Launceston-based infectious diseases expert, Professor Katie Flanagan, has been named the new president of the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases.
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Having previously served as the president-elect, Professor Flanagan took on the top job earlier this month and will hold the position for the next two years.
Over the next two years, Professor Flanagan said she wanted to focus on increasing the support, training, education and general advocacy for those in the field of infectious diseases.
"One of the things I'm particularly keen on is advocacy work and actually raising awareness around key infectious diseases issues, and trying to get advocacy around antimicrobial resistance," she said.
"That is a big component of the work that we do at ASID is training and education, training our new doctors coming through."
Originally from England, Professor Flanagan moved to Tasmania where she holds a range of state, national and global infectious disease roles.
In addition to her role with ASID, Professor Flanagan is the head of infectious diseases at Launceston General Hospital, a Clinical Professor at the University of Tasmania, Adjunct Professor at RMIT and Adjunct Associate Professor at Monash University.
She is also a member of the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation, where in recent times she has worked on the national response to COVID-19, leading the ATAGI COVID-19 Vaccine Utilisation and Prioritisation Working Group.
As one of the peak bodies in the field of Infectious diseases, Professor Flanagan said the society was also focusing on the establishment of a national Centre for Disease Control to streamline future pandemic governance on a national level.
An Australian CDC had previously been proposed to various governments but never established. However, the new Labor government have announced its plan to develop a CDC as a future pandemic preparedness priority.
"We would like to be involved in that process," she said. "We do need a very wide and in-depth public consultation, and a consultation across all the interested parties and bodies to try and work out what a CDC model in Australia would look like.
"That's a really important piece of work that ASID needs to be part of in the coming few years."
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