on our successful existing program that can be adapted to private veterinary practice. In fall 2020, the BuckeyeASP, a three-year certification program will be offered without cost by the OSU-CVM Antimicrobial Stewardship Working Group (ASWG) to private veterinary practices in Ohio. The program will be promoted by the OSU-CVM and the Ohio Veterinary Medical Association (OVMA). Two primary components of the BuckeyeASP, are the active surveillance of hospital environments and the passive surveillance of clinical isolates recovered from veterinary patients. The three main aims of this proposal are 1) understand the molecular epidemiology of nosocomial infections in primary care and referral veterinary medical facilities in Ohio; 2) establish the impact of veterinary antimicrobial stewardship and infection control program implementation on the patient risk of nosocomial infection in primary care veterinary practices, and 3) create and disseminate antimicrobial stewardship and infection control recommendations for primary care veterinary practices in Ohio. We propose to purchase automated equipment to improve our pathogen sequencing capacity and compile data on nosocomial AMR infections in veterinary medicine. In addition, the Clinical Diagnostic Laboratory of the VMC at Ohio State will adopt emerging technologies currently used to investigate nosocomial infections as well as foodborne illness outbreaks. The adoption of these new technologies will allow the laboratory to train personnel, participate in proficiency tests offered by the Vet-LIRN, and most importantly, to support the network in case investigations when needed.