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Keynote Speakers
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International Keynote Speakers | |
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Dr. Maia Butsashvili Dr. Maia Butsashvili received her PhD in Epidemiology at State University of New York. She is infectious diseases physician and director of one of the leading Georgian non-governmental organizations “Health Research Union” (HRU). Dr. Butsashvili has over 20 years of experience in public health and epidemiology, clinical medicine and research. |
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Dr. Samuel So Dr. Samuel So is a professor of surgery and Lui Hac Minh professor at Stanford University, and director of the Asian Liver Center he established in 1996 with the goal of global elimination of hepatitis B and reduce the burden of liver cancer. In 2000, he launched Jade Ribbon as a global symbol to increase hepatitis B and liver cancer awareness. He served as a FDA consultant and board member on population health and public health practice of the Institute of Medicine, and IOM’s committee on prevention of viral hepatitis in the U.S. and committee on a national strategy for the elimination of hepatitis B and C, and is a special advisor on viral hepatitis to the WHO western pacific region. In 2010, he received the CDC/ATSDR Award for mobilizing people and resources in ways that have changed global public health policies related to hepatitis B and was recognized by the White House in 2014 for global and national leadership in the prevention and treatment of viral hepatitis.
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Professor Jeffrey Lazarus Prof Lazarus is on the faculty at the University of Copenhagen and the University of Barcelona. His decade-long career as a hepatitis, HIV and health systems expert at WHO was followed by three years at the Global Fund. He is on the board of the EASL International Liver Foundation and editor of Hepatology, Medicine and Policy. |
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Homie Razavi Homie is the managing director at the Center for Disease Analysis (CDA) and CDA Foundation. He also leads the Polaris Observatory and the Global Procurement Fund (GPRO) which provides up to date epidemiology data and a mean of purchasing affordable quality treatment and diagnostics.
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Local Keynote Speakers
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Professor Greg Dore Professor Dore is Head, Viral Hepatitis Clinical Research Program, Kirby Institute, Sydney, UNSW Sydney, and Infectious Diseases Physician, St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney, Australia. He has been involved in viral hepatitis and HIV epidemiological and clinical research, clinical care and public health policy for 20 years. |
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Dr. Annie Balcomb Dr Annie Balcomb is a rural GP based in Orange NSW who has been closely involved in treatment of chronic hepatitis C since 2008. She was instrumental in re-establishing a hepatitis C service in collaboration with local gastroenterologists based in an opiate replacement setting where all patients were assessed and treated prior to interferon free regimes.
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Dr. Ben Cowie Ben is the Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Viral Hepatitis, Doherty Institute, and is an Infectious Diseases Physician & Epidemiologist at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and the University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. |
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Jacqui Richmond Jacqui Richmond has worked in viral hepatitis for the last 20 years in nursing, education, research, and policy development. Jacqui currently works at the Burnet Institute, Melbourne Health and La Trobe University, where the broad focus of her work is on building the capacity of the health professional workforce to test, treat and manage the health care needs of people living with viral hepatitis.
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Dr. Phillip Read Dr Phillip Read is a sexual health physician and the Director of the Kirketon Road Centre in Sydney’s Kings Cross. Kirketon Road is a primary health care facility involved in the prevention treatment and care of HIV, hepatitis and STIs among people who inject drugs, sex workers and “at-risk” young people.
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Carla Gorton Carla is the HIV, Viral Hepatitis and Sexual Health Coordinator for the Far Northern region from Cairns to the Torres Strait. She has worked in the blood borne virus sector for the past 16 years and is one of the key drivers of the ‘Cairns Hep C Free by 2020’ health promotion campaign.
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Kathy Clark Kathy Clark is a member of the Cairns Hepatitis Action team and has been involved for many years in harm reduction and peer education. She has volunteered for the QLD Injectors Health Network and has recently undertaken work with Cairns Sexual Health to engage marginalised community members with Hepatitis C for testing and treatment.
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Malcolm McDonald Malcolm McDonald MBBS PhD FRACP FRCPA has worked in teaching hospitals, research institutes, regional health centres and remote communities in Australia, East Africa and Southern Pacific. He is currently Consultant Physician with three Indigenous health services in Far North Queensland and Senior Clinical Research Fellow, Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention, James Cook University.
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Professor Margaret Hellard Professor Hellard’s work aims to improve the health of the community by conducting high quality, policy-relevant and innovative research that addresses the major public health problems associated with infectious diseases, drug use and related behaviour. Currently a key focus of her work is the elimination of hepatitis C as a public health threat in Australia and globally.
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A/Professor Rebecca Guy A/Professor Rebecca Guy holds a PhD in epidemiology, and a Masters of Applied Epidemiology. She has worked at the Sexual Health Program at Kirby Institute, UNSW, since 2008 and in 2015 was appointed Head of the Surveillance, Evaluation and Research Program. Her research focuses on the epidemiology and prevention of sexually transmissible infections. She has led a large number of collaborative studies, particularly in the area of clinical and public health interventions, which include: large-scale epidemiological studies involving complex surveillance systems; the evaluation of STI control strategies; and rapid point-of-care tests for STIs in remote and developing country settings.
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Dr Darren Russell Dr Darren Russell is a sexual health physician and the Director of Sexual Health at Cairns Hospital. He holds the positions of Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Population Health at The University of Melbourne and Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Medicine and Dentistry at James Cook University. He is the Chair of the HIV Foundation Queensland and a past-President of the Australasian Chapter of Sexual Health Medicine of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, the Victorian AIDS Council, and the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations. Darren is also the Principal Investigator for the Queensland HIV prevention study – ‘QPrEPd’. His interests include Indigenous sexual health, transgender health, and the elimination of Hepatitis C infection and HIV transmissions in Australia.
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Professor Andrew Lloyd Professor Andrew Lloyd is an infectious diseases physician and immunovirology researcher at the Kirby Institute. He is an NHMRC Practitioner Fellow. Over many years in conjunction with the Justice health & Forensic Mental Health Network, he has led the development of the Hepatitis Service in the NSW prisons. He was awarded an Australia Medal (AM) for this work, and for his research achievements in infectious diseases.
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Dr Nicole Allard Dr Nicole Allard is a PhD student in the Epidemiology Unit, researching how people living with hepatitis B access care across the Australian health system. She is also a general practitioner at cohealth with an interest in refugee health, health literacy and hepatitis B. She has past experience working overseas in Cambodia in HIV prevention and in remote Aboriginal communities. She has represented the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) on various state committees, is a member of the Australasian Society for HIV Medicine (ASHM) and is a board member of Hepatitis Victoria.
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Melanie Walker Melanie Walker is the new CEO of AIVL – Australian Injecting and Illicit Drug Users League. She is the President of Hepatitis ACT and immediate past Vice President of Hepatitis Australia. She has most recently been working as a consultant and was previously Deputy CEO of Public Health Association of Australia.
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Yvonne Drazic Yvonne Drazic has been diagnosed with chronic hepatitis B when she was very young. She feels lucky to be on treatment and have it well under control through regular check-ups. To help more people achieve the same and protect them from getting serious liver disease, she enjoys raising awareness with the Cairns Hepatitis Action Team and has served on the board of Hepatitis Queensland for many years. She is also in the process of completing a PhD that involved an hepatitis B education campaign in the Cairns Hmong community. In addition, Yvonne is currently working part-time on hepatitis projects at Cairns Sexual Health Service, and also in the medical records department at Cairns Hospital. Born and raised in Switzerland, she and her husband emigrated to Australia in 1994 and have been living in Cairns ever since, currently with three adorable furballs. Yvonne loves watching her grown daughters follow their dreams.
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Rhondda Lewis Rhondda Lewis, Viral Hepatitis Health Practitioner, working in hepatitis health promotion and education in Cairns. |
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Alex Thompson Alex Thompson is Professor-Director of the Department of Gastroenterology at St Vincent’s Hospital and the University of Melbourne, Australia and an Adjunct Assistant Professor of the Department of Gastroenterology, Duke University Medical Center. Professor Thompson is the Program Director for the Victorian Statewide Hepatitis Service, Australia, contracted to the Victorian Government’s Department of Justice and Regulation, and the current President of the Australian Liver Association. His research focusses on improving outcomes for people living with viral hepatitis. He was involved in the discovery of IL28B polymorphism as a predictor of treatment outcome in HCV, and is an active clinical investigator for trials evaluating the efficacy of novel antiviral DAA regimens. With the development of DAA therapy for HCV, he has more recently been actively pursuing the development and evaluation of new models of care for people with HCV, with a focus on treatment as prevention to eliminate transmission and reduce prevalence of HCV in Australia. I have published widely in journals including Nature, New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association, Gastroenterology, Hepatology, Gut and Journal of Hepatology. |
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Phillip Mills |
