Chief Investigators
Professor Fiona Russell, Asia‑Pacific Health Group Leader at MCRI and the Director of the Child and Adolescent Health PhD Program at the University of Melbourne. Principal Investigator on pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) impact evaluations and surveillance studies in Fiji, Lao PDR, Mongolia and Papua New Guinea. These studies were funded by the Gates Foundation, Gavi, WHO and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), and are conducted in partnership with senior government officials and WHO.
Associate Professor Paul Licciardi, Immunologist and Senior Research Fellow at MCRI with expertise in evaluating vaccine immune responses in both animal models and humans. He is the Immunology Team Leader within the New Vaccines group at MCRI. Paul holds honorary appointments at the University of Melbourne and the Menzies School of Health Research, and is a Scientific Consultant at Singapore Polytechnic. He leads the immunology work on PCV reduced‑dose schedules in Vietnam and has established B‑ and T‑cell assays at MCRI and in Vietnam.
Associate Professor Catherine Satzke, Translational Microbiology Group Leader at MCRI. She has established gold‑standard approaches for pneumococcal carriage studies, including leading the WHO guideline for pneumococcal carriage, the authoritative standard in the field. Catherine leads microbiology activities for 10 PCV studies across the Asia‑Pacific region, oversees a laboratory training and capacity‑building program, and leads an experimental research program investigating the biology of pneumococcal carriage.
Professor Kim Mulholland, New Vaccines Group Leader at MCRI and holds a joint appointment at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He is a pre‑eminent world leader in pneumococcal vaccinology and has played a key role in advising WHO on the international pneumococcal research agenda. Kim led PCV impact evaluations in Mongolia and reduced‑dose schedule studies in Vietnam, funded by the Gates Foundation and Gavi, and is a co‑investigator on PCV impact studies in Lao PDR, Fiji and Papua New Guinea.
Professor Mark Jit, Chief Investigator and Professor of Vaccine Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a Visiting Professor at the University of Hong Kong School of Public Health. Mark is a world‑leading health economist whose research on vaccine economics has informed immunisation policy for a range of vaccines in low‑ and middle‑income countries, including PCV.
Professor Sarath Ranganathan, Director of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine at The Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH), Respiratory Group Leader at MCRI and Head of Department in the University of Melbourne Department of Paediatrics. Sarath has extensive experience in the detection and monitoring of lung disease and holds leadership roles within paediatric respiratory medicine. His research findings have been translated into UK and Australian national clinical guidelines.
Professor Peter McIntyre, Medical Epidemiologist with a clinical background in paediatric infectious diseases, working across vaccine and vaccine‑preventable disease research.Peter was Deputy Director and later Director of the Australian National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance (NCIRS) from 1997 to 2017 and is now a Senior Professorial Fellow. He currently serves as the WHO Western Pacific regional representative on the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization.
Dr Natalie Carvalho, Health Economist and Senior Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne, based in the Centre for Health Policy (Health Economics Unit) and the Global Burden of Disease Group. Natalie's research focuses on the use of economic evidence in health policy decision‑making. She recently assessed the cost‑effectiveness of three new childhood vaccines—rotavirus, PCV and HPV—in four Pacific Island countries, funded by the Asian Development Bank.
Professor Yin Bun Cheung, based at the National University of Singapore and is an internationally renowned biostatistician. He has led multiple statistical methodology studies in infectious disease research funded by Singapore’s National Medical Research Council. Yin Bun Cheung established analytical methods for recurrent event data and antibody assay optical density data and currently serves on the data and safety monitoring board of the UK Medical Research Council sponsored Pneumococcal Vaccine Schedules Trial.
Dr Cattram Nguyen, Biostatistician and Senior Research Fellow at MCRI with honorary appointments at the University of Melbourne and the Victorian Centre for Biostatistics. Her research spans statistical methodology and applied maternal and child health research. Cattram was the trial statistician on six randomised controlled trials, including pneumococcal vaccine trials in Vietnam and The Gambia, and has contributed extensively to statistical training and knowledge translation.
Associate Investigators
Dr Toan Nguyen, Medical Doctor with expertise in public health, epidemiology and vaccinology, and is Head of the Clinical Research Center at the Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Toan was an investigator on more than 17 vaccine clinical trials since 2009 and has contributed to national guideline development, including Vietnam’s National Vaccine Trial Guidelines. Establishing a clinical trial centre at the Pasteur Institute.
Professor Kulkanya Chokephaibulkit, Professor of Paediatrics at Mahidol University and Director of the Siriraj Institute of Clinical Research in Bangkok, Thailand. Kulkanya's research focuses on paediatric infectious diseases, vaccine responses and HIV infection. She has authored more than 220 peer‑reviewed publications and has held senior advisory roles within Thailand’s National Immunisation Program and National Vaccine Institute.
Professor Anna Lisa T. Ong‑Lim, Professor and attending paediatrician at the Philippine General Hospital, University of the Philippines, Manila. She is a Fellow and Board Trustee of the Philippine Pediatric Society and currently serves as President of the Pediatric Infectious Disease Society of the Philippines. She has led and contributed to numerous vaccine‑related clinical trials and clinical guideline development.
Professor Stephen Bentley, Molecular Microbiologist and global leader in bacterial genomics. He is a Principal Staff Scientist and Team Leader at the Wellcome Sanger Institute in Cambridge, UK. Stephen directed the Global Pneumococcal Sequencing Project, which has sequenced over 25,000 pneumococcal genomes from more than 50 countries. His work has informed next‑generation pneumococcal vaccine development and advanced understanding of pneumococcal transmission, vaccine escape and antimicrobial resistance.
Professor Mayfong Mayxay, Head of Field Research at the Lao‑Oxford‑Mahosot Hospital–Wellcome Trust Research Unit and Vice President of the University of Health Sciences, Ministry of Health, Lao PDR. Mayfong is a founding member of LOMWRU and the Lao Medical Journal and established the ethical committee for health research at the University of Health Sciences. His research interests include febrile illness, antimalarial resistance, dengue and Japanese encephalitis.
Dr Eric Rafai, Public Health Physician and Head of the Health Information Unit and International Projects at the Fiji Ministry of Health and Medical Services. Eric has more than 19 years’ experience in public health research and regional health initiatives and provides local advisory support for the Ministry’s participation in research projects, with interests including antimicrobial resistance, climate change and health.
Dr Tuya Mungun, Paediatrician with over 30 years’ experience in maternal and child health across Mongolia and Asia, working with governments and UNICEF. Tuya led a Gavi‑funded PCV impact evaluation in Mongolia in partnership with the Ministry of Health, MCRI and WHO.
Emerging Leaders Committee
Dr Claire von Mollendorf, Project Manager, Medical Epidemiologist and Senior Research Officer in the New Vaccines and Asia‑Pacific research groups at MCRI. Claire coordinated the paediatric PCV impact project in Mongolia, leads adult pneumonia surveillance in Mongolia and manages the Centre of Research Excellence.
Darren Suryawijaya Ong, Project Coordinator and Research Manager of the Asia‑Pacific Health Group and a Research Assistant in the New Vaccines Group at MCRI. Darren is also an infectious disease epidemiology student at the University of Melbourne. He has experience in vaccine clinical trials and epidemiological studies in low‑ and middle‑income settings and coordinates the Centre of Research Excellence.
Eleanor Neal, Epidemiologist with a Master of Public Health focused on international child health and infectious diseases epidemiology. Eleanor is a PhD candidate and Research Assistant with the Asia‑Pacific Health group at MCRI and the University of Melbourne. Her PhD research investigates nasopharyngeal pneumococcal carriage epidemiology and transmission in Fiji before and after PCV introduction.
Dr Ryan Toh, Early career researcher and immunologist in the New Vaccines Research Group at MCRI, with an honorary appointment at the University of Melbourne. Ryan has contributed to multiple vaccine clinical trials in low‑ and middle‑income countries and is currently involved in immunology research on PCV reduced‑dose schedules in Vietnam.
Dr Sam Manna, Microbiologist and Senior Research Officer in the Translational Microbiology group at MCRI. His research focuses on the biology, genetics and virulence of Streptococcus pneumoniae. Sam has received multiple awards for his work, including the Robert Austrian Research Award in Pneumococcal Vaccinology and the Australian Society for Microbiology Jim Pittard Award.
Dr John Hart, Senior Research Fellow, Tropical Disease group at MCRI.
Dr Eliza Nikolaou, Senior Resesarch Fellow, Translational Microbiology, MCRI
Dr Nadia Mazarakis, Senior Research Fellow, Vaccine Immunology, MCRI
Monica Nation, Epidemiologist, Translational Microbiology, MCRI
