BURDEN, RISK FACTORS AND PREVENTION OF RESPIRATORY INFECTIONS AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES IN CHILDREN
Associate Professor Hannah Moore OAM
Program Head, Infection and Vaccines,
The Kids Research Institute Australia &
Associate Professor at the School of Population Health, Curtin University
Western Australia
RESEARCHER PROFILE (Filmed in Perth, Western Australia | December 2024)
A/Prof Hannah Moore OAM is an infectious disease epidemiologist; Co-Head of the Infectious Disease Epidemiology team within the Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases at The Kids Research Institute Australia and Associate Professor at the School of Population Health, Curtin University in Western Australia.
Her passion for research involves using population-based data to investigate how to recognise, prevent and reduce serious respiratory and other infectious diseases in children through estimating burden of disease and evaluating the effectiveness of vaccination programs. She has developed expertise in the epidemiology of Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) in young children, where her research was pivotal in WA Governments’ decision to establish the first and most comprehensive RSV infant immunisation program in the nation. Raising awareness of RSV, understanding community burden and evaluating the impact of prevention measures is now a major focus of her research program. She has previously contributed to state and national influenza vaccination policy.
In 2020 A/Prof Moore joined the Strep A Vaccine Global Consortium (SAVAC) to increase knowledge and awareness of the global burden of Group A Streptococcal diseases. She now holds an activity lead position in the US$11M-funded SAVAC 2.0.
A/Prof Moore has been awarded more than $19M in competitive research grants, co-authored more than 140 papers, was TEDxPerth 2018 speaker, recipient of a WA Young Tall Poppy Award (2013) and the WA Premiers Science Early Career Scientist Award (2015). In 2024, she was honoured with a Medal of the Order of Australia for her service to epidemiology as a researcher.
Editor’s note: At the time of recording in September 2024, A/Prof Hannah Moore makes reference to needing a national RSV immunisation program. Efforts by her and others in campaigning were successful and in November 2024 the Australian National Immunisation Program was updated to include RSV from 2025. https://www.health.gov.au/news/national-immunisation-program-update-rsv-vaccine#:~:text=The%20inclusion%20of%20the%20RSV,announced%20as%20soon%20as%20possible.
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4920-9991
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Professor Sandy Middleton
NURSING RESEARCH INSTITUTE, ST VINCENT’S HEALTH NETWORK SYDNEY, ST VINCENT’S HOSPITAL MELBOURNE AND AUSTRALIAN CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY
NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA -
Inner ear organoids for the study of human hearing and balance
Dr Jackie Ogier is an auditory neuroscientist, with a research focus on the molecular biology of hair cells, the specialised sensory receptors in the ear that detect sound and balance. She is a postdoctoral research fellow in the laboratory of A/Prof Bryony Nayagam, supported by a prestigious Passe and Williams foundation fellowship.
Dr Ogier’s experience broadly spans the genetics of hearing loss, disease modelling, micro dissection, primary cell culture, stem cell culture, organoids, and proteomics. Overall, she aims to generate knowledge of hearing and vestibular sensory biology.
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Touched by bowel cancer and chasing science outcomes
Dr Josephine Wright is a Senior Research Fellow in the Gut Cancer group. She has been developing a translational network of labs, hospitals and clinics to enable validation of new approaches to prevent and treat colorectal and gastric cancer. Her key focus is studying human tumour organoids to better personalise therapy in cancer.
