Solomon is a Positive Speaker with Hepatitis SA, and was recently cured of hepatitis C on the new treatments. Born in Khartoum in Sudan in 1985, Solomon has experienced war times, migration, family trauma and incarceration. Despite many hardships, Solomon is now content and happy alongside his partner and children.

Suresh Sharma is a Nurse Practitioner (NP) at John Hunter Hospital specialising in Chronic Liver Disease (Hepatology) he provides direct and indirect clinical care for people with acute and liver conditions. He provides clinical leadership, best practice and support to clinicians within the Hunter New England Local Health District.

Professor Dore is Head, Viral Hepatitis Clinical Research Program, Kirby Institute, UNSW Australia, 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.

Professor Carla Treloar is Director of the Centre for Social Research in Health and the Social Policy Research Centre at UNSW, Sydney.

A/Prof Gail Matthews is Associate Professor in the Viral Hepatitis Clinical Research Program at the Kirby Institute, Sydney. She also holds a clinical academic appointment in HIV, Infectious Diseases and Viral Hepatitis at St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney. She originally completed HIV specialist training in London before moving to Australia in 2002 to take up a position at the Kirby Centre, and obtained her PhD on Therapeutic Strategies in HIV-HBV coinfection in 2009. She has a specific interest in acute hepatitis C, antiviral resistance and HIV/viral hepatitis coinfection in resource limited settings, and leads a number of national and international research projects in these areas. She is co-editor of the B positive monograph.

Mr Michael Ninburg is President of the World Hepatitis Alliance and serves as Executive Director of the Hepatitis Education Project (HEP), a U.S.-based NGO dedicated to supporting hepatitis patients. HEP works with patients, clinicians and policymakers, and provides direct services and advocacy underserved and marginalized populations, including prisoners, persons who inject drugs (PWID) and people who are homeless or unstably housed. Michael works with global partners on issues related to testing, treatment access and the development of more efficient hepatitis drugs and diagnostics. He has served as consultant or partner to a variety of governmental agencies and multilateral organizations, including the World Health Organization (WHO), the Pan American Health Organization/WHO, and U.S. CDC. Before joining HEP, Michael worked in the private sector with Apple Computer in the Czech Republic and Amazon.com in Seattle. He studied Philosophy at UCLA and has a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the University of Washington.

Prof 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.

Award presented by Vanessa Towell.