Good News

Kerri Viney is now an Adjunct Associate Professor at the School of Public Health, University of Sydney. She is currently on 12 months leave from RSPH and has taken up a position as a Scientist with the Global TB Programme, WHO (HQ, Geneva).

New grants/funding

Meru Sheel received a research grant from the World Health Organization (AUD 27,433.74)

- Characterising acute public health events in the South East Asia Region of the WHO using Event-Based Surveillance.

Keynote and invited presentations

Meru Sheel invited to present at the 15^th Indo-Australian Conference on Contemporary Strategies for Prevention and Management of Diseases in the 2020s in Adelaide – presentation topic: Public Health Surveillance as tool for prevention and control of communicable diseases, from high performing to broken health systems.

Danielle Ingle gave two presentations at the 20th International Union Against Sexually Transmitted Infections (IUSTI) Asia-Pacific Conference, 2019. Shanghai, China 1) Shigella in MSM 2) Applying genomics to the control of STIs.

Other conference presentations

Rhiannon L. Wallace, Dieter Bulach, Amy Jennison, Liana Varrone, Angus McLure, Mary Valcanis, Benjamin Polkinghorne, Kathryn Glass and Martyn D. Kirk. The status of antimicrobial resistance in Campylobacter coli and jejuni in Australia. Poster presentation at The Communicable Disease Control Conference in Canberra 20-21 November 2019.

Angus McLure, Dieter Bulach, Mary Valcanis, Amy Jennison, Rhiannon Wallace, Nigel French, Martyn Kirk, Kathryn Glass. Source attribution of Campylobacter Infections in Australia. Oral presentation at The Communicable Disease Control Conference in Canberra 20-21 November 2019.

Additionally, the MAE has fantastic representation at the PHAA CDC conference with current students and recent graduates presenting MAE projects.

Tambri Housen attended a meeting in Melbourne with software developers from Beyond Essential Systems and collaborators from Hunter New England Population Health to workshop the design for a regional field epidemiology web portal – this site will map FETP graduates and students across the Pacific, their training and outbreak experience, it will also be a hub for sharing resources and a communication network. Funded by the Indo-Pacific Centre for Health Security.

Brett Lidbury is attending a “Pioneer – 2 – Policymaker” meeting in the Netherlands.

RSPH workshops and seminars

Meru Sheel and Danielle Ingle facilitated the Whole Genome Sequencing for Public health at the PHAA Communicable Diseases Conference 2019.

The MAE team led a workshop for field supervisors at the PHAA CDC Conference with the primary aim of strengthening the relationship between MAE field supervisors and the program.

Awards

MAE scholar, Hendrik Camphor, was awarded best oral presentation at the Global TEPHINET Conference in Atlanta.

Other news

Meru Sheel led and facilitated the annual Cambodia National Workplan for Emerging Diseases and Public Health Emergencies to Achieve IHR Core Capacities 2016-2020.

Meru Sheel participated the Westpac Leadership Development Workshop facilitated by the Dr Dan Caprar of University of Sydney – a culture, identity, and leadership expert.

Kerri Viney published a report for the Government of Papua New Guinea, under contract with WHO PNG Country Office: Viney K, Aia P, Kal M, Ershova J, Jadamba N, Rehan R. Report on the national tuberculosis patient cost survey in Papua New Guinea: 2017-2018. Canberra: Australian National University; 2019 (Report)

Papers accepted/published:

• Cameron R.M. Moffatt, Emily Fearnley, Robert Bell, Rose Wright, Joy Gregory, Timothy Sloan-Gardner, Martyn Kirk, Russell Stafford. Characteristics of Campylobacter Gastroenteritis Outbreaks in Australia, 2001 to 2016. Foodborne Pathogens and Disease 2019 Published Online:18 Nov 2019 https://doi.org/10.1089/fpd.2019.2731
• Cameron R.M. Moffatt, Emily Fearnley, Robert Bell, Rose Wright, Joy Gregory, Timothy Sloan-Gardner, Martyn Kirk, Russell Stafford. Characteristics of Campylobacter Gastroenteritis Outbreaks in Australia, 2001 to 2016. Foodborne Pathogens and Disease 2019 Published Online:18 Nov 2019 https://doi.org/10.1089/fpd.2019.2731
• A. Chattaway, Kathryn E. Holt and Timonthy J. Dallman. Informal genomic surveillance of regional distribution of Salmonella Typhi genotypes and antimicrobial resistance via returning travellers. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases 2019
• Alene KA, Viney K, Moore HC, Wagaw M, Clements AC. Spatial patterns of tuberculosis and HIV co-infection in Ethiopia. PLoS One (in press, November 2019)
• Olivia Biermann; Knut Lönnroth; Maxine Caws; Kerri Viney. Factors influencing active tuberculosis case finding policy development and implementation: a scoping review. BMJ Open (in press, November 2019)
• Forbes O, Davis S, Dyda A, Rosewell A, Williams S, Kirk M, Roces MC, Lim-Quizon MC, Viney K. Field epidemiology training programs in Asia-Pacific: what is best practice for supervision? Western Pacific Surveillance and Response Journal. (in press, June 2019)
• Viney K, Amadal S, Marques EB, Siroka A, Lopes C, Vaz Nery S. Four in five tuberculosis patients experience catastrophic costs related to TB diagnosis and care in Timor-Leste. International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease. 23 (11): 1191-1197.
• Viney K, Mills T, Harley D. Tuberculosis and diabetes-mellitus: A dose-response relationship between the odds of tuberculosis and HbA1c. International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease. 2019. 23(10): 1055-1059
• Pedrazzoli D, Houben R, Viney K, Lonnroth K. Beyond measurement: taking bold multisectoral actions towards zero catastrophic costs and suffering due to TB. International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease. 2019. 23 (11): 1236.
• Cameron R.M. Moffatt, Emily Fearnley, Robert Bell, Rose Wright, Joy Gregory, Timothy Sloan-Gardner, Martyn Kirk, Russell Stafford. Characteristics of Campylobacter Gastroenteritis Outbreaks in Australia, 2001 to 2016. Foodborne Pathogens and Disease 2019 Published Online:18 Nov 2019 https://doi.org/10.1089/fpd.2019.2731
• Housen, T., Lenglet, A., Shah, S., Shah, H., Ara, S., Pintaldi, G., Richardson, A. 2019. Trauma in the Kashmir Valley and the mediating effect of stressors of daily life on symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety. Conflict and Health. Accepted for publication 28th November 2019
• Housen, T., Ara, S., Shah, A., Lenglet, A., Pintaldi, G. 2019. Dua Ti Dawa Ti: Understanding psychological distress in the ten districts of the Kashmir Valley and community mental health service needs. Conflict and Health. Accepted for publication 22ndNovember 2019.