Australia’s trusted immunisation experts
26 September 2024 | NewsFunding success to enable continued regional immunisation support and engagementRead the full article
The final NCIRS webinar for 2021 focused on COVID-19 in children and adolescents, with an update on:
Professor Gagandeep (Cherry) Kang The Wellcome Trust Research Laboratory, Division of Gastrointestinal Sciences, Christian Medical College, Vellore Professor Gagandeep Kang is Professor of Microbiology at the Wellcome Trust Research Laboratory, Division of Gastrointestinal Sciences at the Christian Medical College (CMC) in Vellore. She received her training in medicine and microbiology at the CMC and post-doctoral training in the UK and the US before returning to India to continue her work on enteric infections in children.
She has worked on the development and use of vaccines for rotaviruses, cholera and typhoid, conducting large studies to define burden of the disease and test vaccines and measure their impact. She is a member of several advisory committees of the World Health Organization, mainly related to research and use of vaccines. She serves or has served on the scientific advisory or strategic committee of several national and international institutions, including the Wellcome Trust, UK, the DBT-Wellcome Trust India Alliance, the International Vaccine Institute and the International Centers for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology.
She is Vice-Chair of the Board of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation, and a Wellcome Trust–nominated board member of Hilleman Laboratories, a partnership to support development of affordable vaccines for low- and middle-income countries.
Dr Philip Britton Staff Specialist - Paediatric Infectious Diseases, Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network Dr Philip Britton is a Paediatric Infectious Diseases physician and Early Career Researcher based at the Children's Hospital at Westmead. He has led the team providing care to children and adolescents hospitalised with COVID-19 across the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network. He is working as part of a collaboration with specialists at the Children's Hospital at Westmead and Nepean Hospital to better understand the evolution of COVID-19 by analysing the human immune response amongst children and adults. In his role as a principal investigator of the Paediatric Active Enhanced Disease Surveillance (PAEDS) network he is leading research aimed to understand the long term outcomes of children and adolescents hospitalised with COVID-19.
Dr Archana Koirala Staff Specialist, NCIRS Dr Archana Koirala is a paediatric infectious disease specialist and general paediatrician. She is part of the NSW Immunisation Specialist Service (NSWISS) team at NCIRS and reviews children who have experienced an adverse event following immunisation. She has a special interest in how COVID-19 affects the paediatric population. Dr Koirala leads the COVID-19 in educational settings investigation project, working with the team at NCIRS.
Dr Ketaki Sharma Staff Specialist, NCIRS Dr Ketaki Sharma is a general paediatrician and staff specialist at NCIRS. She holds a conjoint appointment as Clinical Lecturer in the Discipline of Child and Adolescent Health at the University of Sydney. Ketaki is a member of the team at NCIRS that provides scientific technical support to the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) and is also part of the NSWISS team. She is undertaking research on optimising vaccination during pregnancy to protect newborn infants from vaccine preventable illnesses, and also has a special interest in vaccination of people with immunocompromise.
