2023 Adult Immunisation Forum

Speaker: Katie Attwell

Associate Professor Katie Attwell is a political science and public policy scholar at the University of Western Australia, where she leads VaxPolLab. She is an Honorary Fellow of the Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases at Telethon Kids Institute, Perth and is the Chair of the Collaboration on Social Science and Immunisation (COSSI), Australia’s national network of vaccination social science researchers.

She is a global expert in vaccine hesitancy and vaccination policies for childhood and COVID-19 vaccines.

Her recent Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA 2019-2022) funded by the Australian Research Council explored mandatory childhood vaccination policies in Australia, Italy, France and California. Katie recently led the interdisciplinary West Australian project “Coronavax: Preparing Community and Government”, which engaged in community and government research for the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out, funded by Wesfarmers and the Health Department of Western Australia.

From 2023, Katie will lead MandEval, a mixed methods and multi-country study of the implementation and impact of COVID-19 vaccine mandates funded by the MRFF.

Speaker: Rod Pearce

Dr Rod Pearce AM is a country and city GP and Medical Officer of Health for the Eastern Health Authority (HA), Adelaide. Dr Pearce became a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) on Australia Day 2012. He received the award for his long-standing service to medicine as a General Practitioner, through contributions to national medical organisations and to education. He is the current Chair of the Immunisation Coalition.

Speaker: Lauren Bloomfield

Dr Lauren Bloomfield is a Senior Lecture, Population and Preventive Health in the School of Medicine at the University of Notre Dame Australia, and a Communicable Disease Epidemiologist working with the Health Linkage for Immunisation team within the Communicable Disease Control Directorate, WA Department of Health.

Her work in immunisations is focussed around using linked health data to monitor vaccine coverage, safety and effectiveness, in particular transitioning the data linkage systems set up during the COVID-19 pandemic to other vaccines delivered as part of the NIP.

Speaker: David Muller

Dr David Muller is a molecular virologist having received his PhD from the University of Queensland. The major focus of his research is to understand virus-host interactions with a particular focus on 3 viruses; dengue virus – a serious mosquito-borne disease in many tropical countries, poliovirus – a disabling and life-threatening disease on the verge of eradication, and more recently SARS-CoV-2 – the virus responsible for the current pandemic. This research extends from virus-host interactions at the cellular level through to understanding virus immune system interplay and how to exploit this for novel vaccine design. To maximise the immunological impact of vaccine candidates Dr Muller uses a High-density Microarray patch skin delivery platform. This platform delivers vaccine to the layers of the skin rich in antigen presenting cells. This targeted delivery produces enhanced immune responses with a fraction of a dose when compared to traditional needle-based vaccine delivery systems.

Speaker: Ken Griffin

Ken Griffin is the CEO of the Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association, the peak body for nurses working outside of hospitals in Australia.

He has been actively engaged in Australian health for more than 20 years in areas including life science research, workforce development, the introduction of biosimilar medicines, vaccines marketing and medicines logistics and cold chain development.

Speaker: Annaleise Howard-Jones

Annaleise Howard-Jones is a microbiology and paediatric infectious diseases registrar at New South Wales Health Pathology-ICPMR and a clinical lecturer at the University of Sydney. She has research interests in the fields of virology and emerging infections and has been closely involved in NSW Health Pathology’s recent diagnostic response to emergent flavivirus infections in New South Wales.

Speaker: 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: Chris Blyth

Chris Blyth is a clinical academic and mid-career clinician-scientist. He is Professor of Paediatric Infectious Diseases (School of Medicine, University of Western Australia and director of the Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases, Telethon Kids Institute).
He established the Department of Paediatric Infectious Diseases at Perth Children’s Hospital (PCH). His research program focuses on influenza, COVID-19 and other vaccine-preventable respiratory tract infections. His PhD (Preventing influenza morbidity in Australian children through vaccination; 2016) evaluated the WA preschool influenza vaccination program, significantly influencing national influenza policy.
He was appointed as a member of the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) in 2012, serving until December 2021. He was deputy chair from 2015 and co-chair from 2018, leading development and implementation of Australia’s COVID-19 vaccination program. He was appointed to the Commonwealth Government’s COVID-19 Vaccines and Treatments for Australia Science and Industry Technical Advisory Group (SITAG) in August 2020 and continues in this role.

Speaker: Tony Cunningham

Professor Anthony (Tony) Cunningham, AO,FAHMS is an infectious diseases physician, clinical virologist and scientist, internationally renowned for his research on the immunobiology of HIV and herpesviruses, his work on vaccine and microbicide development, and as an antivirals expert.

He is the Director of the Australian Centre for HIV and Hepatitis Virology Research (ACH2), a Commonwealth Government-funded institute that aims to combat the impact of HIV and hepatitis in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region by bringing together basic researchers with translational scientists and physicians.

Speaker: Laurens Manning

Dr. Laurens Manning is an infectious disease physician at Fiona Stanley Hospital, Associate Professor with University of Western Australia and Honorary Research Fellow with Telethon Kids Institute.

He has a diverse research portfolio and leads research trials in severe bacterial infections in adults including cellulitis, diabetic foot infections and periprosthetic joint infections.

He has published large scale epidemiological studies of primary and recurrent cellulitis which highlight the importance of cellulitis in Australian adults. Similar large scale data linkage studies have also shown the importance of invasive Strep A and Group C/G streptococci in the Australian contexts, which sets the scene for scoping the impact of a Strep A vaccine in adults. Also relevant to Strep A infections, he leads the Strep A and ARF therapeutics team at Telethon Kids Institute focussed on re-imagining long-acting penicillins for the prevention of rheumatic heart disease and treatment of syphilis. This includes a Strep A human challenge trial and randomised trials of novel delivery methods for benzathine penicillin G.

Speaker: Deb Strickland

Associate Professor Deb Strickland is a Basic Discovery Research Scientist, Head of the Immunobiology & Immuno-therapeutics Program, and Team Leader of the Pregnancy and Early Life Immunology Research Group at the Telethon Kids Institute.

Her research pioneered establishment of core basic paradigms within the respiratory immunology field, including key mechanisms of respiratory homeostatic processes and mucosal tolerance. Her research interests include allergic asthma, respiratory viral infection, and understanding the impact of inflammation during early life on immune development and immune dysregulation linked to risk for a range of chronic diseases.

Her work is targeted towards discovery of translatable treatments to guide improved immune system function and enhanced resistance to inflammatory mediated diseases.

She has strong commitments to supporting students, early career researchers, and to inspire necessary changes to support future development of excellence in research culture.

Speaker: Paul Van Buynder

Professor Paul Van Buynder is a Public Health Physician and 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 60 referred book chapters and articles.

Speaker: Angela Newbound

Angela Newbound is an Immunisation Education Consultant based in South Australia, and a member of the Immunisation Coalition.

She has been involved in immunisation program delivery in South Australia for over 20 years, originally as an immunisation provider and in program coordinator roles within the Divisions of General Practice, SA Health Immunisation Section, the Medicare Local Network and presently the Primary Health Network.

She provides clinical advice, support and education to a wide range of immunisation providers across South Australia and contributes to the development of immunisation resources to assist providers with challenging aspects of the immunisation program, and provides clinical oversite to the PneumoSmart Vaccination Tool.

Speaker: Robert Booy

Professor Robert Booy is an 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.

His 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, he 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.

He is a Director at the Immunisation Coalition.

Speaker: Bruce Langoulant

Bruce Langoulant is the inaugural Chairperson of Meningitis Centre Australia and has been the head of the not for profit for over three decades after he was asked to join by our Patron Professor Fiona Stanley.

His daughter Ashleigh contracted Pneumococcal Meningitis at the age of six months. In over 30 years he and his family have successfully lobbied for the introduction of several meningitis vaccines on to the National Immunisation Plan including Hib, Meningococcal C, Meningococcal ACWY and Pneumococcal and continues to lobby and advocate today.

He received a Member of the Order of Australia in 2019 for his community work in raising awareness about meningitis and meningococcal disease as well as his commitment and effort in the disability sector. He has been Chairperson of the WA Disability Services Commission, held State, National and International board positions, was the president of the Confederation of Meningitis Organisation (COMO) with members across 23 countries,is the D-Dads founding member and convenor and a Disability Assembly founding council member.

His amazing ability to work within our community from Health Professionals to Politicians to the everyday person has not only raised awareness but supported families through their meningitis journey and made a lasting impact in protecting Australian Children through vaccination – over 3 million babies and still counting!!