KEY DEADLINES
Abstract Submission Deadline: CLOSED
Early Bird Registration Deadline: CLOSED
Accommodation Deadline: CLOSED
Standard Registration Deadline: CLOSED
Catherine Bennett
Theme: Prevention, Epidemiology and Public Health Interventions to Reduce the Impact of COVID-19 Infection in the Australasian Region
Professor Bennett’s career in epidemiology cuts across health, university and government sectors, including outbreak preparedness and response with NSW Health and the Australian Government. After working as Olympic Public Health Coordinator for Northern Sydney in 2000, Catherine returned to academia as Director of Population Health Practice with the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health before taking up the inaugural Chair in Epidemiology at Deakin in late 2009. Her research focusses on community transmission of Staphylococcus aureus and SARS-CoV-2, including a range of COVID-19 projects; global analyses of excess deaths, public health risk communication, contact tracing methods and COVID-safe protocols. Catherine has been a leading public analyst during the COVID-19 response, keynote speaker, and advisor to industry, governments, and institutions globally.
Dean Murphy
Theme: Social, Political and Cultural Aspects of COVID-19
Dean Murphy is a Research Fellow at the Kirby Institute, UNSW, and at the Alfred Hospital and Central Clinical School, Monash University. His work focuses on understandings of HIV diagnosis, the use of HIV biomedical prevention technologies, experiences of sexual health and well-being, and the meanings of drug consumption among people with LGBTQ experience.
Edwina Wright
ASHM COVID-19 Task Force
Associate Professor Edwina Wright is an infectious disease physician at the Alfred Hospital, Monash Central Clinical School. She is an Honorary Associate Professor at the Peter Doherty Institute and Honorary Principal Fellow at the Burnet Institute. Her research interests include HIV prevention, HIV cure and HIV dementia. Dr Wright was awarded an Order of Australia for her work in HIV Medicine and Research in 2021.
Kirsty Short
Theme: Discovery and Translational Science, Biology, Pathogenesis and Transmission
A/Prof Kirsty Short is a virologist at the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences at the University of Queensland. Her focus is all aspect of influenza virus and SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis and transmission.
Krispin Hajkowicz
Theme: Clinical Management and Therapeutics
A/Prof Krispin Hajkowicz is a Senior Staff Specialist in Infectious Diseases, the former Director of the Infectious Diseases Unit at RBWH for 6 years and former Director of the RBWH COVID-19 Service Line. He was on the front line of Queensland’s COVID-19 response for over two years. He is currently completing a PhD in molecular virology at the University of Sydney.
Amy Chung
Theme: Discovery and Translational Science, Biology, Pathogenesis and Transmission
Dr Amy Chung is a Laboratory Head at the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Melbourne at the Doherty Institute. Her research focuses upon the application of cutting-edge experimental technologies to holistically examine functional antibodies against a range of infectious diseases including HIV, Tuberculosis and COVID-19. This research can be used to design future antibody-based vaccines and can contribute to the generation of improved monoclonal antibody therapeutics. She is currently an NHMRC EL2 Investigator and Dame Kate Campbell Fellow.
Benjamin Riley
ASHM Policy and Public Affairs
Benjamin Riley is the Policy and Public Affairs Manager at ASHM, leading the organisation’s policy advocacy and public engagement relating to HIV, viral hepatitis and sexual health. Benjamin has worked across clinical and community organisations, with a focus on advocating for LGBTIQ communities, and for the needs of people living with and affected by blood-borne viruses. Benjamin is a researcher in Gender and Cultural Studies at the University of Sydney, interested in gay men and the legacy of AIDS. He is also a widely published freelance journalist.
Brooke Dickson
ASHM International
Brooke is the PNG Program Manager at ASHM. Her primary role is the implementation of a portfolio of ASHM projects in PNG focusing on workforce development, capacity building and health system strengthening. She has over 15 years experience implementing workforce development and international development projects in both Australia and Internationally. Most recently she supported COVID-19 community of practice’s with over 250 health workers throughout Papua New Guinea to address misinformation. Brooke is a Registered Nurse and holds a Diploma of Tropical Nursing and a Masters degree in International Public Health.
Charles Gilks
IAS Conference Representative
Charles has been working in the HIV/AIDS field since the mid-1980s as a clinical academic, describing the clinical spectrum of AIDS in Africa, then conducting formative trials of disease prophylaxis and antiretroviral therapy. He was appointed Head of the School of Public Health at The University of Queensland in 2013 and in 2014 became the first Queensland Professorial chair of HIV and STls. As a clinical researcher, he has published over 250 peer-reviewed papers.
Kiran Pienaar
Theme: Social, Political and Cultural Aspects of COVID-19
Dr Kiran Pienaar is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Deakin University. Kiran’s research explores connections between health, gender, sexuality and the body, with a particular interest in the sociology of pandemics and drug consumption and sexual cultures. She has published on topics related to the HIV and COVID-19 pandemics; queer identities and cultures; medical testing and contemporary health technologies; and drugs, addiction and the self. She is the author of Politics in the Making of HIV/AIDS in South Africa (2016).
Melinda Hassal
ASHM Clinical Nurse Lead
Melinda is the Clinical Nurse Lead at ASHM. Her primary focus is identifying opportunities to advance the role of nurses providing BBV and sexual health care through collaboration, education and identification of policy issues to support knowledge translation and implementation of care within our healthcare system. Melinda is a Registered Nurse, a Fellow of the Australian College of Nursing, Australasian Hepatology Association Board President, holds a Graduate Certificate in Health Promotion and a Masters degree in Public Health.
Nicholas Medland
ASHM COVID-19 Task Force
Nick is a senior researcher and NHMRC research fellow with the Surveillance, Evaluation and Research Program of the Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales. His research specialities include use of large administrative and clinical data sets to address important public health questions. Specifically this include coverage of antiretroviral therapy and pre-exposure prophylaxis and progress toward HIV elimination goals. He is also a sexual health physician with 22 years of clinical experience in HIV and sexual health medicine.
He has previously been a high caseload GP in Melbourne and has worked extensively in international/regional HIV programs in Asia, in particular in Vietnam. He also sits on the executive committee of the Chapter of Sexual Health Medicine and chairs the Australian STI Management Guidelines committee. In 2020 he has chaired the ASHM COVID-19 Asia Pacific Regional Advisory Group.
Wen Shi Lee
Theme: Discovery and Translational Science, Biology, Pathogenesis and Transmission
Wen Shi is an early career researcher who has an avid interest in humoral immunity against viral infections. He completed his PhD on HIV cure strategies, examining the utility of antibody Fc effector functions against latent HIV infection. He has recently pivoted to work on COVID-19, with a focus on neutralizing antibody responses elicited by vaccination and infection, and the development of monoclonal antibody therapeutics against coronavirus infections.