ODeSI – Operational Research and Decision Support for Prevention, Control and Elimination of Infectious Diseases

ODeSI

Innovation to reduce the global burden of infectious disease

We aim to optimise infectious disease prevention, control, and elimination by generating new evidence and providing innovative solutions that support clinical and public health decision making.

Our team develops strong multidisciplinary partnerships with clinical and public health decision makers to co-create and design research questions and programs, collaborate on the implementation and evaluation of research interventions, and explore the application of innovative methods and new technologies to disease prevention and control.

We have extensive experience with infectious diseases and clinical epidemiology, with a focus on neglected tropical diseases, emerging infectious diseases, antimicrobial resistance, vaccine-preventable diseases, travel medicine, global health, digital health, and implementation science. Our team members have expertise in operational research and field surveys, predictive risk mapping and modelling (spatial epidemiology), clinical trials, disease surveillance, systematic reviews and meta-analyses, and the use of novel methods to aid inference, including Bayesian network, machine learning, social network analysis and dynamic data visualisation tools.

Subject expertise

  • Neglected Tropical Diseases – lymphatic filariasis & others
  • Emerging Infectious Diseases – leptospirosis, arboviruses, & others
  • Travel medicine –malaria prophylaxis, vaccines, health & wellbeing of travellers
  • Other infectious diseases

Methodological expertise

  • Field surveys – electronic data collection & management, field laboratories
  • Spatial epidemiology & predictive risk mapping & modelling
  • Eco-epidemiology – environmental & sociodemographic drivers of disease transmission
  • Clinical epidemiology, including clinical trials in travel clinic settings
  • Surveillance
  • Systematic reviews & meta-analyses
  • Bayesian networks
  • Novel epidemiological methods – machine learning, social network analysis, interactive & dynamic data visualisation tools

Adjuncts

  • Hammad Ali

    Dr Hammad Ali

    Adjunct Associate Professor
    School of Public Health
    US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  • Jessica Chellappah

    Dr Jessica Chellappah

     
    Australian Defence Force Malaria and Infectious Disease Institute
     
  • Deborah Mills

    Dr Deborah Mills

     
    Dr Deb’s The Travel Doctor
  • Dr Sarah Sheridan

     
    National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance (NCIRS)
     
  • Nicolas Smoll

    Dr Nicolas Smoll

     
    Sunshine Coast Health
     
  • Emma McBryde

    Professor Emma McBryde

     
    Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, JCU
     

Affiliates

Patricia GravesProfessor Patricia Graves (James Cook University)

 

 

Paul JagalsProfessor Paul Jagals (Child Health Research Centre, UQ)

 

 

 

Angus McLureDr Angus McLure (Australian National University)

 

 

Brady McphersonLt Col Brady McPherson (Australian Defence Force Malaria and Infectious Disease Institute)

 

 

Aminath Shausan Dr Aminath Shausan (CSIRO E-Health)

 

 

Meru SheelAssociate Professor Meru Sheel (The University of Sydney)

 

 

Peter SlyProfessor Peter Sly (Child Health Research Centre, UQ)

 

 

Current students

Beatris MartinDr Beatris Martin (PhD, UQ Centre for Clinical Research): Spatio-temporal epidemiology of vector-borne diseases in the Dominican Republic

 

 

WondimenehWondimeneh Shiferaw (PhD, UQ Centre for Clinical Research): Assessing risk of importation of sexually transmitted infections into Australia by international travellers

 

 

Selina WardSelina Ward (PhD, UQ Centre for Clinical Research) - Integrated Surveillance of Neglected Tropical Diseases and Vaccine-Preventable Diseases

 

 

Thomas CallaghanThomas Callaghan (PhD, UQ School of Veterinary Sciences): A big data food-chain approach to the epidemiology of zoonotic foodborne illness in Queensland

 

 

Nicky FoxleeNicky Foxlee (PhD, ANU School of Population Health, NCEPH): Developing Pathways to Improving Antibiotic Stewardship in Vanuatu

 

 

Jemma RowlandsJemma Rowlands (PhD, School of Public Health): Enhancing infectious disease surveillance through the integration of routinely collected data

 

 

Jane SinclairJane Sinclair (PhD, UQ School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences): The long-term cardiovascular complications of COVID-19

 

 

Ama WakwellaAma Wakwella (PhD, UQ Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science): Delivering human and ecosystem health co‐benefits through integrated watershed management: improving disease prevention, fisheries, and marine environments in Fiji

 

 

Sophie WenDr Sophie Wen (PhD, UQ Medical School): Gram negative blood stream infections in children

 

 

 Kim Dianne Ligue (PhD, UQ Centre for Clinical Research): Using Machine Learning for Epidemiological Research on the African Swine Fever Epidemic in the Philippines

 

 

 

Holly Jian (Visiting Research Student, Masters of Applied Epidemiology, ANU School of Population Health, NCEPH) 

We collaborate with a variety of partner organisations. These include the World Health Organization, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Ministries of Health and governments, and many leading universities and research institutions including Harvard, Yale, and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

Australian partners include:

We have a number of current international study partnerships in Samoa, American Samoa, Fiji, and the Dominican Republic.

International partners include:

Across our research team we have multiple student research projects available. Some examples are listed below, but please feel free to contact our team to discuss other options.

Higher Degree by Research - Available projects

Professor Colleen Lau

  • Integrated surveillance of neglected tropical diseases and vaccine preventable diseases in Samoa
  • Epidemiology of notifiable diseases in Australia
  • Vaccine preventable diseases in travellers
  • Decision support tools for COVID-19 vaccines

Associate Professor Benn Sartorius

Associate Professor Benn Sartorius (and Dr Jessica Chellappah, ADF)

  • Longitudinal tracking of cardiovascular disease and diabetes risk factors among Papua New Guinea (PNG) Defence Force from different locations within PNG.

Integrated strategies for disease surveillance in the Pacific Islands – Niue 

This formative research project aims to investigate the prevalence of Lymphatic filariasis, and other eliminated, near-eliminated and priority neglected tropical, vaccine-preventable and vector-borne diseases in Niue In addition, it will attempt to define what factors support the efficient, effective and sustainable implementation of integrated infectious disease surveillance in Pacific Island settings, as well as determine the costs of implementing integrated surveillance compared to disease-specific approaches.  

Lead: Dr Adam Craig, Senior Research Fellow, Operational Research and Decision Support for Infection Diseases (ODeSI) Program, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia 

The GSK Immunisation Awards have been developed to reward innovation that improves coverage and timely delivery of childhood, adolescent and adult immunisation.  This year’s four winners were announced at the 2024 Communicable Diseases & Immunisation Conference dinner on June 12, 2024. Dr Luis Furuya Kanamori led a team which also included Prof Colleen Lau, Dr Helen Mayfield, Mr Wondimeneh Shiferaw and Dr Hongen Lu from UQ and external co-investigators Dr Deborah Mills, Dr Brian Johnson, Dr Narayan Gyawali, Dr Yan Zhu, Dr Sarah McGuinness, and Dr Jenny Visser. The team will use the Award to develop a Risk-Benefit Analysis Tool for Yellow Fever (YF) Vaccine. YF continues to affect over 100,000 individuals annually in endemic areas, and poses a significant risk to unvaccinated international travellers to South America and Africa (170/100,000 YF cases per month of travel, with 40% case-fatality rate).

Research and decision support tools

Publications

The ODeSI seminar series “Infectious Insights” is held monthly on the second Tuesday of each month from 12 pm – 1 pm, running from April to November. National and international guest speakers will lead discussions exploring the epidemiology, impact and response to different communicable diseases, and present on the latest developments and research in the field.

Attend in-person at UQCCR Auditorium, Level 2, UQCCR, Herston, or online via Zoomhttps://uqz.zoom.us/s/85841209930.

Contacts: Gail Kenny, g.kenny@uq.edu.au

Upcoming seminars

  • 13 August 2024: A/Prof Nigel Beebe, School of the Environment, The University of Queensland

Topic: Malaria vectors of the Southwest Pacific: the stories mosquito hold in their DNA

  • 10 September 2024: Professor Paul Jagals, Director, WHO Collaborating Centre for Children's Health and the Environment, Child Health Research Centre, The University of Queensland

Topic: Shifting the paradigm about environment and environmental health for infectious disease prevention and enhanced health security

  • 8 October 2024: Dr Teresa Wozniak, Team leader, CSIRO

Topic: AMR: how big an issue is it and what can be done in response?

Previous seminars

  • 9 July 2024: Dr Nicolas Smoll, Public Health Physician, Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service

Topic: Burden of disease of RSV, COVID-19 and Influenza on the Sunshine Coast since 2022

  • 10 June 2024: Prof Emma McBryde

Topic: Forecasting vector-borne diseases dynamics using meteorological variables and mechanistic models

Topic: Combatting respiratory syncytial virus (RSV): a pathway forward for Queensland