Venue: Gilbert Suite, Adelaide Convention Centre, North Terrace, Adelaide
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Who we are:
UNSW VIRL is a group of academic researchers based at UNSW, who are international leaders in immunisation and vaccinology research. Our primary area of focus is adult and high risk group immunisation, with a focus on vulnerable populations including the elderly, migrants, refugees, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, immunosuppressed people and health workers. Our research expertise spans clinical trials, epidemiology, mathematical modelling, health economics, big data and data linkage, social and behavioural research as well as policy and evaluation. We engage in research, advocacy and teaching, with a large range of offerings in postgraduate studies in infectious diseases and vaccinology.
Guest Speaker:
Dr Kathleen Harriman has served as Chief of the Vaccine Preventable Diseases Epidemiology Section at the California Department of Public Health since 2007. Prior to that, she worked for 15 years as an infectious disease epidemiologist at the Minnesota Department of Health, including supervising the state-wide infection control program. She has also worked as a paediatric emergency room nurse and as an infection preventionist at a children’s hospital. Kathy is currently a voting member of the U.S. Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Kathy received her MPH from the University of Sydney and her PhD from the University of Minnesota.
Dr Rob Menzies
Dr Menzies is an infectious disease epidemiologist focusing on the surveillance and evaluation of immunisation programs and vaccine policy development. He has led six major national immunisation program evaluations for State and Federal governments, more than 100 peer-reviewed publications, and served as Chief Investigator for three NHMRC/ARC research grants. He has particularly focused on ensuring the best use of vaccines for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous) people.
Dr Menzies is nationally recognised for his research work pioneering the publication of vaccination coverage for Indigenous children from the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register. This included initiating and leading the publication series “Vaccine Preventable Diseases and Vaccination Coverage in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
Dr Anita Heywood
Dr Anita Heywood (BSc., MPH, PhD) is an infectious diseases epidemiologist and Senior Lecturer at the School of Public Health and Community Medicine, UNSW Sydney and Director of the Master of Public Health program. She leads a program of research aimed at understanding vaccine-preventable disease epidemiology and immunisation gaps in migrants, refugees and international travellers. She is a founding member of the Monarch Collaboration, an international group with research interests in migrant and refugee immunisation. She developed and co-convenes the postgraduate Immunisation Policy and Practice course at SPHCM.
Dr Holly Seale
Dr Seale (BSc., MPH, PhD) is an infectious disease social researcher and is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Public Health and Community Medicine, UNSW Sydney and Director of the Master of Infectious Disease Intelligence program. Her research focuses on exploring the factors impacting on immunisation uptake and developing new approaches to engage at-risk groups and the health providers around vaccination. Her research spans across a range of interest groups including children and adults with underlying/chronic health conditions, healthcare workers and refugees and migrants. She is on the board of The Collaboration on Social Science and Immunisation (COSSI) which aims to inform Australian immunisation policy and practice with high quality evidence from the social sciences by supporting capacity in research and evaluation, collaborations and translations.
