Immunocompromised Infections

To eliminate the burden of infectious complications of childhood cancer treatment or transplantation.

The challenge

Infections remain one of the leading complications of childhood cancer treatment and solid organ or haematopoietic cell transplantation. For children with weakened immune systems, even common infections can become life-threatening.

Beyond the immediate health risks, infections can delay life-saving cancer treatment, prolong hospitalisation, increase healthcare costs and place a substantial physical and emotional burden on children and their families.

Our vision is to eliminate the burden of infection for children with cancer and transplantation through personalised, evidence-based supportive care.

Our research focus

The Immunocompromised Infections research group is a multidisciplinary team bringing together clinicians, scientists, epidemiologists, health economists and consumers to improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of infections in immunocompromised children.

Our research focuses on:

Defining risk by using large national and international clinical cohorts, registries and real-world data to understand who develops infections, why they occur and how risk varies across different cancer and transplant populations.

Enhancing diagnostics by evaluating innovative diagnostic approaches that enable earlier, more accurate detection of infection and support precision clinical decision-making.

Optimising treatment through clinical trials, advanced observational studies and implementation research, we identify safer, more effective and more cost-effective approaches to preventing and treating serious infections.

Driving translation and impact by working closely with patients, families, healthcare professionals and policymakers to ensure research findings are rapidly translated into clinical practice. Using implementation science, consumer partnerships and education, we develop sustainable models of care that improve outcomes both locally and globally.

Our impact

Our research is designed to deliver real-world impact. Through collaborations across Australia and international research networks, we generate evidence that informs clinical guidelines, shapes health policy and transforms care for immunocompromised children worldwide.