Communicable Diseases & Immunisation Conference 2025
'Future directions for immunisation and communicable disease control: embracing ideas, innovations and improvements'
Tuesday 10 to Thursday 12 June 2025 | Adelaide Convention Centre, Kaurna Country/Adelaide, SA
#CDIC2025
2025 AILEEN JOY PLANT ORATION
About Aileen Joy Plant
Professor Plant was a renowned and highly respected public health physician and epidemiologist. She was a consultant to the World Health Organization and to the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing for the management and prevention of infectious disease outbreaks and a long standing and active member of the Communicable Disease Network of Australia. She was passionate about her work and travelled extensively, often at great risk to herself, to help people and countries in need of her expertise.
2025 Aileen Joy Plant Orator
Professor Steer (MBBS BMedSci MPH FRACP PhD FAHMS) is Director of Infection, Immunity and Global Health at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, a research theme with 20 groups and over 500 staff. Prof Steer is Group Leader of the Tropical Diseases Research Group at MCRI (founded 2012), and Honorary Professorial Research Fellow in the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Melbourne. He is a paediatric infectious diseases physician at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Medical Sciences. Prof Steer was awarded the 2024 Sir Gus Nossal Medal for Global Health from the Australian Academy of Science.
Professor Andrew Steer
Director of Infection, Immunity and Global Health, Murdoch Children's Research Institute
2025 Aileen Joy Plant Oration Presentation
Small but mitey: public health controls of neglected diseases and Australia’s contribution to global health
Australia has made an out-sized contribution to global health, especially in the Indo-Pacific region. At a time of uncertainty in global health, and as major donors retreat from their commitments to multi-lateral public health organisations including the World Health Organization, Australia has an opportunity to step up as an international leader. I will frame this and other opportunities by tracing historical highlights of Australia’s contributions, outlining the current landscape, and describing Australia’s role in public health control of neglected tropical diseases. I will explore milestones in the public health control of scabies, and draw upon my collaborative team’s research in curbing the impact of this miserable mite.