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Emeritus Professor Ross Barnard

Emeritus Professor
School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences
Faculty of Science
Availability:
Available for supervision
Media expert
Ross Barnard
Ross Barnard

Associate Professor Scott Beatson

Associate Professor
School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences
Faculty of Science
Availability:
Available for supervision

Scott Beatson is an Associate Professor and NHMRC Career Development Fellow at The University of Queensland (UQ). He specializes in bacterial pathogenomics: using whole-genome sequencing to investigate transmission, pathogenesis and antibiotic resistance in bacteria. Recent work from his group includes genomic analyses of pandrug resistant enterobacteriaceae and the multidrug resistant Escherichia coli ST131 pandemic clone. He was awarded a PhD from UQ for his work in bacterial pathogenesis in 2002 and developed his career in bacterial genomics in the United Kingdom with the support of fellowships from the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 (University of Oxford) and the UK Medical Research Council (University of Birmingham). Since returning to Australia he has held fellowships from both the NHMRC and ARC and has led a successful research group in the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences at UQ since 2008. He is also a member of the Australian Infectious Diseases Research Centre and the Australian Centre for Ecogenomics. In 2016 he received the Frank Fenner Award from the Australian Society for Microbiology in recognition of his contribution to microbiology research in Australia.

Scott Beatson
Scott Beatson

Professor Scott Bell

ATH - Professor
Child Health Research Centre
Faculty of Medicine
Availability:
Available for supervision
Scott Bell

Dr Seweryn Bialasiewicz

Senior Research Fellow
School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences
Faculty of Science
Availability:
Available for supervision
Media expert

Dr. Bialasiewicz worked at the Royal Children's Hospital and the Children's Health Queensland HHS for over 18 years conducting translational research and clinical support centering on infectious disease (primarily viral and bacterial) molecular diagnostics, general microbiology and molecular epidemiology. In 2019, he became a group leader at The University of Queensland's Australian Centre for Ecogenomics, expanding on a growing interest in the microbial ecology of the human body, it's role in health and disease, and ways to manipulated to achieve desirable outcomes. One Health microbial ecology, where human health is interconnected with the health of animals (both livestock and wildlife), and the broader environment is also an area of active interest. His background in virology has influenced the work he does, meaning a key focus of his microbial ecology works centres around the interactions between all types of microorgansims (bacteria, archaea, viruses, fungi, and micro-eukaryotes).

Ongoing work includes:

- Leveraging of emerging technologies to explore the hidden microbial diversity and their interactions in the human body.

- Using the technology to develop microbial (e.g. phage)-based treatments or preventatives to complex diseases (e.g. Otitis Media, Chronic Rhinosinusitis, GvHD).

- Understanding the genetics of antibiotic resistance spread.

Seweryn Bialasiewicz
Seweryn Bialasiewicz

Professor Antje Blumenthal

Affiliate Associate Professor
Institute for Molecular Bioscience
Professor
Frazer Institute
Faculty of Medicine
Availability:
Available for supervision
Media expert

Professor Antje Blumenthal combines her expertise in immunology and microbiology to lead research on molecular mechanisms that control immune responses to infection, alongside more recently developed research on new antimicrobials. The overall goal of her research is to improve our ability to treat severe bacterial infections as part of the global efforts to overcome the threat posed by antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Prof Blumenthal graduated with a major in Microbiology from the Christian-Albrechts-University in Kiel, Germany, pursued PhD research in Immunology at the Leibniz Research Center for Medicine and Biosciences Borstel, Germany, and undertook postdoctoral training at Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, USA. She joined The University of Queensland Diamantina Institute in 2010 where she leads the Infection & Inflammation Group, fostering cross-disciplinary collaborations with immunologists, microbiologists, chemists, clinical research teams and industry partners. Her research is enabled by major funding from international and national agencies, and has been recognised internationally and nationally by prestigious awards, speaking invitations at eminent conferences and institutions, invitations to peer-review for esteemed journals and funding agencies. Prof Blumenthal is an enthusiastic undergraduate teacher and research student advisor. She is proactive in advancing the careers of junior scientists, leads the development and implementation of initiatives that promote equity, diversity and inclusion in science, and a positive workplace culture. Through leadership roles within the University and professional societies as well as editorial roles for international journals, Prof Blumenthal actively contributes to the scientific community.

Antje Blumenthal
Antje Blumenthal

Associate Professor Andrew Brooks

Principal Research Fellow
Frazer Institute
Faculty of Medicine
Availability:
Available for supervision
Media expert

Dr Andrew Brooks is the Group Leader of the Cytokine Receptor Signalling Group at the University of Queensland Diamantina Institute (UQ DI) within the Translational Research Institute. Andrew completed his Honours research on Flaviviruses in 1996 at the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at James Cook University and then moved to the Department of Biochemistry to study Dengue Virus where he completed his PhD in 2002. He then moved to St Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, TN, USA where he researched the role of Epstein-Barr Virus in B-cell lymphomagenesis. He then joined the research group headed by Prof Michael Waters at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience, UQ in 2006 and subsequently began his independent research group at UQ DI in 2014. Andrew’s research interests are in cytokine receptors, cell signalling, oncogenesis, and immunology. His current research focus is on the molecular mechanisms of class I cytokine receptor activation including the growth hormone receptor (GHR), thrombopoietin receptor (TpoR/MPL), IL-7 receptor, and IL-6 receptor (IL-6R). In addition, he is investigating the regulation of inflammation by HLA-G. His research has led to publications in journals including Science, Blood, Hepatology, Oncogene, Nature Cell Biology, and PNAS. He has been the secured of over $12 million in research and commercialisation funding from sources including NHMRC, ARC, Innovation Connections, and Merck. He has a number of national and international collaborations, a scientific founder of a start-up company, and is an Editorial Board member for the Journal Cancers and Human Cell. He was previously a committee member of Australian Early-Mid Career Researchers Forum (AEMCRF) launched by the Australian Academy of Science.

Andrew Brooks
Andrew Brooks

Dr Fernanda Cardoso

Senior Research Fellow
Institute for Molecular Bioscience
Availability:
Available for supervision
Media expert

Dr Fernanda Cardoso is a Brazil-born Australian researcher interested in venom peptide-based biodiscovery and therapeutics development. Cardoso was awarded an MSc in Molecular Pharmacology and a PhD with an emphasis in Biochemistry and Immunology and is part of the Institute for Molecular Bioscience, where she develops novel therapies for complex neurological diseases. Cardoso has interdisciplinary training in the fields of neuropharmacology, medicinal chemistry and chemical biology and a strong background in drug discovery, which provides the skills to identify naturally occurring or synthetic bioactive molecules and to study their effects in human physiology with applications in neurologic disorders such as chronic pain, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and motor neuron disease (MND). Please see Dr Cardoso’s Grants and Publications list for more details.

Before joining the University of Queensland, Dr Cardoso was part of the Queensland Institute for Medical Research, holding a prestigious CAPES Postdoctoral Fellowship. During this period, Cardoso developed unique high-throughput screen platforms for discovering protein and peptide targets of novel therapies to combat infectious diseases and novel helminth-derived bioactives with anti-inflammatory properties. Please see Dr Cardoso’s Publications list for more details.

Dr Cardoso is currently part of the Centre for Drug Discovery and manages several industry and academic projects studying ion channel modulators derived from natural repertoires, particularly venoms, and developing novel, effective drugs to treat neurological disorders.

Fernanda Cardoso
Fernanda Cardoso

Professor Keith Chappell

Professor
Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology
Professorial Research Fellow
School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences
Faculty of Science
Availability:
Available for supervision

Keith is Molecular Virologist and group leader with a dual appointment within the Australian Bioengineering and Nanotechnology Institute and the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences. His research is focused on vaccine development and the understanding of medically and environmentally significant viruses. Keith is one of the inventors of a UQ’s molecular clamp platform and is the co-leader of a program to produce a vaccine for COVID-19 at UQ. Keith has played a leading role in designing and implementing an epidemic response vaccine pipeline which enabled the progression of UQ’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate from sequence information to clinical trial dosing within 6 months.

Keith completed his PhD at the University of Queensland in 2007 on the structure and function of flavivirus NS3 protease. Subsequently, he spent three years (2007-2010) as a post-doctoral researcher at one of Spain’s most respected research institutes, Instituto Salud Carlos III, where I conducted research on the fusion protein of Respiratory Syncytial viurs as a target for conformationally specific neutralizing antibodies. Keith returned to UQ in 2011 and his research has focused on understanding of many medically and environmentally important viruses and bacteria, particularly focussing on Influenza, Respiratory Syncytial virus (RSV), SARS-CoV-2, Koala Retrovirus and Streptococcus pneumoniae.

Keith Chappell
Keith Chappell

Associate Professor Paul Dennis

Associate Professor in Env Science
School of the Environment
Faculty of Science
of School of Agriculture and Food S
School of Agriculture and Food Sustainability
Faculty of Science
Affiliate of Centre for Horticultur
Centre for Horticultural Science
Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation
Availability:
Available for supervision

Paul Dennis leads an exciting research group that applies cutting-edge technologies to understand the roles of microorganisms and their responses to environmental change.

He is also a passionate educator and public speaker who advocates for the importance of biological diversity and evidence-based environmental awareness. He has talked about his research on ABC Radio and a range of other media outlets.

His teaching covers aspects of ecology, microbiology, plant and soil science, and climatology. He considers these topics to be of fundamental importance for the development of more sustainable societies and takes pride in helping others to obtain the knowledge and skills they need to build a better future.

Paul's research has taken him to Antarctica, the Amazon Rainforest, high mountains and oceans. The approaches used in his lab draw on a wide range of expertise in molecular biology, ecology, statistics, computer science, advanced imaging and soil science. He applies these skills to a wide-range of topics and systems including plant-microbe interactions, Antarctic marine and terrestrial ecology, biogeography, pollution and human health.

Paul Dennis
Paul Dennis

Professor Denise Doolan

Deputy Director (Research)
Institute for Molecular Bioscience
Availability:
Available for supervision

Professor Denise Doolan is Director of Research at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience. She joined IMB in 2022 and was previously Deputy Director of the Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, and Director of the JCU Centre for Molecular Therapeutics, at James Cook University.

She is a molecular immunologist, working on the development of vaccines, diagnostics and host-directed therapeutics for infectious and chronic diseases that impact global public health, with a particular focus on malaria. Her cross-disciplinary research program spans host-pathogen immunity, antigen discovery, vaccine engineering, and biomarker discovery. A particular interest is the application of state-of-the-art genome-based technologies and human models of disease system to identify novel targets for intervention against disease or that predict risk of disease.

She is a recognized world expert in malaria immunology, vaccinology, and omic-based approaches for therapeutic and diagnostic development. She has been honoured as a Fellow of the International Society for Vaccines (2017) and a Fellow of the Australian Society of Parasitology (2019) in recognition of her leadership and contribution to health and medical science in Australia and internationally.

Professor Doolan serves on a number of Executive Boards and Advisory Boards. Most recently, she has been elected as President of the International Society for Vaccines (2021-2023), and has been appointed to the Federal Government’s Australian Medical Research Advisory Board (AMRAB; 2021-2026) to provide specialist insights into Australia’s medical research and innovation priorities.

Denise Doolan
Denise Doolan

Dr Christine Duplancic

Research Officer
Child Health Research Centre
Faculty of Medicine
Availability:
Available for supervision
Christine Duplancic

Professor James Fraser

Professor
School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences
Faculty of Science
Availability:
Available for supervision
James Fraser
James Fraser

Dr Christian Gray

Senior Lecturer
Academy for Medical Education
Faculty of Medicine
Availability:
Available for supervision

Dr Christian Gray joined the Academy of Medical Education as a Senior Lecturer in 2019 and is a course coordinator and module lead. Prior to this, Dr Gray was a Lecturer in Infection and Immunity and was Immunology discipline lead at Peninsula Medical School at the University of Plymouth, Devon, UK.

Dr Gray has previously undertaken Postdoctoral research in a variety of areas in immunological research including therapies for rheumatoid arthritis, pneumococcal vaccines, mastitis resistance in dairy cattle, and vaccines for R. microplus. He obtained his PhD from the University of Newcastle, Australia in 2002. He was the first to identify a link between activation of regulatory T cells and the suppression of the immune system in patients with melanoma.

Within his current role he have transferred his skills from biomedical research into pedagogy of teaching and learning. He is actively developing a research portfolio within medical research focusing on the support of student learning.

Christian Gray
Christian Gray

Dr Wenyi Gu

Research Fellow
Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology
Availability:
Available for supervision

Dr. Wenyi Gu’s early education was conducted in China which include his undergraduate and master’s degrees in veterinary medicine. In 1996, he migrated to Australia and pursued his PhD study in biochemistry & molecular biology at the Australian National University (ANU). After a short period of work at John Curtin Medical School ANU as a junior scientist, he moved to Brisbane in 2001 for his post-doc at the University of Queensland and currently a post-doctoral research fellow at AIBN. He held a Peter Doherty Fellowship (2006-2009) and was further supported by NHMRC to spend 7 months at Harvard University as a visiting fellow in 2008. Since his post-doctoral research he has been working in the area of using RNAi to treat viral diseases and cancers. He also has a strong background in immunology and vaccine development.

Wenyi Gu
Wenyi Gu

Associate Professor Fernando Guimaraes

Principal Research Fellow
Frazer Institute
Faculty of Medicine
Affiliate Senior Research Fellow
School of Biomedical Sciences
Faculty of Medicine
Availability:
Available for supervision
Media expert

I lead a research program with extensive expertise in immunology, particularly in natural killer (NK) cells, focused on developing innovative approaches for treating hard-to-cure diseases like metastatic cancers. Our mission is to improve patient outcomes and extend lives. My research group is based at the Translational Research Institute (TRI).

My dedication to my field has been recognized through numerous peer-reviwed grants as sole-CI or CIA/Principal Investigator, including a NHMRC ECF Peter Doherty Fellowship, an NHMRC Project Grant, an US DoD, a MRFF EMCR among others. Since 2009, I've amassed an impressive portfolio of 96 publications in renowned journals like Blood, Cell Death Dis, JEM, PNAS, Nat Comms, and Nat Immunol with an H-index = 40. My body of work and contributions have been acknowledged with awards such as the 2019 Researcher of the Year by CCA, 2020 QLD Young Tall Poppy Science, 2020 UQ Frazer Institute's Rising Star, 2022 Frazer Institute's Mentor of the Year, 2023 Translational Research Institute - Connecting with the Clinic among others. Recognized as an international leader in my field, I've been instrumental in identifying novel regulators of our immune functions, and developing NK cell-based immunotherapies.

At present, I am a Group Leader / Principal Research Fellow & Associate Professor with the University of Queensland's Frazer Institute. Here, I lead a high-performing research team with a keen focus on developing and innovating immunotherapy approaches for a spectrum of diseases.

Fernando Guimaraes
Fernando Guimaraes

Associate Professor Emma Hamilton-Williams

Principal Research Fellow
Frazer Institute
Faculty of Medicine
Availability:
Available for supervision
Media expert

Associate Professor Emma Hamilton-Williams’ career focuses on understanding how immune tolerance is disrupted leading to the development of the autoimmune disease type 1 diabetes. She received her PhD from the Australian National University in 2001, followed by postdoctoral training in Germany and the Scripps Research Institute in the USA.

In 2012, she started a laboratory at the Frazer Institute, University of Queensland where she investigates the gut microbiota as a potential trigger or therapy target for type 1 diabetes, as well as developing an immunotherapy for type 1 diabetes. The overall aim of her research is to find new ways to prevent or treat the underlying immune dysfunction causing autoimmunity.

She is Chief Scientific Officer for an Australia-wide pregnancy-birth cohort study of children at increased risk of type 1 diabetes, which aims to uncover the environmental drivers of this disease. Her laboratory uses big-data approaches including proteomics, metabolomics and metagenomics to understand the function of the gut microbiota linked to disease.

She recently conducted a clinical trial of a microbiome-targeting biotherapy aimed at restoring a healthy microbiome and immune tolerance, with an ultimate aim of preventing type 1 diabetes.

Emma Hamilton-Williams
Emma Hamilton-Williams

Associate Professor David Harley

ATH - Associate Professor
Faculty of Medicine
Availability:
Not available for supervision
Media expert

CURRENT POSITIONS

· Senior Staff Specialist (Public Health Medicine), Queensland Health

· Principal Research Fellow, Centre for Clinical Research - University of Queensland

· Adjunct Professor, Griffith University Medical School

RECENT POSITIONS

· General Practitioner, Indooroopilly General Practice

· Senior Staff Specialist (Public Health Medicine), Metro South, Metro North, Central Queensland, and West Moreton Public Health Units (January 2021 to July 2022)

· Director, Queensland Centre for Intellectual and Developmental Disability (to January 2021)

· Senior Medical Officer, Mater Intellectual Disability and Autism Service (to November 2020)

· General Practitioner, Cornwall Street Medical Centre (to November 2020)

Introduction

I am a public health physician, zoologist, epidemiologist, and general practitioner. I commenced my clinical career in Far North Queensland in the early 1990s. I gained experience in Indigenous health, remote health, obstetrics and other areas of medicine. I also completed my specialist training in Public Health Medicine in Cairns in the early 2000s. From 2002 to 2008 I combined clinical work in adult developmental disability medicine at Queensland Centre for Intellectual and Developmental Disability Medicine (QCIDD) with general practice and travel medicine. While working as Senior Fellow at The National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health (NCEPH), Australian National University (ANU) I managed patients at Interchange General Practice, a clinic specialising in the health of people who use drugs, refugee health, and blood-borne viruses, among other areas. Until the end of 2020 I consulted clinically at the Mater Intellectual Disability and Autism Service and in general practice. I practiced at Indooroopilly General Practice until October 2022.

I've maintained a strong interest in the biological world since my first degree in zoology and via study of vector associations of Ross River virus during my PhD. The biological factors involved in the transmission of arboviruses has remained a particular interest, especially for Ross River virus and dengue. In the case of the former I have published a highly cited review detailing vector associations and reservoir hosts (Harley, Sleigh and Ritchie, Clinical Microbiology Reviews, 2001) and original research on vector associations in Far North Queensland (Harley et al., American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 2001). More recently I have published on rainfall cut-points for outbreak prediction in the Northern Territory (Jacups et al., Journal of Medical Entomology, 2011), and modelling incorporating vegetation and macropod populations (Ng et al., Vector-borne and zoonotic diseases, 2014). I have published modelled projections for populations of Aedes aegypti, the vector of dengue, with climate change (Williams et al., Parasites and Vectors, 2014).

My research scope is broad. My four most highly cited publications (one with over 400 and one over 300 citations, Google Scholar) span arbovirology (Harley, Sleigh and Ritchie, Clinical Microbiology Reviews, 2001), psychiatry (Tyrer et al, Lancet, 2008), disability (Palmer and Harley, Health Policy and Planning, 2011) and climate change and health (Butler and Harley, Postgraduate Medical Journal, 2010).

Qualifications

I hold general and specialist registration as a medical practitioner. I am a Fellow of the Australasian Faculty of Public Health Medicine (Royal Australasian College of Physicians) and the Australian College of Tropical Medicine.

I have a PhD in Tropical Health from the University of Queensland and a Master of Medical Science in Clinical Epidemiology from The University of Newcastle. I have a first class honours degree in zoology from the University of Queensland.

Advocacy, lobbying and consultancies

I've contributed actively to my college, The Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP), and faculty, The Australasian Faculty of Public Health Medicine. I have joined working parties on Indigenous health, the health of disabled people (deputy chair), and most recently climate change and health. The work on the second and third working parties resulted in production of RACP position papers. In 2016 I represented the college in meetings with parliamentarians in Canberra on climate change and health. I'm currently a member of college reference groups on the NDIS and on global heating and health.

I represented the Royal Australasian College of Physicians at roundtable meetings on the health of people with intellectual disability, the first on 2 August 2019 (see Microsoft Word - D19-1158817 Roundtable on the Health of People with Intellectual Disability - Summary and Recommendations(2)). The roundtable was convened by the former Commonwealth Minister for Health, Mr Greg Hunt. Subsequent to the roundtable Minister Hunt released a National Roadmap for Improving Health Services for People with Intellectual Disability (see https://www.health.gov.au/initiatives-and-programs/national-roadmap-for-improving-the-health-of-people-with-intellectual-disability).

The Roadmap includes a wide range of measures including short-term measures focused on:

· Programs in Primary Health Networks (PHNs) to improve the capacity and skills of GPs and other primary health services to meet the needs of people with intellectual disability. This will initially be in four PHN lead sites with a view to national rollout after four years.

· Better use of existing Medicare items, including those for annual health assessments of people with intellectual disability.

· Better coordination between the health sector and other sectors such as disability and education.

· Support for people with intellectual disability and their families so that they can make informed decisions about health care and navigate the health care system.

The former LNP Government also committed $19.3 million in initial funding for the first actions in the Roadmap, including:

· $6.6 million to develop a Primary Care Enhancement Program for People with Intellectual Disability

· $6.7 million to improve implementation of annual health assessments for people with intellectual disability

· $4.7 million for curriculum development in intellectual disability health

· $1.4 million to scope and co-design a National Centre of Excellence in Intellectual Disability Health

A report from the Roundtable and the outline of the proposed national Roadmap at https://www1.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/national-roadmap-for-improving-the-health-of-Australians-with-intellectual-disability and the Roadmap itself is abvailable at National Roadmap for Improving the Health of people with Intellectual Disability. The RACGP overview of the budget also lists a commitment for intellectual disability (RACGP | Overview of the Federal Budget 2021-22 (Health) | May 2021). I’ve been invited by the Commonwealth Department of Health to support the scoping and co‑design of models for a national centre of excellence in intellectual disability health (‘national centre’) and have been nominated by my college, the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP), to represent the college through the process.

I've held various consultancies and panel memberships, including with AusAid and WHO.

Supervision

In my time working at The Australian National University (2008-2016) five honours students completed projects under my supervision. All obtained first class degrees. My first student, Melanie Bannister-Tyrrell was awarded a university medal, published her honours research (Bannister-Tyrrell et al., American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 2013), and is now a Senior Epidemiology Consultant to AusVet. Other students completed projects on tuberculosis management in the Torres Strait (Ellen Hart), tuberculosis diagnosis in Thailand (Eileen Baker), hypertension among Thai caregivers (Laura Saville), and mapping of renal disease risk in South Australia (Scott Pearce). I also supervised Ritwika Vinayagam's honours project at the University of Queensland, on diabetes and autism, in 2020.

Current PhD Supervision

· Semira Hailu - The burden of extra-pulmonary tuberculosis in Africa (UQ, associate advisor)

· Wei Qian - Ross River virus in Queensland (UQ, associate advisor)

· Tam Tranh - Road trauma in Vietnam (ANU, associate advisor)

· Cynthia Parayiwa - “Birth outcomes following maternal exposure to severe tropical cyclones in Queensland, Australia” (ANU, associate advisor)

Current Masters Supervision

· Suhasini Sumithra - Modelling Ross River virus in NSW (MPhil, ANU)

Completed PhDs

· Menghuan Song - Psychotropic prescribing to adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (UQ, principal advisor)

· Sifat Sharmin - Dengue and climate in Bangladesh (ANU, Chair of Panel)

· Ray Lovett - Screening for drug and alcohol use in Indigenous community controlled health organisations (ANU, Chair of Panel)

· Philipa Dossetor - Children's health in Fitzroy Crossing, WA, with a focus on fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (ANU, Chair of Panel initially, then panel member)

· Kerri Viney - Tuberculosis in the South Pacific (ANU, Panel member)

· Lachlan McIver - Climate change and health in the South Pacific (ANU, Panel member, Chair of Panel for completion of PhD)

· Kazi Rahman - Visceral Leishmaniasis in Bangladesh (ANU, Panel member)

· Yani Sun - Tuberculosis in Henan Province, China (ANU, Panel member, awarded ANU "Top Supervisor" award)

· Vicky Ng - Modelling of Ross River virus in NSW (ANU, Panel member)

· Michael Palmer - Disability in rural Vietnam (ANU, Panel member)

Completed Masters

· Tran Tuan Anh Le - Health of Australian adolescents with intellectual disability (MPhil, UQ)

· Alexandra Marmor - MPhil (App Epi; ANU)

· Anna Gibbs - Gram negative sepsis in Queensland children (MPH, UNSW)

Research

I was chief investigator on two NHMRC project grants worth over $2 million while with the ANU. I was CIA for one of these grants, to research weather and dengue virus epidemiology in Far North Queensland. The second grant funded the Thai Health-Risk transition project, a longitudinal study of the health of Thai people living throughout the country. Both projects have produced important publications in my areas of interest including dengue and climate (e.g. Williams et al., Epidemiology and Infection, 2016; Viennet et al., Parasites and Vectors, 2014), disability and health (Yiengprugsawan et al., Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health, 2010), and the health of carers (Yiengprugsawan et al., BMC Public Health, 2012). Fruitful collaborations have arisen from both grants including co-supervision of my PhD student Sifat Sharmin with my NHMRC-funded post-doctoral researcher Elvina Viennet and honours student projects related to the Thai study (Eileen Baker and Laura Saville). Before commencing at ANU I gained research funding from The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, Rotary, The University of Queensland, and James Cook University.

Major themes in my research are infectious diseases epidemiology, environment and health, and the health of disabled people.

In the first of these I have focussed on arboviruses, particularly Ross River and dengue viruses, but have also published on Chikungunya, Zika, Adenovirus, tuberculosis, and invasive meningococcal disease. Since the publication of my highly cited and wide ranging review on the first of these (Harley, Sleigh and Ritchie, Clinical Microbiology Reviews, 2001; 346 citations, Google Scholar, 16/1/2019) I have remained an authority on this virus. I am first author on the chapter on Ross River virus in the authoritative textbook Hunter's Tropical Medicine and Emerging Infectious Diseases (Harley and Suhrbier, Hunter's Tropical Medicine, 2019). I have also published on vector associations (Harley et al., American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 2001), clinical manifestations (Harley et al., Medical Journal of Australia, 2002), and behavioural risks (Harley et al., International Journal of Epidemiology, 2005). More recently I have published on environmental determinants of risk (Jacups et al., Journal of Medical Entomology, 2011; Ng et al., Vector-borne and zoonotic diseases, 2014). I also have a major interest in dengue and have published on the epidemiology of this important virus in Australia (e.g. Viennet et al., PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 2016; Williams et al., Epidemiology and Infection, 2016) and Bangladesh (Sharmin et al., Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 2015; PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 2015; Statistical Methods in Medical Research, 2016). I have also published on the epidemiology of tuberculosis in China (e.g. Sun et al., PLoS One, 2017) and the Pacific (e.g. Viney et al., Tropical Medicine and International Health, 2015).

I have a particular focus on environment and infectious diseases (see dengue research in paragraph above; Harley et al., Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health, 2011; Harley et al., Infectious diseases: a geographic guide, 2010). I was an invited speaker on climate change and infectious diseases at the International Congress on Infectious Diseases in Hyderabad, India, during March 2016. I also co-authored, with Colin Butler, a conceptual paper on levels of impact from climate change on health (Butler and Harley, Postgraduate Medical Journal, 2010), and have written on the education of medical students on climate change and health (Green et al., Australian Family Physician, 2009) and impacts of climate change on immune function (Swaminathan et al., Children, 2014). I was invited to, and chaired the Infectious disease ecology and epidemiology stream, for the 2014 Theo Murphy High Flyers think tank, convened by the Australian Academy of Science, on Climate Change Challenges to Health.

When working at QCIDD ealier I led the Australian arm for an international multi-centre RCT on antipsychotic medication for aggressive behaviour in adults with developmental disabilities (Tyrer et al., Lancet, 2008; cited 365 times, Google Scholar, 19/8/2021). I have also researched the economic impact of disability in Vietnam (Palmer et al., International Journal of Health Planning and Management, 2011) and the asssociations of hearing impairment in Thailand (Yiengprugsawan et al., Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health, 2010) and co-authored an international review on models and measurement of disability (Palmer and Harley, Health Policy and Planning, 2011).

Editing and reviewing

I am a section editor for PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases. I guest edited, with Shamshad Karatela, a special edition of The International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health entitled "Environmental and Social Influences on Cognitive Development and Function" (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph/special_issues/cognitive_development). Journals I have reviewed for include Lancet Infectious Diseases, BMC Infectious Diseases, Science, The Medical Journal of Australia, PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, and Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities.

Teaching

I taught epidemiology and evidence based medicine to medical students at The University of Queensland and ANU from 2002 to 2016. I was invited annually from 2012 to 2015 to teach epidemiology and outbreak control at Institut Pasteur and The Oxford University Clinical Research in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. I was a foundation member of the teaching team for the ANU Master of Public Health (MPH) core subject, Fundamentals of Epidemiology, and have also instructed students on global health and climate change and health in the ANU MPH. In addition I've provided clinical teaching for ANU medical students in general practice and do so currently for third year UQ medicine students rotating to Cornwall Street Medical Centre in their general practice rotation.

I have contributed to building capacity internationally through strong engagement in supervision and teaching. I have supervised students from China, Vietnam, and Bangladesh. I have also taught epidemiology and outbreak control to many students from low income countries in South East Asia as an invited instructor with Institut Pasteur and Oxford University in Ho Chi Minh City annually from 2012 to 2015.

Research Interests

· Infectious disease epidemiology

· Adult developmental disability medicine

· Indigenous health

· Public Health Medicine

Qualifications

· Bachelor of Science, The University of Queensland

· BSc (Hons I Zoology), The University of Queensland

· Bachelor of Medicine and Bachlor of Surgery, The University of Queensland

· FAFPHM, RACP

· PhD, The University of Queensland

David Harley
David Harley

Professor Alexander Khromykh

Professor
School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences
Faculty of Science
Availability:
Available for supervision
Media expert

Alexander Khromykh has PhD degree in Molecular Virology. He worked as Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Ottawa in Canada. He then joined Sir Albert Sakzewski Virus Research Centre in Brisbane and became a laboratory Head in 2001. He moved his laboratory to St Luica campus in 2005 to take an appointment with the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences (SCMB). He was the founding Director of the SCMB’s Centre for Infectious Disease Research and is currently the Deputy Director of the Australian Infectious Diseases Research Centre. He is also the Director of Centre of Excellence and a member of COVID-19 and Zika virus Task Forces in the Global Virus Network.

Alexander Khromykh
Alexander Khromykh

Dr Larisa Labzin

of School of Chemistry and Molecula
School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences
Faculty of Science
UQ Amplify Fellow
Institute for Molecular Bioscience
Availability:
Available for supervision

Dr. Larisa Labzin studies how our innate immune system detects viral infections and how it decodes different signals to mount an appropriate immune response. Dr. Labzin's interest in innate immunity started during her honours training with Prof. Matt Sweet at the IMB, looking at how inflammatory signalling is regulated in macrophages. After gaining more experience while working as a research assistant for Prof. Sweet, she moved to Germany to the University of Bonn for her PhD. At the Univeristy of Bonn, Dr. Labzin investigated the anti-inflammatory effects of High-Density Lipoprotein with Prof. Eicke Latz. Here she discovered novel regulatory pathways that control inflammation. Dr. Labzin then moved to Cambridge, UK as an EMBO postdoctoral fellow to work with Dr. Leo James at the Medical Research Council Laboratory for Molecular Biology. In Dr. James' lab Dr. Labzin focused on how viruses are sensed by the innate immune system to trigger inflammation. In particular, Dr Labzin investigated how antibodies change the way viruses trigger inflammation. While in Cambridge, Dr. Labzin was awarded an NHMRC CJ Martin Fellowship to return to Australia. Larisa returned to the IMB in September 2019 to work with Prof. Kate Schroder. Dr. Labzin is an IMB Fellow and leads an independent research team studying inflammation in response to influenza and SARS-CoV-2.

Larisa Labzin
Larisa Labzin

Associate Professor Steve Lambert

ATH - Associate Professor
Child Health Research Centre
Faculty of Medicine
ATH - Associate Professor
UQ Centre for Clinical Research
Faculty of Medicine
Availability:
Available for supervision
Steve Lambert