Epidemiology, HIV and other infectious diseases

Name: Brahmaputra Marjadi
Contact Details: z2257811@student.unsw.edu.au , Ph: +61 (2) 9385 3472
Research areas of interest: EPIDEMIOLOGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES; INTERNATIONAL AND GLOBAL PUBLIC HEALTH; CULTURE AND HEALTH; EDUCATION AND CAPACITY ENHANCEMENT
Current research topic: Designing an infection control system for healthcare-associated infections at Indonesian rural health centres with in-patient service
Supervisors: Associate Professor Mary-Louise McLaws, Associate Professor Michael Whitby

Name: Yueping Alex Wang
Contact Details: z3091241@student.unsw.edu.au, Ph: +61 (2) 9382 1138
Research areas of interest: EPIDEMIOLOGY, HIV AND OTHER INFECTIOUS DISEASES
Current research topic: Enhanced Second Generation HIV Surveillance in Kiribati: Implementation and Evaluation of an Alternative Model of Combined STI/HIV and Behavior Surveillance Surveys
Supervisors: Dr Elizabeth Sullivan, Associate Professor Deborah Black

Name:Marina van Leeuwen
Contact Details: z3139110@student.unsw.edu.au, Ph: +61 (2) 9385 0900
Research areas of interest: EPIDEMIOLOGY, CANCER, IMMUNE DEFICIENCY, HIV AND OTHER INFECTIOUS DISEASES
Current research topic: Cancer in people with primary, acquired, and iatrogenic immune deficiency.
Supervisors: Dr Claire Vajdic, Professor Andrew Grulich

Name: Allison M. Salmon
Contact Details: z3081424@student.unsw.edu.au, Ph: +61 (2) 9385 0900
Research areas of interest: EPIDEMIOLOGY, HIV AND OTHER INFECTIOUS DISEASES, DRUGS, ALCOHOL, TOBACCO, INJURY AND HEALTH PROMOTION, INTERNATIONAL AND GLOBAL PUBLIC HEALTH, HEALTH AND HUMAN RIGHTS/INDIGENOUS HEALTH
Current research topic: The proposed study aims to investigate the impact of the Sydney Medically Supervised Injecting Centre (MSIC) on risk behaviours, general and psychological health, social functioning and referral to health services among clients of the service.
Supervisors: Associate Professor Lisa Maher, Professor. John Kaldor

Name: Kathleen Falster (née Glenday)

Contact Details: Kfalster@nchecr.unsw.edu.au Ph: +61 (2) 9385 0900
Research areas of interest: EPIDEMIOLOGY, HIV AND OTHER INFECTIOUS DISEASES, POPULATION HEALTH
Current research topic: Treatment experience and long term morbidity and mortality outcomes among a cohort of HIV-infected patients in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region in the era of combination antiretroviral treatment
Supervisors: Associate Professor Matthew Law, Professor Basil Donovan

Current Research Topic
The proposed thesis investigates the treatment experience, morbidity and mortality outcomes of patients with HIV infection in Australia in the era of combination antiretroviral treatment, using data from the Australian HIV Observational Database (AHOD) and data linkage with state hospital admission databases. It also explores trends in AIDS-related and other mortality in patients with HIV infection across low to high income settings in the broader Asia-Pacific region, using data from the Asia-Pacific HIV Observational Database (combined data from the AHOD and the TREAT Asia HIV Observational Database (TAHOD)).

Publications: PhD-related:

Falster K, Gelgor L, Shaik A, Zablotska I, Prestage G, Grierson J, Thorpe R, Pitts M, Anderson J, Chuah J, Mulhall B, Petoumenos K, Kelleher A, Law M. (2008). Trends in antiretroviral treatment use and treatment response in three Australian states in the first decade of combination antiretroviral treatment. Sexual Health. (in press, accepted 22nd April 2008)

Glenday K, Petoumenos K, Law M, Cooper DA. (2008). Australia. In: Zuniga JM, Whiteside A, Ghaziani A, Bartlett JG, eds. A Decade of HAART. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Name: Van Thi Thuy Nguyen
Contact Details: z3118610@student.unsw.edu.au
Research areas of interest: EPIDEMIOLOGY, HIV AND OTHER INFECTIOUS DISEASES
Current research topic: Estimates and projection of HBV-related liver disease burden in Vietnam and Australia
Supervisors: , Professor Matthew Law

Name: Julian Elliott
Contact Details: z3079563@student.unsw.edu.au, Ph: +61 (2) 9282 2144
Research areas of interest: EPIDEMIOLOGY, HIV AND OTHER INFECTIOUS DISEASES
Current research topic: Expanded use of antiretroviral therapy in resource limited settings
Supervisors: Professor John Kaldor, Professor. David Cooper

Name: Karina Razali
Contact Details: z3116605@student.unsw.edu.au
Research areas of interest: EPIDEMIOLOGY, HIV AND OTHER INFECTIOUS DISEASES
Current research topic: Estimates and projections of HIV and hepatitis C virus in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region
Supervisors: Professor Matthew Law, Professor John Kaldor

Name: Steve Frost
Contact Details: z2286188@student.unsw.edu.au Tel: +61 (2)46203415
Research areas of interest: EPIDEMIOLOGY, OSTEOPOROSIS, LONGITUDINAL DATA MODELLING, BAYESIAN STATISTICAL INFERENCE, PREDICITION OF FRACTURE RISK
Current research topic: Bone loss and fracture risk
Supervisors: Associate Professor Tuan V Nguyen, Associate Professor Deborah Black

Name: Rebecca Oyomopito
Contact Details: z3197881@student.unsw.edu.au, Ph: +61 (2) 9385 0900
Research areas of interest: HIV DRUG RESISTANCE, EFFECTS OF GLOBALISATION ON HUMAN HEALTH, SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, ISO 9001: 2000 QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
Current research topic: HIV-1 drug resistance in treatment naïve and combination antiretroviral therapy experienced patients in Asia.
Supervisors: , Professor Yi-Ming Arthur Chen

Name: Heather Gidding
Contact Details: "Heather Gidding" <Hgidding@nchecr.unsw.edu.au>
Research areas of interest: EPIDEMIOLOGY, INFECTIOUS DISEASES
Current research topic: HCV epidemiology, treatment and outcomes in Australia
My proposed thesis utilises several sources of enhanced surveillance data to further our understanding of hepatitis C (HCV), and is divided into three studies. Study 1 is a detailed analysis of routinely collected national surveillance data for HCV (notifications, liver transplant registrations, and prescribed drugs for the treatment of HCV infection available through the Highly Specialised Drugs (S100) Program). I propose to perform a 10 year review (1997-2006) of available data. Study 2 will build on the first by linking data about notified HCV cases in NSW with their hospital admission data. Because of the added burden associated with hepatitis B (HBV) and HIV co-infection I will also look at HBV notifications and obtain the HIV status for the HCV cohort. Study 3 will be the establishment of an observational cohort of patients with chronic HCV attending primary care and tertiary level clinics around Australia (ACHOS). We aim to recruit 2,000 patients and determine patterns of treatment uptake and outcomes.
Supervisors: Professor Matthew Law, Associate Professor Greg Dore, Dr. Janaki Amin

Name: Rebecca Mitchell
Contact Details: Rebecca Mitchell <r.mitchell@unsw.edu.au>
Research areas of interest: EPIDEMIOLOGY
Current research topic: Development and application of an evaluation framework for injury surveillance systems
Information from injury data collections is widely used to formulate injury policy, evaluate injury prevention initiatives and to allocate resources to areas deemed a high priority. Obtaining quality data from injury surveillance is essential to ensure the appropriateness of these activities. This thesis seeks to develop a framework to assess the capacity of an injury data collection to perform injury surveillance and to use this framework to assess the capacity of both injury mortality and morbidity data collections in NSW to perform work-related and motor vehicle crash-related injury surveillance.
Supervisors: Professor Ann Williamson, Dr Rod O'Connor, Professor Rod McClure, Dr Tim Driscoll,