Explore the Faculty
Professor Ian Barr, Deputy Director, WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza, VIDRL and Doherty Institute, Melbourne, Australia
Professor Ian Barr is currently the Deputy Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza which was designated in 1992 (one of 5 globally). The Centre plays a key role in the national and regional surveillance of human and zoonotic influenza viruses as well as having an active research program. Ian has over 35 years’ experience with academic and commercial organisations, including 25 years at the Centre. He has authored or co-authored over 300 scientific publications including more than 250 peer reviewed journal articles, reviews and editorials on various aspects of influenza and RSV.
Dr. Michelle Wille, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Pathogen Genomics, WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza
Dr Michelle Wille is a Senior Research Fellow and Outreach Coordinator at the WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza and the University of Melbourne. Dr Wille is an expert in avian virus ecology and evolution, with a long standing interest in avian influenza. She is a member of OFFLU (OIE/FAO Network of Expertise on Animal Influenza) and sits on numerous working groups and committees aiming to develop guidelines for undertaking surveillance, performing diagnostics, and advise on appropriate response measures. She has extensively contributed to preparation activities for HPAI in Australia and Antarctica, including undertaking risk assessments and providing expert advice.
Emma Rooke, Assistant Director, One Health Unit, Interim Centre for Disease Control
Dr Archana Koirala, Paediatrician and Infectious Diseases Specialist; Clinical Researcher, University of Sydney
Dr Archana Koirala is a paediatric infectious diseases physician at the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance, The Children’s Hospital at Westmead and Nepean Hospital. She manages the New South Wales Immunisation Specialist Service and is a Clinical Lecturer at the University of Sydney. She has an interest in respiratory virus transmission and impact in children and has assisted NSW Health on their RSV prevention program. Dr Koirala is also the Chair of ASID,s VACSIG and a member of the ANZPID Committee.
A/Prof Katherine Gibney, NHMRC Principal Research Fellow
A/Prof Katherine Gibney is an infectious diseases physician, public health physician and medical epidemiologist. She is deputy director of the Victorian Infectious Diseases Service (VIDS) at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, and a principal research fellow in the Department of Infectious Diseases at the University of Melbourne. Katherine leads clinical research trials in invasive streptococcal infections and epidemiological research into infectious diseases of public health importance, including vaccine preventable diseases. She is a member of ATAGI and contributed to the RSV immunisation product working groups of ATAGI and the WHO.
Professor Peter Richmond, Consultant Paediatric Immunologist, Perth Children’s Hospital
Professor Peter Richmond is a
Consultant Paediatric Immunologist and Paediatrician at Perth Children’s Hospital
and is Head of the Immunology Department at the Child and Adolescent Health
Service in WA. He also heads the Vaccine Trials Group within the Wesfarmers
Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases at the Telethon Kids Institute and
is Head of the Discipline of Paediatrics at the UWA Medical School. His major
research interests are in the prevention of meningitis, pneumonia, respiratory
infections and otitis media. He has authored over 300 scientific publications
in these areas and has worked in vaccine research for over 25 years.
Professor Paul Kelly, former Chief Medical Officer and Head of Interim Australian Centre for Disease Control
Professor Paul Kelly was the Chief Medical Officer during most of the COVID pandemic, acting as the principal advisor to the Australian Government and chair of the Australian Health Protection Committee. He was the inaugural Head of Interim Australian Centre for Disease Control during 2024. A public health physician and epidemiologist by training, Professor Kelly has previously worked in research, health systems development, post-graduate teaching and as a health service executive in several Australian and international jurisdictions. He has a particular interest in emerging infectious diseases and pandemic preparedness.
A/Prof Claire Hooker, Associate Professor and Risk Communication Researcher, Health and Medical Humanities / Arts and Health at University of Sydney
Claire Hooker is Associate Professor in Health and Medical Humanities at Sydney Health Ethics and President of the Arts Health Network NSW/ACT.
Claire’s research supports people to flourish through good communication and understanding. Her current research includes a range of projects in risk communication about infectious disease and environmental health risks, as well as in arts and health. Claire is especially interested in methods that enable improved communication where there is significant disagreement or conflict. With the Sydney Arts and Health Collective, she created the verbatim theatre play Grace Under Pressure, which has been performed widely in hospitals to improve healthcare workplace culture.
Claire has published 4 books and 85 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, found here or via ORCiD.
Professor Allen Cheng, Professor/Director, Infectious Diseases, Monash Health
Allen works as an infectious diseases’ physician. His key interests are in influenza, antibiotic resistance and hospital-acquired infections.
He is involved in influenza surveillance in Australian hospitals as well as clinical trials in infectious diseases and infection prevention.
He is Professor/Director of Monash Infectious Diseases at Monash Health and the School of Clinical Sciences at Monash University. He has a PhD (Flinders University), a Master of Public Health (Monash University) and a Master of Biostatistics (University of Queensland).
Prof Cheng is a past President of the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases (ASID). He has been a member of expert writing groups for several national guidelines, including Therapeutic Guidelines: Antibiotic and Australian Infection Control Guidelines for NHMRC. He was Chair of the Advisory Committee for Vaccines and previously Co-Chair of the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he was Acting Victorian Chief Health Officer.
Professor Ramon Z.Shaban, Clinical Chair of Communicable Disease Control and Infection Prevention, Sydney Infectious Diseases Institute and Sydney Nursing School of the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney and at Western Sydney Local Health District
Professor Ramon Z. Shaban a leading internationally credentialed practising expert infection control practitioner with strengths in high-consequence infectious diseases, communicable disease control, emergency care and health protection. He is Clinical Chair of Communicable Disease Control and Infection Prevention jointly appointed at the Sydney Infectious Diseases Institute and Sydney Nursing School of the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney and at Western Sydney Local Health District. He is also Associate Director (Engagement and Research) of the New South Wales Biocontainment Centre, Australia's first purpose-built state-of-the-art facility for the prevention, containment and management of high-consequence infectious disease located at Westmead Hospital in New South Wales.
Dr Gemma Reynolds, Infectious Diseases Physician; Austin Health and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
Dr Gemma Reynolds is an Infectious Diseases Physician and Medical Lead for Antimicrobial Stewardship at Austin Health in Melbourne, Australia. She is a Research Fellow with the National Centre for Antimicrobial Stewardship and is completing a PhD supported by the NHMRC, focusing on infection prevention and risk stratification in immunocompromised populations.
Her clinical and research interests centre on the application of antimicrobial stewardship, infection prevention strategies, and targeted prophylaxis in patients receiving immunomodulatory therapies, including CAR-T cells, bispecific antibodies, and B-cell depleting agents.
Dr Patricia Ferguson, Infectious Diseases Physician, Associate Director, Education and Training, NSW Biocontainment Centre
Trish is an infectious diseases physician at Westmead Hospital. She has many years’ experience as the clinical lead for infection prevention at Blacktown and Westmead Hospitals and is passionate about patient and staff safety. Trish became involved with the NSW Biocontainment Centre located in the Westmead Precinct during its early development. As the Associate Director (Education and Training) she leads a strong multidisciplinary team preparing healthcare workers to safely manage patients with high consequence infectious diseases, and collaborates with international high level isolation units to achieve this.
Associate Professor Krispin Hajkowicz, Senior Staff Specialist at the Herston Infectious Diseases
A/Prof Krispin Hajkowicz is an Infectious Diseases Physician and the former Director of Infectious Diseases at RBWH, the founding director of the Herston Infectious Diseases Institute (HeIDI) and a PhD Student at the University of Sydney, in Eddie Holmes’ viral evolution laboratory. He is a former ASID counsillor and chair of the Viral Hepatitis Special Interest Group. His research focus areas are: rapid metagenomic sequencing (total RNASeq) of clinical samples in hospitalised patients with severe infections, particularly those who are immunocompromised and the epidemiology, phylodynamics and hospital burden of disease of RSV and other respiratory viruses in adults. He is a trail running enthusiast and Arsenal Football Club tragic.
Dr Craig Dalton, Public Health Physician, Conjoint Assoc. Professor, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia
Craig Dalton is a public health physician with a MMSc in Clinical Epidemiology from the University of Newcastle and is a graduate of the CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service, Atlanta, Georgia. He completed a Preventive Medicine Fellowship in the Foodborne and Diarrhoeal Disease Branch at CDC in 1995.
He is the founder of Flutracking.net - one of the largest online participatory surveillance system in the world with over 150,000 Australians reporting their flu-like symptoms every week in winter across Australia and New Zealand in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He won Research Australia's Data Innovation Award for Flutracking in 2018
Dr John-Sebastian Eden, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Virus Research - Westmead Institute for Medical Research & Sydney Infectious Diseases Institute - University of Sydney
Dr John-Sebastian Eden is a Senior Research Fellow in the Faculty of Medicine and Health who leads a research group in the Centre for Virus Research at the Westmead Institute for Medical Research. His team uses genomics to understand RNA virus emergence and evolution, particularly in the context of zoonotic disease at the interface of human-animal health
Professor Vitali Sintchenko, Clinical Microbiologist, School of Medical Sciences, Faculty Member, Sydney Infectious Diseases Institute (SydneyID)
Professor Vitali Sintchenko leads the Pathogen Emergence and Spread Research Theme at the Sydney Infectious Diseases Institute (SydneyID) of the University of Sydney. As a clinical pathologist , he supervises public health microbial genomics service based at the Institute of Clinical Pathology and Medical Research – New South Wales Health Pathology, Westmead Hospital. His primary research interests are in genomics, advanced diagnostics and epidemiology bacterial pathogens with epidemic potential and the integration of genomics into new models of precision medicine and public health.
PANELLIST
Clin A/Prof Matthew O’Sullivan is an Infectious Diseases Physician, Head of Department of Infectious Diseases and Director of the NSW Specialist Service for High Consequence Infectious Diseases, (incorporating the NSW Biocontainment Centre) at Westmead Hospital.
He is also a Clinical Microbiologist with NSW Health Pathology at the Institute for Clinical Pathology and Medical Research (ICPMR) at Westmead. He has deployed internationally to Infectious Diseases outbreaks with the Australian Medical Assistance Team (AUSMAT) and to Sierra Leone during the West African Ebola outbreak of 2014-15.
Prof Catherine Bennett, Deakin Distinguished Professor and Chair in Epidemiology
Catherine is Distinguished Professor and the foundation Chair in Epidemiology at Deakin University. Over her career, her experience as an infectious disease epidemiologist and public health researcher extends across universities and government, including NSW Health and the Victorian Government. She was Director of Population Health Practice at the University of Melbourne before joining Deakin as Head, School of Health and Social Development from 2010-2019. Her research focusses on community transmission of infectious diseases and antibiotic resistance. Catherine is a public health analyst and advisor to industry, governments, and institutions globally, and as one of the three-person Independent Panel that led the Australian Government COVID-19 Response Inquiry.
Dr Andrea Britton, One Health co-convenor Public Health Association of Australia and One Health Lecturer Adelaide University
Andrea is a global One Health Advisor, and talented knowledge broker with a strong background in Public Health, epidemiology, stakeholder engagement, policy development, zoonotic disease control, antimicrobial resistance, strengthening surveillance systems and laboratory capacity, and emergency disease prevention, preparedness and response (PPR). She works at the human-animal-agriculture and ecosystem interface with emerging and re-emerging diseases. With Agriculture, Veterinary Science and Public Health training and extensive international development experience and networks, she is keen to support operationalising One Health at all levels.
Dr Megan Steain, Lecturer, School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney
Dr Megan Steain is a virologist with expertise in studying host-pathogen interactions, as well as engineering viral vectors to address multiple health challenges. She is a senior lecturer in the Infection, Immunity and Inflammation theme within the School of Medical Sciences at the University of Sydney, and the Deputy Chair of the Institutional Biosafety Committee. She has over 20 years’ experience working with pathogenic human viruses, including HIV, SARS-CoV-2, varicella zoster virus, and herpes simplex virus-1.PANELLIST
Dr Kerry Chant, Chief Health Officer and Deputy Secretary, Population and Public Health, NSW Health.
Kerry has extensive public health experience in New South Wales (NSW), having held a range of senior positions in NSW Health since 1991. She currently leads the Population and Public Health Division at the Ministry of Health and is responsible for a broad portfolio including communicable disease control, surveillance and epidemiology, prevention of chronic diseases, drug and alcohol, oral health, and voluntary assisted dying.
Kerry has a particular interest in blood-borne virus infections, Aboriginal health and communicable disease prevention and control. Throughout her career Kerry has provided leadership and advocacy on key public health issues including reducing obesity, aiming for the virtual elimination of HIV transmission in NSW, promoting tobacco control and supporting hepatitis C treatment and control.
PANELLIST
Professor Kristine Macartney, Director, NCIRS
Professor Kristine Macartney is an infectious diseases paediatrician specialising in vaccinology. She is a medical graduate of the University of New South Wales and undertook her specialty training in Sydney and in the United States at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Her Doctorate of Medicine was on rotavirus infection, in particular the mucosal immune response to novel vaccine candidates. She was a foundational member of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Kristine is currently the Director of the Australian National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance (NCIRS), a paediatric infectious disease consultant at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead and a Professor in the Discipline of Paediatrics and Child Health, University of Sydney. Her research interests include translation of evidence into policy and practice, vaccine safety, and most other areas of vaccine preventable diseases research, particularly in relation to rotavirus, varicella zoster virus and influenza. She is the senior editor of the Australian Immunisation Handbook and has authored >290 peer-reviewed publications. She is a member of the Advisory Committee on Vaccines (ACV) of the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), the Communicable Diseases Network of Australia (CDNA) and the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI). She has acted as an expert consultant to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and is a member of the WHO Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety (GACVS) and WHO SAGE working groups. Kristine leads the Australian national AusVaxSafety and Paediatric Active Enhanced Disease Surveillance (PAEDS) networks, and is the founding chair of the Australian Regional Immunisation Alliance (ARIA). She established and leads the NCIRS global team that has a program of work supporting >10 countries across the Asia Pacific region in immunisation system strengthening across a range of domains.
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