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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Brain ageing, dementia and psychiatric disorders
Professor Perminder Sachdev graduated from the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, in 1978 and completed his MD in Psychiatry there in 1983. Following time in New Zealand, he relocated to Australia, where he completed psychiatric training and a PhD at UNSW in 1991. His doctoral work examined ethnopsychological concepts in Māori culture. His early research focused on drug-induced movement disorders, including akathisia, tardive dyskinesia and neuroleptic malignant syndrome, while his later work has centred on dementia and pre-dementia syndromes, particularly neuroimaging, biomarkers and risk factors.
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Impact of Leukaemia Foundation’s Research Funding into Blood Cancer
Bill Stavreski is the Head of Research at the Leukaemia Foundation who talks about the research impact in recent years. The Foundation itself marks its 25th anniversary in 2025, having funded a wide range of health and medical research since 2000. With a focus on basic science, health services research, treatment, and care, the organisation has invested nearly $90 million (adjusted in current dollars terms) in approximately 370 research grants over the years.
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Investigating the benefits of donor human milk for preterm infants
Together, SAHMRI and Lifeblood are leading a consortium to revolutionise the way human milk, and novel products made from human milk, are used as nutritional and medical interventions to improve health outcomes in vulnerable infants, but with potential application for a diverse range of medical indications.
Currently, babies who are born early preterm – before 32 weeks – are given donor milk when their own mother’s milk is not available or in short supply. Whether donor milk is beneficial for babies born just a few weeks early is unclear, as very little research has been undertaken with these babies.
The GIFT Trial will soon commence as an investigation between SAHMRI, the University of Adelaide, the Red Cross Lifeblood Milk Bank conducted at five sites across three states in Australia.
