The following are independent 'voting' members:
- Professor Robert Booy is Head of the Clinical Research team at the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance (NCIRS). He is a medical graduate of the University of Queensland (1984) and trained in Paediatrics at the Royal Children's Hospital, Brisbane. Over the past 10 years, Professor Booy has been recognised as an expert in the influenza field. He has supervised many studies addressing the burden and prevention of influenza disease in children and adults. This includes people in the UK, Australia and among Muslim pilgrims to Saudi Arabia. He has also led intervention studies with new vaccines and delivery methods. Alternate methods for preventing disease and transmission such as antivirals and personal protective equipment are study areas of interest.
- Professor Katherine Kedzierska is an NHMRC Senior Research Fellow. She is the Laboratory Head in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, University of Melbourne. Her research interests include human T cell immunity to pandemic, seasonal and emerging influenza viruses. She also studies anti-viral immunity in the young, the elderly and Indigenous Australians, viral escape and immunological memory in human influenza infection.
- Professor Helen Marshall is a Professor in Vaccinology, in the School of Paediatrics and Reproductive Health and Robinson Research Institute at the University of Adelaide. She is the Medical Director of VIRTU, the Vaccinology and Immunology Research Trials Unit, at the Women's and Children's Hospital. She has a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery, Doctorate of Medicine, Master in Public Health and Diploma in Child Health. She also is a graduate of the Advanced Vaccinology Course, Pasteur Merieux Institute, France.
- Professor Paul Van Buynder is a Public Health Physician and Professor in the School of Medicine at Griffith University. His major research interests are in effectiveness of new influenza vaccines in target groups. Influenza vaccine in pregnancy and influenza vaccine hesitancy in low coverage groups are study areas of interest. He led the Communicable Diseases Network Australia (CDNA) committee advising on anti-viral use in aged care influenza outbreaks. He has been on the Influenza subcommittees of the National Immunisation Technical Advisory Group in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.
- Dr Kiran Shah is a Chief Scientific Officer and Head of Laboratories Operation at Magellan Stem Cells Pty Ltd. She is an adjunct research fellow at the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology, Swinburne University. During her PhD, she worked on molecular epidemiology of Rotavirus at Royal Children's hospital, Melbourne in collaboration with Swinburne University. This led to postdoc work investigating novel methods to co-culture different strains of influenza virus with stem cells and assessing virus titre in the culture. Dr Shah has worked in influenza vaccine manufacturing facilities gaining a deep understanding of the seasonal influenza strains emergence and the influenza vaccine manufacturing process.
The following Directors of the WHO National Influenza Centres in Australia are ex-officio 'voting' members:
- Professor Dominic Dwyer is a medical virologist and infectious diseases physician based at Westmead Hospital and the University of Sydney. He is Director of Public Health Pathology in New South Wales Health Pathology. He is also the Director of New South Wales Health Pathology's Institute of Clinical Pathology and Medical Research. He leads the WHO National Influenza Centre located at the Institute of Clinical Pathology and Medical Research (ICPMR). He has a clinical and research interest in viral diseases of public health importance. This includes COVID-19, influenza and other respiratory viruses, HIV, antiviral drug resistance and arboviruses. Professor Dwyer also investigates outbreaks of viral infections, including at mass gatherings and closed environments.
- Dr Julian Druce is the senior virologist in the Virus Identification Laboratory of the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory (VIDRL). His laboratory has responsibility for detecting viruses affecting humans including respiratory viruses, herpes viruses, enteroviruses, flaviviruses, alphaviruses, pox viruses and many more. His work practices span Biosafety levels 2, 3 and 4 and he operates laboratories at all these levels. His laboratory is a World Health Organization (WHO) National Influenza Centre (NIC) laboratory and a WHO Regional Measles Reference Laboratory. His laboratory also houses the National High Security Quarantine Laboratory (NHSQL) for diagnosis of high-level pathogens causing viral haemorrhagic fever.
- Dr David Speers is a Medical Microbiologist/Infectious Diseases Physician at PathWest Laboratory Medicine WA and a Clinical Associate Professor in the School of Medicine at the University of Western Australia. PathWest provides diagnostic testing to the community and hospitals, reference testing, and public health services. Dr Speers has served on a number of state and national committees and advisory groups and is currently a member of the national Public Health Laboratory Network. He has interests in public health issues, including influenza and other respiratory viruses, hepatitis viruses, mosquito-borne viruses, diagnostics and infection control for emerging infections, new diagnostic technologies including point of care tests, and laboratory-based surveillance.
Non-voting ex-officio members are:
- the Director and Deputy Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza;
- the Directors of the WHO National Influenza Centres in New Zealand and South Africa;
- four officers of the Department of Health. The Deputy Secretary of the Health Products Regulation Group nominates these officers, with one assigned the role as the Chairperson.