2016 ACIPC – National Invited Speakers

Nigel Barr has worked in a healthcare related field since 1988.

Currently he is a lecturer at the University of the Sunshine Coast where he is also completing a PhD. In addition Nigel is casually employed by Queensland Ambulance Service as a paramedic.

Previously Nigel has held the positions of Program Leader for the Bachelor of Paramedic Science programme at the University of the Sunshine Coast and Senior Operations Officer (clinical and education support) with Rural Ambulance Victoria.

Nigel is a PhD candidate and involved with projects in the following areas: infection control, and teaching and learning of clinical science.

Jocelyne Basseal is a graduate from the University of Sydney with a Doctorate in Microbiology and has worked as a post-doctoral fellow on numerous research projects.

She has supervised graduate and post-graduate students, delivered lectures and organised national and international scientific conferences. As the ASUM Scientific and Publications Editor and Medical Ultrasound Journal Managing Editor, Jocelyne is also responsible for Research Grants and Infection Control Policy Development.

She has published in peer-reviewed journals, textbooks and has a special interest in Infection Prevention and Control within the ultrasound unit.

Dr Noleen Bennett has been employed at the Victorian Healthcare Associated Infection Surveillance System Coordinating Centre since 2002 as a Senior Infection Control Consultant.

She is also currently employed at the National Centre for Antimicrobial Stewardship as the Project Officer for the Aged Care National Antimicrobial Prescribing Survey.

Sue Borrell has 21 years of infection prevention and control experience in medical, surgical and obstetric services in acute hospitals, a long term care facility, General Practice clinics in the community and teaching.

She has worked as a sole practitioner, as part of a multidisciplinary team and as an independent consultant.  Sue is a Senior Infection Prevention Nurse Consultant with Alfred Health where she has worked for the last 17 years.

Sue has a strong commitment to healthcare associated infection surveillance and development of infection prevention education both within the Alfred Health team and for an annual study day for colleagues.

Anthony Carr is Head of Marketing for NPS Medicinewise.

He has been an architect of several health related campaigns that have been recognised by leading marketing industry bodies including Media Federation of Australia and the Australian Effies (effective marketing communications ideas). For over 20 years, Anthony has worked in creative communications agencies and client side roles.  His experience covers a range of industry sectors including financial services, automotive and health.

Prof Allen Cheng is an infectious diseases physician. He is Professor of Infectious Diseases Epidemiology and is Director of the Infection Prevention and Healthcare Epidemiology unit at Alfred Health. He has a PhD (Flinders University), a Master of Public Health (Monash University) and a Master of Biostatistics. He has previously worked as an infectious diseases and general physician in Darwin and Geelong, and has worked in remote communities in the Top End of Australia, and in Papua New Guinea, Thailand, the United States and Finland.

His research covers a diverse area within infectious diseases, including sepsis and severe melioidosis, tropical medicine, influenza and vaccine effectiveness, hospital infection prevention and control, antibiotic pharmacokinetics, antimicrobial drug policy and clinical infectious diseases. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed scientific publications (as well as >40 letters/editorials and 17 book chapters).

Prof Cheng is a foundation member of the Guidelines Committee for the Australian Society for Infectious Diseases (ASID); he was the primary author for national guidelines for H1N1/09 influenza and Clostridium difficile infection; a foundation member of the Clinical Research Network of ASID; a steering committee member for the National Prescribing Service Antibiotic Resistance initiative; and a member of expert writing groups for Therapeutic Guidelines: Antibiotic and Respiratory.

He is also a member of the Advisory Committee on Prescription Medicines (advising the Therapeutic Goods Administration on drug regulation issues), the National Influenza Surveillance Committee and the Australian Technical Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) Until 2015, he was ASID representative to the Communicable Diseases Network of Australia (a subcommittee of the Australian Health Protection Committee).

His work has been recognized as recipient of a NHMRC Excellence Award (2014), a Victorian Public Healthcare Award (Healthcare Innovation) for work with the Antimicrobial Stewardship Team, Alfred Health (2013), recipient of the Frank Fenner Award for Advanced Research in Infectious Diseases (ASID, 2012). He has also been a technical advisor to the World Health Organisation, resulting in drafting of international guidelines for management of sepsis and for severe H1N1/09 infection.

Infectious Diseases Physician and Microbiologist. Canberra Hospital Executive Director, ACT Pathology. Canberra Hospital Professor, Australian National University.

Professor  Peter Collignon works as an Infectious Diseases physician. He is also a microbiologist and is director of the Infectious Diseases Unit and Microbiology at The Canberra Hospital. He is also involved in teaching and is a Professor at the Medical School of the Australian National University.

He is active in many research and public health advocacy issues dealing with different infections and their risks. Particular interests are antibiotic resistance (especially in Staph), hospital acquired infections (especially blood stream and intravascular catheter infections) and resistance that develops through the use of antibiotics in animals. He is extensively involved in Infection Control projects looking at procedures and current practices in medicine and how these may be improved to decrease the risks for patients acquiring infections.

He has been and continues to be an active member of many national and international committees, including those of the Australian Quality and Safety Commission. He has been appointed to many of the expert committees of the World Health Organization (WHO) on the issue of antibiotic resistance and the use of antibiotics in food animals.

In June 2010 he was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for services to Medicine in Infectious Diseases, Microbiology and Infection Control.

Cathy Connor has been Director of the Public Health team at the Office of the National Health and Medical Research Council since 2008.

This team works with key agencies, organisations and government departments to develop clinical, population and/or public health guidelines and advice based on the best available evidence.

As well as this current project to update Australia’s infection control guidelines in partnership with the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare Current, Cathy is overseeing  a review into effective parenting interventions and their impact on an infant’s developing socio-emotional well-being, as well as a review into the health and dental effects of water fluoridation.

Prior to working with NHMRC, Cathy spent 20 years as a physiotherapist specializing in paediatrics, and working in neonatal intensive care settings, the acute hospital, community and private sectors. She has  Bachelor of App Science (Physiotherapy) and a Masters of Health and Community Development.

Professor Marilyn Cruickshank is a registered nurse and Director of the national HAI program at the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare since 2007. In this role, Marilyn leads the national HAI surveillance program, the national hand hygiene program, antimicrobial stewardship, national infection control guidelines, and Standard 3 of the national safety and quality health service standards. Marilyn developed a keen interest in infection prevention and control as Clinical Nurse Consultant for paediatric HIV, developing guidelines and policies for maternal transmission and for children with HIV in hospitals and the community. Her PhD topic included the epidemiology of paediatric HIV in Australia. Marilyn is also a member of the Australian Scientific and Technical Advisory Group (ASTAG), and formally the Chair of the AMR Standing Committee.

Marilyn has co-editored a number of publications on national AMS and HAI surveillance and represented Australia at international meetings, such as APEC and the Western Pacific Regional Office of the World Health Organisation. Marilyn was recently appointed as professor at School of Nursing and Midwifery, Griffith University .

A/Prof Justin Denholm is an infectious diseases physician and ethicist, based at the Royal Melbourne Hospital in Victoria, Australia. He is the Medical Director of the Victorian Tuberculosis Program, and is actively involved in clinical and epidemiologic research and supervision. He is the immediate past Chair of the Australasian Tuberculosis Forum, and co-Chair of the Ethics Advisory Group of the International Union against TB and Lung Disease.

A/Prof Denholm has an active research program in programmatic and clinical TB management, and in issues related to tuberculosis in society, including public health policy, screening programs and isolation. He has a particular interest in ethical issues related to latent tuberculosis infection, and in both qualitative and quantitative evaluation of strategies towards the global elimination of TB.

Becky Freeman is an NHMRC early career research fellow at the School of Public Health, University of Sydney.

Her primary research interests include tobacco control, obesity prevention, and how online and social media influence public health. Prior to pursuing her research interests in Australia, Becky worked for both government and not for profit organisations in Canada and New Zealand.

She is an established authority on the potential of the Internet to circumvent tobacco advertising bans and has pioneered research methods in tracking and analysing online social media content.  She has prepared technical reports for the World Health Organisation outlining how to monitor and regulate tobacco industry advertising and interference in tobacco control policy.

Becky has also served as an advisor to the WHO expert panel on tobacco industry interference in tobacco control, She is the Associate Editor of New Media for the international journal, Tobacco Control.

Deb Friedman is an infectious diseases specialist at Barwon Health in Geelong and an Associate Professor at Deakin University.

She received her MD in the area of Infection Control and hospital-acquired infections. Her main research interests are infections that develop in hospitalised patients, and optimal antimicrobial use. She spent her sabbatical in 2015 researching infection control measures to deal with CRE. She is a member of the NCAS research team supervising research into antimicrobial stewardship in aged care and in regional and rural areas.

Lyn Gilbert is an infectious diseases physician with particular clinical and research interests in the ethics and politics of communicable diseases of public health importance, including healthcare-associated infections

Jan Gralton (BSc, PhD) was awarded her PhD from University of New South Wales in 2012 after completing her studies into the transmission and infection control of respiratory viruses.

Her research focussed on the effectiveness and uptake of respiratory protection, the transmission routes of common respiratory viruses and the potential for of respiratory virus exposure in childcare settings.

In 2013, Jan joined the Clinical Excellence Commission (CEC) and led a statewide project on preventing catheter-associated urinary tract infections in adult acute care settings. Jan also coordinated the production of the NSW’s first infection prevention and control practice handbook.

Currently Jan is a SHEA International Ambassador and works in the HAI program at the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care.

Prof Lindsay Grayson graduated from Monash University Medical School in 1979 and completed Infectious Diseases training at New England Deaconess Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston in 1991; he completed his MD research thesis in 1994 and Master of Science (MSc) in Clinical Epidemiology & Clinical Effectiveness, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston in 1997. From 1991-2000, he was Deputy Director, then Director, of the Infectious Diseases and Clinical Epidemiology, Monash Medical Centre, Melbourne. Since 2000, Prof Grayson has been Director of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, Austin Health and Professor of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of Melbourne.

Prof Grayson is immediate past-President of the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases and past-Chair of the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents & Chemotherapy (ICAAC) Program Committee for the American Society for Microbiology. He has had a longstanding interest in antimicrobial resistance, particularly related to staphylococci and enterococci and infection control. He is Editor-in-Chief of the ASM text, Kucers’ “the Use of Antibiotics”, 6th edition (2010) and co-editor of “Emerging Infections” (ASM, 2010).

Dr Lisa Hall is a member of the Centre of Research Excellence in Reducing Healthcare Associated Infection.  Lisa is an epidemiologist with a PhD and significant policy experience at statewide and national levels.  Prior to joining QUT she worked at the Centre for Healthcare Related Infection Surveillance and Prevention (CHRISP), Queensland Health.

Lisa’s current research focuses on the interface between evidence, policy and implementation to improve the surveillance and prevention of healthcare associated infections.  Her work examines not only the effectiveness, but also the cost-effectiveness, feasibility and sustainability of health services.

Claire Hewitt is the Marketing and Communications Manager for St Vincent’s Private Hospital Melbourne. Initially starting with SVPHM to commence the social strategy for the obstetrics market, Claire’s role has expanded to cover social strategies for the entire hospital. Social Marketing is an integral part of the hospital’s marketing strategy.

Claire has worked in professional services marketing for over 15 years, with experience in marketing for finance, legal and health organisations.

Currently, SVPHM run two blogs, one with a focus on Maternity and a CEO Blog posting weekly updates from around the four hospital locations in Victoria.

Claire has been blogging for different organisations since 2006 and working as a social media expert since 2008.

Susan Jain is an Infection Prevention and Control Clinical Nurse Consultant at the Centre for Hospital Epidemiology and Staff Services (CHESS) at Prince of Wales Hospital, Randwick, Sydney.

Susan has over 20 years of clinical experience principally in Infection Prevention and Management and Intensive Care Nursing. She is a PhD student at the University of New South Wales and her current research interests lie in misuse or over use of nonsterile gloves in healthcare settings.

She has been selected for the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) International Ambassador Program 2016. Susan is also the principal investigator in the project exploring the enablers and barriers of hand hygiene auditors using practice development methods at Wollongong Hospital.

Her research activities include the effect of wearing personal protective equipment by healthcare workers when caring for patients infected or colonised with multidrug resistant organisms, healthcare workers attitude towards glove use, cleaning of shared equipment and their implications for hospital infection control and management.

Wendy Jamieson holds a Bachelor of Applied Science – Medical Record Administration from Lincoln Institute of Health Sciences, Melbourne (1985 – 1987), Masters of Health Statistics (Swinburne University, 2002) and a Certificate in Total Quality Management (1993).  She has over twenty years experience in quality management in healthcare.

Wendy joined the NSW Clinical Excellence Commission (CEC) in January 2009 and was a member of the Quality Systems Assessment (QSA) team for 6 years (till March 2015). Here she developed and managed the QSA On-site Visit / Verification Program.  She recruited and trained over 100 Quality Systems Site Assessors who worked with her annually to review the quality of care in NSW hospitals.  Between 2009 – 2015 Wendy co-ordinated QSA Assessor team visits to every hospital in NSW (>200 Facilities) and she personally visited over 100 facilities.  Wendy has presented the findings and outcomes from the successful QSA Onsite Visit Program at the 2010 Australasian Association for Quality in Health Care (AAQHC) in Perth, 2010 International Society for Quality in Health Care (ISQua) in Paris and 2013 ISQua conference in Edinburgh.

In March, 2015 Wendy moved to the CEC Clinical Leadership & Improvement Program as its new Manager.  In her current role she is responsible for both the Foundational and Executive Clinical Leadership Programs with over 280 participants annually.  In August, 2016 the CEC underwent a restructure where Wendy’s new role became Senior Manager, Quality Improvement Academy.

Wendy is a RABQSA-AU & BSBAUD402B Certified Auditor and successfully completed the ISQua Fellowship Program in June, 2014 and the CEC Executive Clinical Leadership Program in August, 2014.  Wendy is passionate about improving the quality and safety of healthcare for current and future generations. 

Dr Kudzai Kanhutu is an Infectious Diseases physician with a background in immunology and French language studies.

As the current refugee health fellow based at Royal Melbourne Hospital her role involves clinical care provision, health care professional education and advocacy.

The Refugee Health Program is funded by the State Government and coordinated in collaboration with the Victorian Refugee Health Network.

Through her clinical activities and board membership with Health Informatics Society Australia she is engaged in research to increase the use of digital health technologies to support refugees and underserved communities.

Glenys Harrington is an experienced Infection Control Consultant with an extensive background in managing and developing healthcare organization infection control programs in developed and developing countries.  Glenys has post graduate qualifications in Critical Care, Midwifery and Infectious Diseases. She has published widely and has a specific interest in improving patient safety through introducing quality improvement initiatives to reduce healthcare associated infections.

Glenys started her Infection Control career with the Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology Unit at Alfred Health, Melbourne, Australia in 1989. Alfred Health provides services for tertiary referral acute, rehabilitation, long-term care, community health and state wide programs for burns, heart and heart lung transplantation and trauma.  Between 2000 and 2009, she held the Infection Control Program Coordinator position and in 2010 she established her own business called Infection Control Consultancy (ICC).

Glenys’ experience in the Asia Pacific region includes a World Health Organization (WHO) Consultancy to a SARS Outbreak Team, infection control program reviews, and tutorial attachments along with being an Honorary Advisor on the Hong Kong Infection Control Nurses Association (HKICNA) Research Review Panel.  Glenys is currently the Secretary General of the Asia Pacific Society of Infection Control (APSIC).

Gill Harvey is a Professorial Research Fellow in the Adelaide Nursing School at the University of Adelaide.

This is a 4 year appointment; she holds a substantive post as a Professor of Health Management at Alliance Manchester Business School (MBS), University of Manchester, UK.

Gill has a professional background in nursing and her teaching and research interests are in the field of quality improvement, knowledge translation and facilitating evidence-based practice in health care.

She is involved in a range of projects implementing and evaluating knowledge mobilisation initiatives in subject areas such as wound care, deteriorating patients and chronic disease management. In 2014, she was named as a Thomson-Reuters highly cited researcher, particularly for her work with colleagues on developing and testing a widely used conceptual framework known as PARIHS – “Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services”.

Ms Sonia Koning is the Antimicrobial Stewardship Pharmacist Lead at Eastern Health and currently employed at the National Centre for Antimicrobial Stewardship as a Project Officer for the National Antimicrobial Prescribing Survey.

She is also a Teaching Associate at Monash University Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences for the Infectious Diseases Elective.

Dr Jason Kwong is an infectious diseases physician at Austin Health in Melbourne, who is currently undertaking a PhD with Prof Ben Howden at the Microbiological Diagnostic Unit Public Health Laboratory (MDU) in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology, University of Melbourne, at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection & Immunity, on the utility of whole-genome sequencing (WGS) to understand bacterial infectious disease transmission.

In this regard, he has been awarded research grants from the Austin Medical Research Foundation and the Australian Society for Antimicrobials, and holds a NHMRC postgraduate scholarship.

His interests include applications and implementation of WGS in clinical and public health microbiology and infectious diseases, and he is a member of the genomics implementation working group at MDU.

His recent work includes developing genomics-based surveillance for Listeria monocytogenes, investigation of a state-wide outbreak of KPC-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae, and understanding transmission of Neisseria gonorrhoeae between male sexual partners.

A/Prof Sharon Liberali completed her undergraduate dental degree at the University of Adelaide in 1986 and was awarded a Doctor of Clinical Dentistry in Special Needs Dentistry at the University of Adelaide in 2009.  In 2010 she became a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons in the special field of Special Needs Dentistry. In 2011 she was awarded a Fellow of the International College of Dentists (FICD) and in 2013 a Fellow of the Pierre Fauchard Academy.

She is the Director and Senior Consultant of the Special Needs Unit, Adelaide Dental Hospital, SA Dental Service, holds an honorary Associate Dental Consultant position at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, is the Program Director of the postgraduate specialist training program in Special Needs Dentistry in the School of Dentistry, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Adelaide. She is also the Principal Dentist at Health Partners Dental.

Dr Liberali is a past President of the SA Branch of the Australian Dental Association and Immediate Past President of the Australian and New Zealand Academy of Special Needs Dentistry.

Dr Liberali currently Chairs the national ADA Infection Control Committee, and is the ADA representative on the HE-023 committee for Standards Australia and the NHMRC Infection Control Guidelines Advisory committee.

Dr Deborough MacBeth – An Infection Control Professional since 1993, Deborough has augmented her experience with formal study and research, completing the APIC Basic Infection Control Course in Chicago in 1995.

Her PhD awarded in 2005 was based on ethnographic research into the influence of clinical culture on infection control practice.

Deborough’s ongoing contribution to the profession includes knowledge generation through research and publication, building clinician capacity through mentoring, and service, most recently to the Australasian College of Infection Prevention and Control on the Credentialing and Professional Standards Committee and as one of the Board of Directors.

Associate Professor Caroline Marshall is an infectious diseases physician who is Head of the Infection Prevention and Surveillance Service and one of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Service physicians at the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

She is also Principal Research Fellow in the Department of Medicine at the University of Melbourne and is one of the Chief Investigators at the NH&MRC funded National Centre for Antimicrobial Stewardship based at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity.

RN, MSc Medical Device Decontamination; Grad Dip Education and Training; Cert Mgt Decontamination Reusable Medical Devices (UK); Cert Sterilization and Infection Control; Cert Perioperative Nursing; Cert Operating Suite Management; Cert IV A & W T; MACORN; MACN.

Terry McAuley has over 22 years’ experience as an independent Consultant in her own business, STEAM Consulting Pty Ltd. In this capacity, she has conducted training and consultancy reviews of hospital based sterilising services, day procedure centres, dental, podiatry and general office-based practices and performed state-wide audits for various Australian Departments of Health.

She represents the Australasian College for Infection Prevention and Control on the Australian Standards Committee responsible for AS/NZS 4187 Reprocessing Reusable Medical Devices in Health Service Organisations and the sister Standard AS/NZS 4815 applicable to office-based practice. Terry also participates in ISO TC 198 Sterilization of Healthcare Products Working Group 6 – Chemical Indicators and Working Group 12 Information for reprocessing resterilizable medical devices.

Paul McNamara is a nurse working Cairns.

He has established an extensive professional social media portfolio using the homophone “meta4RN” (read as either “metaphor RN” or “meta for RN”), For more information about Paul see his website meta4RN.com and/or follow @meta4RN on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube or Instagram.

A/Prof. Brett Mitchell is an Associate Professor of Nursing and Director of the Lifestyle Research Centre at Avondale College for Higher Education, based in New South Wales, Australia.

He is also the Editor-in-Chief of Infection Disease and Health. Brett is actively involved in several national healthcare associated infection prevention strategies in Australia, including work with the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare, the Australasian College of Infection Prevention and Control and the National Health and Medical Research Council.

Brett publishes extensively in the peer reviewed literature, with his research interests including environmental cleaning, urinary tract infections, surveillance, Clostridium difficile infection and infection control professionals competencies and models.

Cate Quoyle has worked in infection prevention and control in a number of tertiary referral hospitals, and currently works in the Healthcare Associated Infection (HAI) Program at the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. Cate’s current role is to support the development of national surveillance for HAI. Cate participated in the development of the Commission’s first Multi Resistant Gram-Negative Guide, released in 2013 and was involved in the revised CPE Guide.

Professor Tom Riley divides his time in Perth, Western Australia, between PathWest Laboratory Medicine, WA’s public sector pathology service provider where he is the Senior Clinical Scientist, Edith Cowan University where he is Professor of Microbiology, and Murdoch University where he is Professor of Public Health.

He has had a long standing interest in healthcare-related infections, particularly the diagnosis, pathogenesis and epidemiology of Clostridium difficile infection and the antimicrobial activity of Australian native plants, and he is a Chief Investigator in the NH&MRC Centre of Research Excellence in Reducing Healthcare Related Infections.

He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists, the Australian Society for Microbiology, the American Academy of Microbiology, the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America and the Faculty of Science of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia, and has published over 350 book chapters and refereed journal articles, including 50 related to the antimicrobial properties of tea tree oil, an area of research for which he has been continuously funded by the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation since 1993, and over 120 on C. difficile.

Phil Russo has worked in infection prevention and control for over 25 years in a number of different positions including: several roles in infection prevention in major Victorian hospitals, inaugural Operational Director of the VICNISS Coordinating Centre and National Manager of Hand Hygiene Australia. Phil has completed a Master in Clinical Epidemiology and is currently undertaking a PhD at QUT on HAI Surveillance, and working part time at the National Centre for Antimicrobial Stewardship at the Doherty Institute. Phil was the Chair of the National Consultative Steering Committee, which outlined the roadmap for the establishment of ACIPC. Currently an Executive Council member of the ACIPC, he is also Chair of the ACIPC Research Committee successfully implementing the ACIPC Grant scheme. Phil is also a member of the Australian Commission for Safety and Quality in Healthcare HAI Advisory Committee.

Phil strongly supports national initiatives in healthcare prevention that are fostered by the College, and is proud of the College’s achievements in representing its members at both national and international forums since it commenced. He believes that continuing to build on its broad membership in the Australasian region, ongoing educational opportunities for its membership, a strong new journal, and the delivery of high quality annual international conference are key to the ongoing success of the College.

Sue Scott trained as a paediatric nurse at the Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) and as a midwife at the Mercy Maternity Hospital in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Sue commenced working in Royal Children’s Hospital Infection Control Department in 1989 undertaking a certificate course in Sterilization and Infection Control and coordinates the Infection Prevention and Control Service (IPC) at RCH (and the Royal Women’s Hospital until November 2015).

The is (RCH) the major specialist paediatric hospital in Victoria with care extending to children from surrounding states, with over 46,000 inpatients per year.  From 2007 Sue participated in planning and redesign for the new children’s hospital which opened in November 2011. In 2014 together with the IPC team, she undertook the preparedness planning for RCH to become the Victorian designated hospital for the management of paediatric viral haemorrhagic diseases.

Through Royal Children’s Hospital International, Sue participated in providing an Infection Control consultative service to National Hospital of Paediatrics Hanoi, Vietnam and Ministry of Health between 2000 – 2008.  This included supporting the implementation the hand hygiene program, surveillance activities and the development and introduction of a medical and nursing Infection Control training course.

Her interests include childhood infectious diseases, prevention of paediatric hospital acquired infections and immunisation.

Tony Speer is a gastroenterologist at Royal Melbourne Hospital and is a past author of Infection Control in Endoscopy and is currently chair of the GESA/GENCA Infection Control Working Party developing reprocessing guidelines in response to outbreaks of CPE after endoscopy.

Andrew Stewardson is the National Project Manager at Hand Hygiene Australia. He is an infectious diseases physician with research interests in infection control and the epidemiology and control of antibiotic resistance.

After completing physician training in Australia, he spent four years as a research fellow with the Infection Control Program at the University of Geneva Hospitals and the WHO Patient Safety program (Geneva, Switzerland).

He completed a PhD at the University of Melbourne on the burden, dissemination and control of antimicrobial resistance, and has training in epidemiology and biostatistics from the University of Geneva (Switzerland) and Harvard School of Public Health (US).

A/Prof. Rhonda Stuart is an Infectious Diseases Physician and is the Medical Director of Infection Control for Monash Health.

She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at Monash University and is a Chief Investigator in the Residential Aged Care Stream for the National Centre of Antimicrobial Stewardship.

She has published widely and her interests include Infection control, immunization and antimicrobial stewardship.

Peter Teska’s role provides customer support on Infection Prevention issues related to environmental hygiene, writes technical literature and documents, presents at Infection Prevention events, monitors the scientific literature related to environmental hygiene, provides technical support to the portfolio teams in development of innovations, and provides training to Diversey’s employees and customers. He has worked as a supplier to the Healthcare industry for 20+ years.

Teska has presented at a number of Infection Prevention events in the US and internationally to Healthcare audiences in Finland, Brazil, Japan, and Australia. He has co-authored posters at a number of Infection Prevention conferences include IPAC 2015, SHEA 2015, APIC 2014, 2013, and 2012, HIS 2014, and ICPIC 2013.

Teska’s education includes a BS in chemistry from the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point (UW-SP) and a master’s degree (MBA) in business administration from Cardinal Stritch University. He is currently working on his doctorate in public health (DrPH).

Dr. Fred Tenover received his Bachelor’s Degrees in Biology and Chemistry at the University of Dayton, and Masters and Doctoral degrees in Medical Microbiology from the University of Rochester. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow in Clinical Microbiology and Public Health at the University of Washington. After completing his post-doctoral fellowship, he served as Chief of Molecular Biology and Associate Chief of Microbiology at the Seattle Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Seattle and was Associate Professor of Laboratory Medicine at the University of Washington.

Dr. Tenover went to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in July 1990 as Chief of the Nosocomial Pathogens Laboratory Branch, and then became the Associate Director for Laboratory Science in the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion. He established the CDC-World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Global Monitoring of Antimicrobial Resistance in 1998 and served as its Director until 2008. In 2007, he became the Director of the Office of Antimicrobial Resistance at CDC.

In 2008, Dr. Tenover left CDC to become the Senior Director for Scientific Affairs at Cepheid, in Sunnyvale, CA. He continues to serve as an Adjunct Professor in the Division of Epidemiology, Emory University, Rollins School of Public Health and is a Consulting Professor of Pathology at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. He also is a Diplomat of the American Board of Medical Microbiology and a Fellow of both the American Academy of Microbiology and the Infectious Disease Society of America. He has been author/co-author of over 300 peer-reviewed journal articles and 40 book chapters and has edited 9 books

Professor Karin Thursky is an Infectious Diseases physician and clinician researcher with extensive experience in the development of antimicrobial stewardship programs and knowledge translation research.

She is the Director of the  National Centre for Antimicrobial Stewardship, Clinical Director of the Guidance team within the Victorian Infectious Diseases Services at Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH), the Deputy Head of Infectious Diseases at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Melbourne, and a member of the antimicrobial stewardship team at the RMH.

Professor Marianne Wallis commenced in the School of Nursing and Midwifery in March 2013. She is the current Research Portfolio Leader for the School, the Leader of the NURTURE Research Cluster and has a Visiting Research Fellowship with Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service. Prior to arriving at USC Marianne was the Foundation Professor in Clinical Nursing Research at Griffith University and Gold Coast Health Services District. Currently she is a Board Member of the Australian Vascular Access Society and a Member of the Queensland Emergency Medicine Research Foundation Scientific Advisory Committee.

Marianne is a passionate clinical researcher and has been a Chief Investigator in numerous large projects that have aimed at improving the nursing care of hospitalised patients. Marianne was a Chief Investigator the first NHMRC Centre for Research Excellence focused on Nursing (which is located at Griffith University) and is a member of the Australian Vascular Access Training and Research Group (AVATAR). The main focus of Marianne’s research is nursing interventions related to wounds, pressure injuries and intravascular access devices. She also has a research track record related to chronic illness management and health services research, especially in the emergency department.

Marianne has written over 120 scientific publications and reviews for six major research funding bodies in Australia and overseas and for more than ten Australian and international peer reviewed journals. Since 2000, Marianne and her colleagues have attracted over $8m in research funds for projects that involved collaboration with a range of industry partners.

Andrew Way has been the CEO of Alfred Health since 2009.

Andrew has concentrated on improving access, ensuring high quality safe services with low mortality, within a strong financial framework and research supportive environment.

Alfred Health is now seen as a leader in these areas. Andrew led the development of Victoria’s first Academic Health Science Centre – Monash Partners, now an accredited NHMRC Advanced Health and Research Translation Centre.

Andrew was appointed as an Adjunct Clinical Professor in the School of Public Health and Preventative Medicine, Faculty of Medicine Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University in 2015. Andrew is also a Director of other health related organisations and is a member of several government and other advisory groups.

Prior to his relocation to Melbourne in 2009, Andrew had an extensive career in the NHS in the UK, latterly as CEO of the Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust.

Greg Whiteley is the Managing Director of Whiteley Medical, an Australian Therapeutic Goods Manufacturer with a facility in the Hunter region of NSW. Whiteley Medical is the largest manufacturer of Instrument Disinfectants, Sterilants and medical device reprocessing chemistries in the southern hemisphere. Whiteley Medical is an active collaborator in Infection Science research.

Mr Whiteley recently completed his Doctorate thesis on “Validation of ATP testing used for integrated cleanliness monitoring within healthcare settings”. He has published widely on ATP testing validation and on dry surface biofilms and their role in the establishment of MROs within healthcare settings. His continuing research includes applications of hygiene science including ATP testing, biofilm methods, hospital cleanliness, food sector cleanliness and cleaning validation.

Qualifications:

Bachelor of Applied Science, Environmental Health, Hawkesbury Agricultural College, 1983

Master of Safety Science, University of NSW, 1989

Diploma, Australian Institute of Company Directors, University of New England, 1993

Doctor of Philosophy, Western Sydney University, 2016

Directorships/ Professional appointments (current)

Director, Whiteley Corporation Pty Ltd

Director, ACCORD Australia Ltd

Chairman of Code of Practice Committee, Australian Dental Industry Association (ADIA)

Member Infection Control Committee, Australian Dental Association (representing ADIA)

Founder, Hunterbiotx

Associate Professor Leon Worth is an infectious diseases physician and clinical researcher.

His research portfolio encompasses monitoring and prevention of device-related bloodstream infections, novel interventions and bundle approaches for prevention.

He provides medical lead to infection prevention departments in 2 major teaching hospitals, including the recently opened Parkville precinct Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, where his focus is upon treatment and prevention of infections in immunocompromised hosts.

Through appointment with the VICNISS group, he actively supports healthcare infection surveillance strategies throughout Victorian hospitals, and is engaged with national committees concerned with antimicrobial resistance and surveillance of healthcare-associated infections.

Dr Peta-Anne Zimmerman is an internationally respected clinician, educator and researcher in infection prevention and control. Dr Zimmerman’s experience includes consultancy work with the World Health Organization (WHO), AusAID, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Secretariat of the Pacific Communities (SPC), The Albion Centre and as a member of the WHO SARS Response Team. Her expertise has led her to work extensively in South East Asia and the Pacific, directly on the development of comprehensive infection prevention and control programmes and integration of public health and acute care response in infectious disease emergencies in low and middle income country settings. Peta-Anne is the Convenor of the ACIPC LMI Special Interest Group, representative for the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) and member of the Credentialling and Professional Practices (CAPS) Committee.

She is currently a member of faculty within the Griffith Graduate Infection Prevention and Control Program at Griffith University, an associate member of the Menzies Health Institute Queensland, and Visiting Research Fellow at the Department of Infection Control at Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service, Australia.

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