Our people

Fostering cross-disciplinary collaboration
Our leadership supports a vibrant and cross-disciplinary academic community of researchers from across the University.

Our institute is comprised of central organisation structure with a core executive, a multidisciplinary advisory board and node leaders. 

The Institute's Director guides our strategic thinking, key partnerships and outputs. 

Professor Ben Marais is an Infectious Diseases Consultant at the Children's Hospital Westmead. His primary research interest is tuberculosis (epidemiology, strain diversity/evolution, diagnosis, prevention, treatment, drug resistance) with a special focus on how children are affected by the global epidemic. He has a keen interest in international child health; including HIV, TB/HIV, paediatric and emerging infections in general, as well as operations and cross-disciplinary research. 


Our Deputy Director (acting) Professor Jamie Triccas is a bacteriologist who uses a multidisciplinary approach to define immunity to chronic bacterial pathogens and develop new treatments to control infection. He is a Professor of Medical Microbiology and Group Leader in the Infection, Immunity and Inflammation Theme in the School of Medical Sciences at the University of Sydney. He has over 25 years’ experience working with pathogens and has published widely on aspects of bacterial pathogenesis, immunity to infection and vaccine development and testing.


Associate Director (Strategy, Operations & Partnerships)

Dr Jocelyne Basseal, leads the strategic development of the Sydney Infectious Diseases Institute, with a focus on external relations and partnerships. Prior to this role, she worked on the COVID-19 response for the WHO's Western Pacific Region, supporting low-middle income countries as an Infection Prevention and Control consultant. Jocelyne has extensive experience in the non-for-profit sector as the Managing Editor, Research and Policy Manager for the Australasian Society for Ultrasound in Medicine and was instrumental in advocating for best practices in IPC in medical imaging. She has consulted for several commercial companies as an IPC advisor and supported the development of the research grants scheme for a philanthropic organisation. Jocelyne is the immediate past President of the Australasian Medical Writers Association and currently serves on the Australian Network of WHO Collaborating Centres Executive Committee. She holds a PhD in medical microbiology from the University of Sydney and a Grad Cert in Infection Prevention and Control.


Centre Manager

Christine Aitken has been with the Centre for over 11 years, establishing and running the operations of the institute.

 


Senior Administration Officer

Kayla Milroy joined the Sydney ID team in August 2023. She has many years of experience as an administration officer, especially in the health industry. Most recently she worked at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead with the Paediatric endocrinologist team.

 


Institute leaders

Our Research Steering Group reviews the scope of academic activities undertaken by the Institute and provides strategic and tactical advice. Our members represent the various faculties, cross-cutting themes and research pillars of the Institute.

 

Node leader(s) Node
Dr Phil Britton Brain Infection and Inflammation: Researching better treatments and prevention strategies to deal with infections and immunological disorders affecting the brain and nervous system.
Dr Justin Beardsley FungiSphere: Research in fungal biology, ecology and epidemiology, food security, pathogenesis and antimicrobial resistance.

Professor Robert Booy

A/Prof Harunor Rashid

Mass-Gathering MedicineResearching transmission of bacterial and viral pathogens and vaccine effectiveness, with implications for policy interventions to protect personal and public health.

Dr Michael Walsh

A/Prof Katrina Bosward

Prof Ruth Zadoks

One Health: Research on zoonotic and other infectious diseases, their impacts on human and animal health and their social, ecological and environmental determinant.

Professor Ramon Shaban

Professor Lyn Gilbert

Infection Prevention and Disease Control: Researching ways to improve health outcomes and health service delivery with respect to infectious diseases, infection prevention and disease control, and associated disciplines locally, nationally and internationally through leading, facilitating and evaluating quality research that develops new knowledge and advances in research and clinical practice.

 

 

The Flagship Advisory Board provides institutional oversight and broad strategic guidance to the Institute.

Pathogen Emergence and Spread

AMR and Novel Therapies

Vaccines and Immunisation

Prof Tania Sorrell
Sydney ID Ambassador

Tania was instrumental in establishing the Sydney Institute for Infectious Diseases and she has successfully created multidisciplinary research networks including medical and veterinary sciences, biological sciences and humanities and social sciences, in an effort to improve capacity in Australia and abroad, in diagnostics, surveillance, infection control and infectious disease prevention.

She is an internationally renowned infectious diseases physician and medical mycologist whose research focuses on invasive fungal infections. She has a long-standing interest in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases, especially in immunocompromised individuals.