Novel therapies and vaccine strategies to reduce the global burden of ear and lung disease, 20 April

Friday 20 April, 11am-12pm, Level 2 seminar and tearoom, MIMR building

Dr Lea-Ann Kirkham is an NHMRC Career Development Fellow at the University of Western Australia and Microbiology Lead in the Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases at the Telethon Kids Institute. Her vision is to develop improved therapies, including vaccines and vaccine schedules, to significantly reduce the global burden of childhood ear and lung diseases from nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) and Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus).

Her PhD research at Glasgow University led to development of a protein-based pneumococcal vaccine that is currently in clinical trials. In 2011, her team’s research on identifying the predominant cause of ear infections in Australian children contributed to introduction of a new vaccine onto the National Immunisation Program. This vaccine has recently been shown to reduce ear infection rates in Indigenous Australian children.

Dr Kirkham’s current research focuses on nasopharyngeal colonisation as a target for disease prevention. Specifically, she is leading an NHMRC-funded project to evaluate a novel bacterial therapy to prevent pathogenic colonisation of the respiratory tract and ultimately disease. She is also co-investigator on an NHMRC-funded clinical trial in Papua New Guinea comparing different pneumococcal vaccines and vaccine schedules to find the best approach to protect high-risk infants from pneumococcal disease. Data from this study will guide vaccine policy for resource-poor settings.

Enquiries: Dr Jaclyn.Pearson@hudson.org.au