WORLD SCABIES PROGRAM - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• Executive Team Member / Murdoch Children 's Research Institute / Professor John Kaldor

Job Titles:

• Fellow
• Executive Team Member / the Kirby Institute

Dr Lucia Romani is a NHMRC early career fellow with over 15 years' experience leading and collaborating on implementation research focused on infectious diseases in Fiji, Solomon Islands and Ethiopia. She has extensive epidemiologic research experience in a diverse range of areas, including large-scale clinical trials and observational studies, mass drug administration for neglected tropical diseases and sexually transmitted infections in resource-poor settings. She is currently employed as Senior Research Fellow at the Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney and is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne. Over the past 15 years she has focused on the epidemiology and control of scabies and related complications in the Pacific, and has become recognised internationally as an expert in this field.

Job Titles:

• Program Lead / Murdoch Children 's Research Institute

Dr Susanna Lake is a post-doctoral researcher and public health professional with a focus on global health. She holds a Bachelor of Pharmacy with Honours and a Masters of International Public Health. She completed a PhD from the University of Melbourne focussed on the effectiveness of ivermectin-based mass drug administration regimens for the control of scabies. Susie has more than a decade of experience working in global health, particularly in Pacific island countries including Solomon Islands and Kiribati. She is responsible for the management and oversight of the World Scabies Program and supporting country programs to reach their objectives.

Job Titles:

• Program Support Officer / Murdoch Children 's Research Institute

Job Titles:

• Executive Team Member / Murdoch Children 's Research Institute / Professor John Kaldor
• NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellow

John Kaldor is a NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellow and UNSW Scientia Professor. He holds a doctorate in Biostatistics from the University of California, Berkeley, and began his research career at the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France. For over 30 years he has built and led internationally recognised research programs at UNSW on the epidemiology and prevention of infectious diseases. His research has covered a wide range of projects, including the development and implementation of public health surveillance systems, investigations of infection-related cancer, cohort and cross-sectional investigations of risk factors for infectious disease transmission, and interventional trials of disease prevention strategies. He has guided policy in disease control of neglected tropical diseases, and has had close working relationships with public health programs in numerous countries in the Asia-Pacific region, including Cambodia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Solomon Islands.

Job Titles:

• WSP Operations Manager / Murdoch Children 's Research Institute

Matthew Parnaby is a Public Health professional with an emphasis on health for vulnerable populations. He gained his Masters of Public Health focusing on Aboriginal and International Health. He holds a Bachelor of Nursing from Griffith University and is a Registered Nurse. Since working with the Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Matthew has had an operational focus in the Tropical Diseases Group, facilitating and streamlining research projects and programs in Australia and the Pacific Region. Prior to joining Murdoch Children's Research Institute, he worked for over 15 years in international humanitarian organisations managing large in-country health & nutrition programs and as Country Director in the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe, Central and South East Asia. He has also worked in Aboriginal health throughout the Northern Territory and Queensland, encompassing Primary Health Care in remote communities and public health program management, including rheumatic heart disease and STI/HIV. Mr Parnaby provides operational support to the World Scabies Program.

Job Titles:

• Program Director / Murdoch Children 's Research Institute

Professor Steer is the Director of the Infection and Immunity Theme, and Group Leader of the Tropical Diseases Research Group, at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute. He is a paediatric infectious diseases physician at the Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne and a Professorial Research Fellow in the Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne. Prof Steer's interests centre on the control of group A streptococcal disease in developing countries, with specific interests in public health efforts at controlling rheumatic heart disease, impetigo and scabies. He has led past trials of mass drug administration for the elimination of scabies in the Pacific. Prof Steer is the Director of the World Scabies Program.

Job Titles:

• Program Officer / Murdoch Children 's Research Institute