2024 Annual Immunisation Forum

Speaker: Prof Robert Booy

Robert Booy is honorary Professor of Paediatrics and Child Health at the University of Sydney. From 2005 to 2019 he held Senior roles at NCIRS. He is a medical graduate of the University of Queensland (1984), trained in paediatrics at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Brisbane and has held a range of positions in the UK. Professor Booy’s research interests extend from understanding the genetic basis of susceptibility to, and severity of, infectious diseases, especially influenza, RSV and invasive disease caused by encapsulated organisms; the clinical, public health and social burden of these diseases; and means by which to prevent or control serious infections through vaccines, drugs and non-pharmaceutical measures. Over the past 20 years, Professor Booy has been increasingly recognised as an expert in the respiratory virus field, supervising many studies addressing the burden and prevention of influenza disease in children and adults in the UK, Australia and among Muslim pilgrims to Saudi Arabia. In addition he has led intervention studies with new vaccines, new vaccine delivery methods and alternate methods for preventing disease and transmission such as antivirals and personal protective equipment. Professor Robert Booy is a Director at the Immunisation Coalition.

Speaker: Prof Paul van Buynder

Prof Paul Van Buynder is a Public Health Physician and past Chairman of the Immunisation Coalition. He is a professor in the School of Medicine at Griffith University in Queensland. He has held senior public health positions in a number of Australian states, in two Canadian jurisdictions and at the Centre for Infections in the UK. He has held personal appointments on sub-committees of National Immunisation Technical Advisory Committees in three continents. Paul is a reviewer of over 10 journals and has over 80 referred book chapters and articles.

Speaker: Dr Cristyn Davies

Speaker: Prof Paul Griffin

An Infectious Diseases Physician and Clinical Microbiologist, Professor Paul Griffin was appointed as the Director of Infectious Diseases at Mater Health Services in 2013, and most recently, to his conjoint role as Head of the Mater Clinical Unit for the University of Queensland School of Medicine. Paul is an accomplished clinical trial investigator, having fulfilled the role of Principal Investigator in over 150 clinical trials, particularly in Infectious Diseases including 8 COVID-19 vaccines. Despite an already demanding role at the Mater, Paul continues as a member of the AMA Queensland Council 2023-2024, and as board member and scientific advisory board member of the Immunisation Coalition, with active interest in vaccine education and advocacy, becoming a trusted media authority and spokesperson across the nation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaker: Anita Sharma

Speaker: Dr Sarah Chu

Dr Sarah Chu graduated from the University of Queensland in 2004 with a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery. She is a member of the International Society of Travel Medicine and has a Certificate in Travel Health; she enjoyed providing travel medicine services at The Travel Doctor TMVC Brisbane before COVID-19 and is an accredited Yellow Fever doctor. In addition to being awarded a Fellowship from the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, she is a Fellow of The Australasian College of Tropical Medicine, Fellow of The Australasian College of Tropical Medicine (Faculty of Travel Medicine), Associate Member of the Faculty of Travel Medicine Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow; Dr Chu also holds a Diploma in Dermatology from the Australian Institute of Dermatology, and a Diploma in Child Health from Westmead Children’s Hospital and the University of Sydney. She enjoys practising yoga and is a registered level 1 yoga teacher with Yoga Australia. Dr Chu recently completed Physician Board Certification in Lifestyle Medicine with the International Board of Lifestyle Medicine. She is a Senior Lecturer for the University of Queensland and enjoys teaching the next generation of doctors-in-training.

Speaker: Prof Michael Murray AM

As the Divisional Medical Director of Continued Care, Head of Geriatric Medicine and Medical Lead of Patient Flow at Austin Health, Associate Professor Michael Murray AM brings extensive experience in the health, education and the aged care industry. 

With nearly 30 years involvement in geriatric care, Michael’s career highlights include extensive work in continence, public health and public policy, as well as working in education and service development. In 2019 Michael was appointed as the interim Chief Clinical Advisor to the first Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner.  Michael holds several board and committee positions with a variety of health and educational institutions Michael has been the National Chairperson of the Continence Foundation of Australia for several years, prior to which he was the Victorian State President. Michael is the president of the National Ageing Research Institute. Michael was recently appointed as the Geriatrician Lead to the Victorian Aged Care Response Centre (VACRC) for Covid-19.

Speaker: Kristy Crooks

Speaker: Dr Jessica Kaufman

Dr Jessica Kaufman is a Research Fellow in the Vaccine Uptake group at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. Her current research focuses on interventions and policies to increase acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines and improve routine vaccine uptake in pregnant women, children with neurodevelopmental disorders, and people of refugee background. She is also involved in mapping and designing measurement instruments to diagnose the reasons for under-vaccination. Jessica is an Honorary Fellow of the University of Melbourne and La Trobe University, a member of the steering committee for the Collaboration on Social Science in Immunisation (COSSI) network, and an editor with the Cochrane Consumers and Communication review group.

Speaker: Dr Hazel Clothier

Hazel is Lead Epidemiologist, Child Health Informatics and Surveillance Manager, Vaccine Signal Detection & Investigation at SAEFVIC, Victoria’s Vaccine Safety Service. Her doctoral work on optimizing spontaneous vaccine safety surveillance has had immediate relevance and continued impact since the global Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 crisis brought calls for development and release of vaccines at “pandemic speed”, further highlighting the need for robust and timely vaccine safety surveillance.

She continues to lead in this field of research with expertise in vaccinology, surveillance and signal detection. Hazel is also experienced in public health and infectious diseases more broadly with a strong background in emerging infectious diseases, outbreak management and infectious disease surveillance system design and evaluation.

Speaker: Dr Kasia Bolsewicz

Kasia Bolsewicz, PhD, MPH, is a social science research fellow at the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance (NCIRS), where she conducts local and national studies with various immunisation stakeholders (including healthcare providers, communities, immunisation coordinators and policymakers) to understand reasons behind vaccination acceptance and uptake and to propose relevant strategies to address the underlying barriers. She also coordinates group processes during which immunisation stakeholders share information and workshop solutions, and designs and conducts program evaluations. Before joining NCIRS in 2019, Kasia was working with four local health districts in NSW using the World Health Organization’s Tailoring Immunization Programmes to identify areas of low childhood vaccine coverage and to gain a greater understanding of factors that influence childhood immunisation.

Speaker: Prof Peter Richmond

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.

Speaker: Dr Lisa Beecham

Dr Lisa Beecham spent 5 years working at Royal Children’s Hospital as a Registrar and witnessed the devastating effects of infections that vaccines can protect against. This has led to a lifelong interest in promoting, communicating and using systems to ensure immunisations are given to all who need them. She is Chair of GCPHN ( Gold Coast Primary Health network who first developed the data tool Primary Sense) and the National Clinical Advisory group for Primary Sense ( Data and population tool)  and the RACGP representative on the Qld Immunisation Partnership group.

Speaker: Jennifer Herz