MENZIES SCHOOL OF HEALTH RESEARCH - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Leader of the Ear Health Research Program
Professor Amanda Leach is leader of the Ear Health Research Program, Child Health Division at the Menzies School of Health Research. She won a 2004 NHMRC Career Development Award and in 2011 a Senior Research Fellowship which was awarded the Elizabeth Blackburn Fellowship for top ranking female applicant in the clinical category.
Professor Anne Chang is a paediatric respiratory physician who is recognised as a global leader in chronic cough and evidence based medicine in respiratory issues of children.
She led the world's first chronic cough specific guideline for children and the first chronic suppurative lung disease guideline along with fellow CRE CIs Paul Torzillo, Keith Grimwood, Kim Mulholland. She is the sole Australian in the American College of Chest Physician's Cough Guidelines and the only Australian paediatrician in the British Thoracic Society Asthma Guidelines.
She established the first international collaborative team investigating respiratory illness in Indigenous children and has published 232 papers and book chapters in the last 5 years.
Doctor Gabrielle McCallum has a paediatric nursing background with >20 years working with First Nations children across the Northern Territory in both a clinical and research capacity. Gabrielle has a particular interest in improving lung health outcomes for children at-risk of poor lung health (particularly First Nations children) through evidence-based research programs, translating research findings into meaningful and culturally appropriate outcomes.
Doctor Kerry-Ann O'Grady is an epidemiologist with a focus on respiratory illnesses in children, particularly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children. She is currently heads the Respiratory infection Outreach and Infection Team at the Queensland Children's Medical Research Institute.
Kerry-Ann holds a NHMRC Career Development Fellowship and a Queensland Government Smart Futures Fellowship.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
Job Titles:
- Senior Research Fellow at the Menzies Health Institute Queensland
Dr Nicholas West is a senior research fellow at the Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University. His research is focused on inflammatory regulation and the microbiome in human health and disease
Dr Robyn Marsh's completed her PhD at the Menzies School of Health Research in 2012 and has undertaken post-doctoral work at Menzies and the University of Washington in Seattle, USA. She has been committed to the lab-clinical nexus of First Nations Health for >15 years.
Robyn's research long-term aim of this research is to determine how chronic respiratory infections can be prevented, and to identify potential targets for improved treatments.
Job Titles:
- Business Manager
- Research Scientist
Dr Stephanie Yerkovich is a research scientist with expertise in the immunology of respiratory diseases (children & adults). Her post-doctoral work was on post vaccine immunity and the ontogeny of the innate immune system. She also holds a Masters in Biostatistics
Professor Edward Mulholland is a paediatrician with extensive international experience, currently based at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Melbourne. He is well recognised as an international leader in vaccines, acute respiratory infections, and child health and nutrition in resource poor countries.
A/Prof Heidi Smith-Vaughan is a microbiologist working on pneumococcal carriage and vaccine studies (Australia, Vietnam, PNG, Timor Leste), and antimicrobial resistance and genomic epidemiology of respiratory organisms. She leads HealthLAB, an experiential health promotion lab, and co-le ads the Ramaciotti Regional and Remote Health Sciences Training Centre supporting youth pathways into the health workforce
Job Titles:
- Physician
- Adult Respiratory Physician and Clinical Scientist
- Physician and Clinical Scientist
Professor John Upham is an adult respiratory physician whose work on respiratory immunology issues includes that relevant to children, is in the forefront of clinical respiratory immunology.
Professor John Upham is an adult respiratory physician and clinical scientist who thinks a lot about immune dysfunction in lung diseases. His research interests include understanding environmental impacts on lung health, why some people with chronic lung diseases are prone to infections, and developing new targeted therapies.
Professor Keith Grimwood received a NZ medal for his services to research on respiratory infections in NZ and continues to influence policies through his roles in the RACP committees and on advisory committees to the New Zealand Ministry of Health. He is the most established infectious disease physician on paediatric respiratory issues in Australia and NZ. As the director of QCMRI, he will also ensure organisational support for the CRE.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor
- Professor
Professor Luke Hoffman is a paediatric pulmonologist and microbiologist at the University of Washington and Seattle Children's Hospital in Washington, USA. He cares for children in Alaska and Washington with chronic lung infections and bronchiectasis, and his research focuses on the microbiological determinants of lung disease in children.
Mrs Lesley Versteegh is an Arrente woman and grandmother from Central Australia. She has been a nurse for 40 years in the Northern Territory. For the past 10 years, Lesley has been a strong community advocate and has been helping to improve lung health education that is culturally appropriate for First Nations families.
Job Titles:
- Elder, Larrakia Nation and Charles Darwin University Elder in Residence - CRE 2012 - 2018
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Advisory Board
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
Paul Torzillo who received an Australian Medal for his contributions to Indigenous Health is one of Australia's leading Indigenous Health advisors. He has specific expertise on ARIs, housing and health and service delivery.
Paul has been an advisor to the OATSIH (Office of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health) since its inception and has advocated strongly for a central role of evidence-based policy development.
His work in research and advocacy has had a major influence in translating research findings into policy implementation. He has chaired or participated in over 25 national expert committees.
Professor Peter Morris is a hospital clinician and visiting paediatrician to the Tiwi Islands. He is interested in clinical trials and systematic reviews of interventions for important childhood conditions.
Peter teaches medical students through the Northern Territory Clinical School, supports doctors and nurses working at the Royal Darwin Hospital, and supervises students and staff within the Menzies School of Health Research.
His research focus is on intervention studies and the application of evidence in practice.
Professor Steven McPhail is an internationally renowned health service innovator, health economist, and researcher. His specialist areas of knowledge include: health economics, digital health, health services research methodologies, cost-effectiveness, decision support; high value and low value healthcare, patient-reported outcomes, multidisciplinary models of care and the impact of chronic disease and multi-morbidity.
His work has been cited in policy-related documents from the World Bank and World Health Organisation. Interventions, patient assessment procedures and clinical care models he has developed or evaluated have led to documented changes in more than 100 health services on 6 continents