Masterclass: Vaccination of Older People

Associate Professor Michael Woodward is Head of Aged Care Research at Austin Health in Melbourne, Victoria. He is a specialist in geriatric medicine with a major interest in adult vaccination and also Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, wound management and the quality use of medications in older people. He is head of the Medical and Cognitive Research Unit that conducts trials into new vaccines and other new therapies for conditions such as dementia and influenza.

Associate Professor Woodward’s publication record includes over 130 peer-reviewed research and review articles. As chair of the Geriatric Therapeutics section of the editorial board of the Journal of Pharmacy Practice and Research he oversaw nearly 20 years of publications on quality use of medications and health promotion activities in older people, including articles on vaccination. He was also joint editor of Wound Practice and Research, the journal of the Australian Wound Management Association, of which he is a past President. He is a member of the editorial committee of the Department of Veteran’s Affairs MATES program, which improves prescribing and pharmaceutical care of DVA beneficiaries, including vaccination.

He is heavily involved in a number of professional organizations including previously Chairing the Committee for Physician Training, Royal Australasian College of Physicians, which oversaw and approved the training of all future consultants in internal medicine. He is currently Chair of that College’s Site Accreditation Committee and was previously a member of their Board of Censors. He was until recently a member of the Geriatric Medicine Education and Training Subcommittee of the Australian and New Zealand Society for Geriatric Medicine, having previously chaired that subcommittee. He has recently overseen a 3rd revision of that Society’s position document on Vaccinations for Older People.

His work in geriatric medicine, dementia and other research and his extensive authorship has been honoured with Membership of the Order of Australia, awarded on Australia Day 2016.

Dr Christian McGrath is a general and infectious diseases physician with extensive experience in multidisciplinary health environments. He has additional skills in education, journalism and science. Christian has over a decade of experience in clinical infectious diseases and public health management. He has statewide experience leading in both a Pandemic environment (in the Department of Health, COVID Quarantine Victoria, North Eastern Public Health Unit) and essential business within public health and healthcare. Christian was appointed as Deputy Chief Health Officer (COVID-19) in 2022 and Deputy Chief Health Officer Communicable Diseases in December 2023.

Associate Professor Michael Woodward is Head of Aged Care Research at Austin Health in Melbourne, Victoria. He is a specialist in geriatric medicine with a major interest in adult vaccination and also Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, wound management and the quality use of medications in older people. He is head of the Medical and Cognitive Research Unit that conducts trials into new vaccines and other new therapies for conditions such as dementia and influenza.

Associate Professor Woodward’s publication record includes over 130 peer-reviewed research and review articles. As chair of the Geriatric Therapeutics section of the editorial board of the Journal of Pharmacy Practice and Research he oversaw nearly 20 years of publications on quality use of medications and health promotion activities in older people, including articles on vaccination. He was also joint editor of Wound Practice and Research, the journal of the Australian Wound Management Association, of which he is a past President. He is a member of the editorial committee of the Department of Veteran’s Affairs MATES program, which improves prescribing and pharmaceutical care of DVA beneficiaries, including vaccination.

He is heavily involved in a number of professional organizations including previously Chairing the Committee for Physician Training, Royal Australasian College of Physicians, which oversaw and approved the training of all future consultants in internal medicine. He is currently Chair of that College’s Site Accreditation Committee and was previously a member of their Board of Censors. He was until recently a member of the Geriatric Medicine Education and Training Subcommittee of the Australian and New Zealand Society for Geriatric Medicine, having previously chaired that subcommittee. He has recently overseen a 3rd revision of that Society’s position document on Vaccinations for Older People.

His work in geriatric medicine, dementia and other research and his extensive authorship has been honoured with Membership of the Order of Australia, awarded on Australia Day 2016.

Mark is a practicing geriatrician in Sydney who has worked in varied roles including
clinical and corporate governance, research, clinical trials, medicolegal and tertiary
education. Mark has also worked as a Clinical Dean for Western Sydney University’s
Medical School, working on their executive team to expand on the community and
University’s vision for Western Sydney and beyond.

Mark has a strong interest in developing integrated care, linking the health
professions to improve clinical outcomes and efficiency. He has a clinical interest in
dementia, personalised medicine, malnutrition and frailty, which he brings to his
patients in his clinical roles and in governance roles for national and international
organisations.

Jim Buttery is the inaugural Professor of Child Health Informatics at the University of Melbourne based at the Melbourne Children’s Campus Centre for Health Analytics. He is the Chief Research Information Officer and an infectious diseases physician at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne. He is also the Head of Epidemiology and Signal Detection of SAEFVIC, the Victorian Immunisation Safety Service, and Group Head, Health informatics, at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, and the co-director of the Global Vaccine Data Network. Jim leads an epi-informatics team of epidemiologists, data analysts and statisticians whose research revolves around innovative use of real-world data to answer important questions in infectious diseases epidemiology, vaccine safety and effectiveness.

These innovations include Introducing Australia’s first state based public facing vaccine safety report, updated weekly, to inform the public and maintain vaccine confidence (Saefvic.online/vaccinesafety), development of syndromic vaccine safety surveillance methodologies, including de-identified telephone help line and GP data network surveillance which have been incorporated into DHHS Victoria surveillance, and the establishment of the Vaccine Safety Health Link (VSHL). VSHL is a statewide Victorian prospective vaccine safety datalinkage project linking Victorian Australian immunisation Register data to hospital admissions, emergency presentations, perinatal, births and deaths and primary care datasets. This is the only vaccine datalink system in Australia incorporating perinatal and GP data.

To understand the full impact of common viruses upon human health, he has established Snotwatch, a novel population wide spatiotemporal platform to link viral exposures to health outcomes, and understand the full health and economic burden of these viruses. Initial studies have shown new associations with febrile seizures, Kawasaki Disease, childhood hepatitis and chilblains. Using pathology, environmental exposures, and hospital, ED and GP datasets, we are generating new insights into common respiratory viruses.

Dr Carolien van de Sandt is a Team Leader at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) and an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne (UoM). 

Carolien obtained her PhD at the Erasmus University in the Netherlands in 2016, where she investigated the longevity, cross-reactivity and immune evasion strategies of influenza-specific CD8+ T cells. Her current research focuses on understanding how virus-specific immunity is generated, maintained and lost across the human lifespan and in high-risk populations. Her research spans immunity to a range of viruses including influenza, SARS-CoV-2, CMV and measles. She aims to leverage this knowledge to restore immunity in at-risk populations and optimize vaccine and treatment strategies. Carolien is a NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow, CSL Centenary Fellow, and past ARC-DECRA Fellow, McKenzie Fellow and the European Marie Sklodowska-Curie (MSCA) Fellow. She is member of the International Society for Respiratory Viruses (ISRV) council, co-chair of the ISRV education committee and associate member of the European Scientific Working group on Influenza and other Respiratory Viruses (ESWI). 

Carolien has 76 peer-reviewed publications including in leading scientific journals like Nature Medicine, Immunity, Nature Immunology and Nature Communications. The importance of her work has been recognized by 11 prestigious Awards including the Australian and New Zealand Society for Immunology (ASI)-Peter Doherty Medal (2024), the ESWI-Claude Hannoun Prize for Best Body of Work (2023) and the UoM-MDHS Selwyn-Smith Medical Research Prize (2024). In 2023, she received the Australian Institute of Policy and Science (AIPS)-Young Tall Poppy Award and ASI-Public Engagement Award for her contributions to public outreach and in 2024 she was shortlisted for the Nature Inspiring Women: Scientific Achievement Award.

Dr Jessica Kaufman is a Senior Research Fellow in the Vaccine Uptake Group at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and an Honorary Fellow at the University of Melbourne. She leads the Vaccine Social Science Team, which conducts research about the social and behavioral factors that affect vaccine decision-making and uptake. Some of her current projects include exploring pregnant women’s vaccine views and experiences, evaluating the impacts of vaccine mandates in Australia, developing interventions to reduce vaccine misinformation, and training community leaders to be vaccine advocates in the Asia Pacific region. Jessica is an NHMRC Emerging Leader Fellow and an E. H. Flack Foundation Fellow.

Associate Professor John Litt is a retired academic GP and public health physician in the Discipline of General Practice at Flinders University and was the Deputy Chairman of the National Quality Committee of the RACGP (from 2000-2018).

His major clinical and research interests are in prevention and its implementation. John has over 130 refereed publications (journal articles, book and book chapters). He conducted the first Australian National Influenza and Pneumococcal Survey in older adults in 1998 and the first Australian Zoster Attitudes and Beliefs Survey in older persons and GPs in 2009.  More recently he has helped to develop an online COVID Risk Calculator (CoRiCal), which assists the patient decision-making process for COVID vaccination.

John has been a member of several national committees, consortia, and Scientific Advisory Committees including NHMRC, ATAGI, Cancer Australia and NCIRS. He was one of the inaugural directors of the ISG and is currently a member of the Immunisation Coalition’s Scientific Advisory Committee.

Dr Ramesh Manocha graduated in medicine from UNSW, entering General Practice in 1998 and then completing his PhD in 2009. In 2000 Ramesh established Healthed, initially as a fundraising platform to cover the costs of his various PhD projects. Since then Healthed has grown into Australia’s largest private provider of CPD for GPs with major dissemination channels in both face to face and digital platforms. In 2008 Ramesh founded Generation Next, a DGR registered charity aimed at educating professionals who work with young people about the major issues impacting on their mental health and wellbeing. Its activities include educational events and two major books, “Growing Happy Healthy Young Minds” and “Nurturing Young Minds”, edited by Ramesh, Gyongyi Horvath and the Generation Next team and published by Hachette. Ramesh’s PhD thesis focused on the scientific evaluation of meditation techniques, their potential role in preventative health, disease management and higher performance. His book “Silence Your Mind” describes many of the findings from this research, also published by Hachette. He did a post-doctoral stint as senior lecturer at the Dept of Psychiatry, University of Sydney until 2016 where he continued his interest in meditation research. In 2025 Ramesh was appointed Clinical Assoc Prof at the School of General Practice, University of Sydney where he established the VOICE of GP national survey initiative which uses a unique data collection system developed by Healthed to constantly survey, poll and measure knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of Australia’s frontline GPs. Currently more than 25 of these surveys have been published in the peer reviewed literature. Healthed provides its survey services for the VOICE of GP project on a pro bono basis.

Dr Aliya Alladin is a Brisbane-based General Practitioner with almost a decade of clinical experience and a steadfast commitment to preventative health. She practices in a comprehensive family general practice with a heavy focus on travel medicine, including Yellow Fever and Q Fever immunisation protocols.

​A passionate advocate for proactive, opportunistic healthcare, she is dedicated to reducing the community burden of vaccine-preventable diseases through evidence-based intervention and life-course immunisation strategies, especially in vulnerable populations such as the elderly. She brings a practical, “front-line” understanding of the Australian immunisation landscape, navigating the complexities of National Immunisation Program (NIP) funding versus private, non-funded vaccinations to ensure optimal patient protection.

​Driven by a commitment to the future of healthcare, she finds great fulfillment in supporting the development of the next generation of clinicians, including both GP and non-GP specialists. She believes in fostering a collaborative culture where preventative advocacy is a shared priority. As a GP Moderator for the Immunisation Coalition Masterclass, she aims to inspire peers to become enthusiastic champions of vaccination, ensuring that primary care remains at the heart of global public health efforts.

Dr Sonali Meena is an accomplished General Practitioner and Public Health Physician with a strong commitment to preventive healthcare, population health, and patient-centred clinical practice. She holds Fellowships with the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (FRACGP) and the Australasian Faculty of Public Health Medicine (FAFPHM, RACP), reflecting her dual expertise in frontline clinical care and public health leadership.  

Dr Meena has extensive experience working across general practice and public health systems in Australia including Refugee Health, Aboriginal Health, Health Protection and Licensing in SA, Communicable Disease Control Branch and ADF. She has contributed to communicable disease control initiatives with SA Health, including frontline involvement in coordinated public health responses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her work has involved designing and supporting safe care pathways in complex settings, highlighting her ability to translate public health principles into practical, patient-centred solutions. 

Clinically, she has broad expertise in General Practice, with interests in preventive health, Immunisation, chronic disease management, skin cancer medicine and travel medicine. 

As a GP Moderator for the Immunisation Coalition Masterclass, she aims to inspire peers, both GP specialists and non-GP specialists to become advocates of vaccination as an effective primary prevention public health measure for healthier communities.  

Anita worked as a Clinical Editor and Clinical Advisor for 6 years with North Western Melbourne PHN through which a passion for health system improvement, innovation, sustainability, and equity emerged. She sees general practice as the key to a rational health system that produces better outcomes for patients and practitioners alike.Anita Muñoz is a GP in private practice in Melbourne’s CBD and has a dedication to evidence-based medicine, lifelong learning, and promoting the role of general practice in the health of patients, communities and in public health more broadly.
Anita has held advisory positions with Better Care Victoria and Safer Care Victoria and has been a medical educator for over 9 years. She is particularly preoccupied with the wellbeing and experience of general practice registrars, and of securing a high-quality general practice workforce for the future.

Associate Professor Michael Woodward is Head of Aged Care Research at Austin Health in Melbourne, Victoria. He is a specialist in geriatric medicine with a major interest in adult vaccination and also Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, wound management and the quality use of medications in older people. He is head of the Medical and Cognitive Research Unit that conducts trials into new vaccines and other new therapies for conditions such as dementia and influenza.

Associate Professor Woodward’s publication record includes over 130 peer-reviewed research and review articles. As chair of the Geriatric Therapeutics section of the editorial board of the Journal of Pharmacy Practice and Research he oversaw nearly 20 years of publications on quality use of medications and health promotion activities in older people, including articles on vaccination. He was also joint editor of Wound Practice and Research, the journal of the Australian Wound Management Association, of which he is a past President. He is a member of the editorial committee of the Department of Veteran’s Affairs MATES program, which improves prescribing and pharmaceutical care of DVA beneficiaries, including vaccination.

He is heavily involved in a number of professional organizations including previously Chairing the Committee for Physician Training, Royal Australasian College of Physicians, which oversaw and approved the training of all future consultants in internal medicine. He is currently Chair of that College’s Site Accreditation Committee and was previously a member of their Board of Censors. He was until recently a member of the Geriatric Medicine Education and Training Subcommittee of the Australian and New Zealand Society for Geriatric Medicine, having previously chaired that subcommittee. He has recently overseen a 3rd revision of that Society’s position document on Vaccinations for Older People.

His work in geriatric medicine, dementia and other research and his extensive authorship has been honoured with Membership of the Order of Australia, awarded on Australia Day 2016.

After choosing to specialise in Immunisation in 2003, Sonja worked at the Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) Immunisation service for over 20 years and in 2017, became Victoria’s first Nurse Practitioner (NP) in the field of Immunisation. She is
currently the Nursing Lead of the Workforce Immunisation Unit at Austin Health. Sonja has received multiple awards including the Dame Elizabeth Murdoch Nursing Development scholarship and the RCH Chairman’s medal. She is a current member of the Immunisation Coalition, teaching associate with Monash University NP program and holds an honorary position with the Melbourne Medical School at University of Melbourne.

Associate Professor Michael Woodward is Head of Aged Care Research at Austin Health in Melbourne, Victoria. He is a specialist in geriatric medicine with a major interest in adult vaccination and also Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, wound management and the quality use of medications in older people. He is head of the Medical and Cognitive Research Unit that conducts trials into new vaccines and other new therapies for conditions such as dementia and influenza.

Associate Professor Woodward’s publication record includes over 130 peer-reviewed research and review articles. As chair of the Geriatric Therapeutics section of the editorial board of the Journal of Pharmacy Practice and Research he oversaw nearly 20 years of publications on quality use of medications and health promotion activities in older people, including articles on vaccination. He was also joint editor of Wound Practice and Research, the journal of the Australian Wound Management Association, of which he is a past President. He is a member of the editorial committee of the Department of Veteran’s Affairs MATES program, which improves prescribing and pharmaceutical care of DVA beneficiaries, including vaccination.

He is heavily involved in a number of professional organizations including previously Chairing the Committee for Physician Training, Royal Australasian College of Physicians, which oversaw and approved the training of all future consultants in internal medicine. He is currently Chair of that College’s Site Accreditation Committee and was previously a member of their Board of Censors. He was until recently a member of the Geriatric Medicine Education and Training Subcommittee of the Australian and New Zealand Society for Geriatric Medicine, having previously chaired that subcommittee. He has recently overseen a 3rd revision of that Society’s position document on Vaccinations for Older People.

His work in geriatric medicine, dementia and other research and his extensive authorship has been honored with Membership of the Order of Australia, awarded on Australia Day 2016.

Associate Professor Michael Woodward is Head of Aged Care Research at Austin Health in Melbourne, Victoria. He is a specialist in geriatric medicine with a major interest in adult vaccination and also Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, wound management and the quality use of medications in older people. He is head of the Medical and Cognitive Research Unit that conducts trials into new vaccines and other new therapies for conditions such as dementia and influenza.

Associate Professor Woodward’s publication record includes over 130 peer-reviewed research and review articles. As chair of the Geriatric Therapeutics section of the editorial board of the Journal of Pharmacy Practice and Research he oversaw nearly 20 years of publications on quality use of medications and health promotion activities in older people, including articles on vaccination. He was also joint editor of Wound Practice and Research, the journal of the Australian Wound Management Association, of which he is a past President. He is a member of the editorial committee of the Department of Veteran’s Affairs MATES program, which improves prescribing and pharmaceutical care of DVA beneficiaries, including vaccination.

He is heavily involved in a number of professional organizations including previously Chairing the Committee for Physician Training, Royal Australasian College of Physicians, which oversaw and approved the training of all future consultants in internal medicine. He is currently Chair of that College’s Site Accreditation Committee and was previously a member of their Board of Censors. He was until recently a member of the Geriatric Medicine Education and Training Subcommittee of the Australian and New Zealand Society for Geriatric Medicine, having previously chaired that subcommittee. He has recently overseen a 3rd revision of that Society’s position document on Vaccinations for Older People.

His work in geriatric medicine, dementia and other research and his extensive authorship has been honored with Membership of the Order of Australia, awarded on Australia Day 2016.

Associate Professor Michael Woodward is Head of Aged Care Research at Austin Health in Melbourne, Victoria. He is a specialist in geriatric medicine with a major interest in adult vaccination and also Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, wound management and the quality use of medications in older people. He is head of the Medical and Cognitive Research Unit that conducts trials into new vaccines and other new therapies for conditions such as dementia and influenza.

Associate Professor Woodward’s publication record includes over 130 peer-reviewed research and review articles. As chair of the Geriatric Therapeutics section of the editorial board of the Journal of Pharmacy Practice and Research he oversaw nearly 20 years of publications on quality use of medications and health promotion activities in older people, including articles on vaccination. He was also joint editor of Wound Practice and Research, the journal of the Australian Wound Management Association, of which he is a past President. He is a member of the editorial committee of the Department of Veteran’s Affairs MATES program, which improves prescribing and pharmaceutical care of DVA beneficiaries, including vaccination.

He is heavily involved in a number of professional organizations including previously Chairing the Committee for Physician Training, Royal Australasian College of Physicians, which oversaw and approved the training of all future consultants in internal medicine. He is currently Chair of that College’s Site Accreditation Committee and was previously a member of their Board of Censors. He was until recently a member of the Geriatric Medicine Education and Training Subcommittee of the Australian and New Zealand Society for Geriatric Medicine, having previously chaired that subcommittee. He has recently overseen a 3rd revision of that Society’s position document on Vaccinations for Older People.

His work in geriatric medicine, dementia and other research and his extensive authorship has been honored with Membership of the Order of Australia, awarded on Australia Day 2016.

Prof Paul Van Buynder is a Public Health Physician and past Chairman of the Immunisation Coalition. He is a professor in the School of Medicine at Griffith University in Queensland. He has held senior public health positions in a number of Australian states, in two Canadian jurisdictions and at the Centre for Infections in the UK. He has held personal appointments on sub-committees of National Immunisation Technical Advisory Committees in three continents. Paul is a reviewer of over 10 journals and has over 80 referred book chapters and articles.

Associate Professor Michael Woodward is Head of Aged Care Research at Austin Health in Melbourne, Victoria. He is a specialist in geriatric medicine with a major interest in adult vaccination and also Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, wound management and the quality use of medications in older people. He is head of the Medical and Cognitive Research Unit that conducts trials into new vaccines and other new therapies for conditions such as dementia and influenza.

Associate Professor Woodward’s publication record includes over 130 peer-reviewed research and review articles. As chair of the Geriatric Therapeutics section of the editorial board of the Journal of Pharmacy Practice and Research he oversaw nearly 20 years of publications on quality use of medications and health promotion activities in older people, including articles on vaccination. He was also joint editor of Wound Practice and Research, the journal of the Australian Wound Management Association, of which he is a past President. He is a member of the editorial committee of the Department of Veteran’s Affairs MATES program, which improves prescribing and pharmaceutical care of DVA beneficiaries, including vaccination.

He is heavily involved in a number of professional organizations including previously Chairing the Committee for Physician Training, Royal Australasian College of Physicians, which oversaw and approved the training of all future consultants in internal medicine. He is currently Chair of that College’s Site Accreditation Committee and was previously a member of their Board of Censors. He was until recently a member of the Geriatric Medicine Education and Training Subcommittee of the Australian and New Zealand Society for Geriatric Medicine, having previously chaired that subcommittee. He has recently overseen a 3rd revision of that Society’s position document on Vaccinations for Older People.

His work in geriatric medicine, dementia and other research and his extensive authorship has been honored with Membership of the Order of Australia, awarded on Australia Day 2016.

Paul is an accomplished clinical trial investigator, having fulfilled the role of Principal Investigator in over 150 clinical trials, particularly in Infectious Diseases including 8 COVID-19 vaccines.

Despite an already demanding role at the Mater, Paul continues as a member of the AMA Queensland Council 2023-2024, and as board member and scientific advisory board member of the Immunisation Coalition, with active interest in vaccine education and advocacy, becoming a trusted media authority and spokesperson across the nation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prof Paul Van Buynder is a Public Health Physician and past Chairman of the Immunisation Coalition. He is a professor in the School of Medicine at Griffith University in Queensland. He has held senior public health positions in a number of Australian states, in two Canadian jurisdictions and at the Centre for Infections in the UK. He has held personal appointments on sub-committees of National Immunisation Technical Advisory Committees in three continents. Paul is a reviewer of over 10 journals and has over 80 referred book chapters and articles.

Paul is an accomplished clinical trial investigator, having fulfilled the role of Principal Investigator in over 150 clinical trials, particularly in Infectious Diseases including 8 COVID-19 vaccines.

Despite an already demanding role at the Mater, Paul continues as a member of the AMA Queensland Council 2023-2024, and as board member and scientific advisory board member of the Immunisation Coalition, with active interest in vaccine education and advocacy, becoming a trusted media authority and spokesperson across the nation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Professor Byrne is an internationally respected Respiratory Physician and Global Health researcher based in Sydney, Australia at St Vincent’s hospitals and University of NSW. He leads the hospital’s Tuberculosis service and is chair of the NSW TB advisory committee and Respiratory Infections Group of the TSANZ. He collaborates across many countries, serves as an expert advisor to the WHO and is secretary and steering committee member for the 4th international Post TB symposia (Korea 2027). Prof Byrne has over 100 peer-reviewed publications that have been cited over 3,000 times, with a H index of 21 and i-10 index of 36.

Prof Paul Van Buynder is a Public Health Physician and past Chairman of the Immunisation Coalition. He is a professor in the School of Medicine at Griffith University in Queensland. He has held senior public health positions in a number of Australian states, in two Canadian jurisdictions and at the Centre for Infections in the UK. He has held personal appointments on sub-committees of National Immunisation Technical Advisory Committees in three continents. Paul is a reviewer of over 10 journals and has over 80 referred book chapters and articles.

Professor Helen Marshall is a medical researcher with specialist training in child health, public health and vaccinology. She completed a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery, Doctorate of Medicine, Master in Public Health and Diploma in Child Health at the University of Adelaide and the international Advanced Vaccinology Course at the Pasteur Merieux Institute, France.

Prof Marshall is Professor in Vaccinology in the Adelaide Medical School and Senior Medical Practitioner and Medical Director, Vaccinology and Immunology Research Trials Unit (VIRTU), in the Department of Paediatrics at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital. In 2022 she was appointed as the inaugural Clinical Research Director of the Women’s and Children’s Health Network in Adelaide.

Bette Liu is a medically trained epidemiologist with extensive national and international experience in the design, conduct and analysis of large-scale epidemiological studies using record linkage of administrative health data, and e-medical records. She trained in medicine and public health at the University of Sydney and obtained her doctorate in epidemiology from the University of Oxford. She leads the Population Health Group at NCIRS which focuses on using big data to evaluate vaccine programs to inform communicable diseases control policy.

Dr Aliya Alladin is a Brisbane-based General Practitioner with almost a decade of clinical experience and a steadfast commitment to preventative health. She practices in a comprehensive family general practice with a heavy focus on travel medicine, including Yellow Fever and Q Fever immunisation protocols.

​A passionate advocate for proactive, opportunistic healthcare, she is dedicated to reducing the community burden of vaccine-preventable diseases through evidence-based intervention and life-course immunisation strategies, especially in vulnerable populations such as the elderly. She brings a practical, “front-line” understanding of the Australian immunisation landscape, navigating the complexities of National Immunisation Program (NIP) funding versus private, non-funded vaccinations to ensure optimal patient protection.

​Driven by a commitment to the future of healthcare, she finds great fulfillment in supporting the development of the next generation of clinicians, including both GP and non-GP specialists. She believes in fostering a collaborative culture where preventative advocacy is a shared priority. As a GP Moderator for the Immunisation Coalition Masterclass, she aims to inspire peers to become enthusiastic champions of vaccination, ensuring that primary care remains at the heart of global public health efforts.

Dr Sonali Meena is an accomplished General Practitioner and Public Health Physician with a strong commitment to preventive healthcare, population health, and patient-centred clinical practice. She holds Fellowships with the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (FRACGP) and the Australasian Faculty of Public Health Medicine (FAFPHM, RACP), reflecting her dual expertise in frontline clinical care and public health leadership.  

Dr Meena has extensive experience working across general practice and public health systems in Australia including Refugee Health, Aboriginal Health, Health Protection and Licensing in SA, Communicable Disease Control Branch and ADF. She has contributed to communicable disease control initiatives with SA Health, including frontline involvement in coordinated public health responses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her work has involved designing and supporting safe care pathways in complex settings, highlighting her ability to translate public health principles into practical, patient-centred solutions. 

Clinically, she has broad expertise in General Practice, with interests in preventive health, Immunisation, chronic disease management, skin cancer medicine and travel medicine. 

As a GP Moderator for the Immunisation Coalition Masterclass, she aims to inspire peers, both GP specialists and non-GP specialists to become advocates of vaccination as an effective primary prevention public health measure for healthier communities.  

Prof Paul Van Buynder is a Public Health Physician and past Chairman of the Immunisation Coalition. He is a professor in the School of Medicine at Griffith University in Queensland. He has held senior public health positions in a number of Australian states, in two Canadian jurisdictions and at the Centre for Infections in the UK. He has held personal appointments on sub-committees of National Immunisation Technical Advisory Committees in three continents. Paul is a reviewer of over 10 journals and has over 80 referred book chapters and articles.

Associate Professor Michael Woodward is Head of Aged Care Research at Austin Health in Melbourne, Victoria. He is a specialist in geriatric medicine with a major interest in adult vaccination and also Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, wound management and the quality use of medications in older people. He is head of the Medical and Cognitive Research Unit that conducts trials into new vaccines and other new therapies for conditions such as dementia and influenza.

Associate Professor Woodward’s publication record includes over 130 peer-reviewed research and review articles. As chair of the Geriatric Therapeutics section of the editorial board of the Journal of Pharmacy Practice and Research he oversaw nearly 20 years of publications on quality use of medications and health promotion activities in older people, including articles on vaccination. He was also joint editor of Wound Practice and Research, the journal of the Australian Wound Management Association, of which he is a past President. He is a member of the editorial committee of the Department of Veteran’s Affairs MATES program, which improves prescribing and pharmaceutical care of DVA beneficiaries, including vaccination.

He is heavily involved in a number of professional organizations including previously Chairing the Committee for Physician Training, Royal Australasian College of Physicians, which oversaw and approved the training of all future consultants in internal medicine. He is currently Chair of that College’s Site Accreditation Committee and was previously a member of their Board of Censors. He was until recently a member of the Geriatric Medicine Education and Training Subcommittee of the Australian and New Zealand Society for Geriatric Medicine, having previously chaired that subcommittee. He has recently overseen a 3rd revision of that Society’s position document on Vaccinations for Older People.

His work in geriatric medicine, dementia and other research and his extensive authorship has been honoured with Membership of the Order of Australia, awarded on Australia Day 2016.