Sexual Health Program
The Sexual Health Program leads and participates in research into the epidemiology, surveillance, microbiology, clinical management, and prevention of sexually transmissible infections (STIs); including – but not limited to - chlamydia, syphilis, gonorrhoea, human papillomavirus infection, herpes simplex virus infection, and HIV infection. Our program is also involved in research into the behaviour and sexual health of priority populations for STI control such as youth, gay men, sex workers, Aboriginal people, prisoners, and travelers.
The Sexual Health Program works closely with several other Programs within the Kirby Institute. The Program also enjoys collaborating with a national network of 25 specialist sexual health services; research laboratories in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and PNG; the School of Population Health at the University of Melbourne; the Burnet Institute in Melbourne; and the Menzies School of Health Research.
Methodologies used in the Program’s research range from descriptive epidemiology with novel analytical techniques, molecular epidemiology, enhanced surveillance strategies, data linkage studies, social and behavioural research, test evaluations, detecting antimicrobial resistance, evaluating and improving health care delivery, legal and policy research, anthropology, and biomedical prevention.
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Basil Donovan MB BS, MD, DipVen, FAChSHM, FAFPHM, FRCPI
Professor andProgram Head
Basil Donovan is also a practising Sexual Health Physician at the Sydney Sexual Health Centre at Sydney Hospital, which he directed from 1990 to 2003. His research and policy interests include clinical and public health aspects of HIV and other sexually transmissible infections; and priority populations such as homosexually active men, youth, sex workers, Aboriginal people, prisoners, and travellers. Current large projects that are consuming his time include the Australian Collaboration for Chlamydia Enhanced Sentinel Surveillance www.access-study.org , National surveillance of genital warts, the Australian Chlamydia Control Effectiveness Pilot www.accept.org.au , the STRIVE Project in remote Aboriginal communities, the Law and Sexworker Health (LASH) Project, and a survey of the Sexual Health and Attitudes of Australian Prisoners (SHAAP).
bdonovan@kirby.unsw.edu.au
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Rebecca Guy BAppSc, MAppEpid, PhD
Senior Lecturer and Post-doctoral Research Fellow
Rebecca Guy is a senior lecturer. She was awarded a NHMRC Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2008 with a focus on randomised STI prevention trials, particularly within the primary health care setting. Rebecca is an investigator on a cluster randomised trial of chlamydia testing in general practice, a cluster randomised trial of best practice STI service delivery in remote Aboriginal communities and an intervention to improve HIV/STI testing in gay men attending general practices clinic in Sydney. Rebecca also has a strong interest in rapid point-of-care tests for STIs in remote and developing country setting and is leading a number of evaluations in this field.
rguy@kirby.unsw.edu.au |
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Hammad Ali BSc MBBS MPH
Lecturer
Hammad is a medical doctor and a public health graduate. He worked in the public health development sector in a developing country before moving to Australia. Before starting at NCHECR, Hammad worked as part of the secretariat for the Reference Group to the UN on HIV and injecting drug use at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre. He is also a trainer for two international medical students’ organizations and has delivered numerous trainings abroad. Hammad coordinates the ACCESS project www.access-study.org
hali@kirby.unsw.edu.au
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Dr Damian Conway MB BCh MMed(STD/HIV) FAChSHM MRCGP DRCOG DFFP
Lecturer
Damian Conway is a Sexual Health Physician with over ten years of clinical experience in HIV & Sexual Health. He has worked previously in HIV and STI education and training with the Australasian Society for HIV Medicine and at the STI Research Centre, University of Sydney.
Damian is a PhD candidate working on the evaluation of rapid HIV testing in a range of settings and he is the principal investigator and project leader for the Sydney study of rapid HIV testing among men who have sex with men in public sexual health clinics.
dconway@kirby.unsw.edu.au |
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Kirsty Smith RN, Grad Dip Education, MPH
Senior Research Officer
Kirsty spent many years in central Australia, most recently coordinating a cross-border STI/HIV project which had a strong emphasis on STI screening in remote Aboriginal communities. She is now based in Corowa in southern NSW and is working with Rebecca Guy on STI prevention trials
ksmith@kirby.unsw.edu.au |
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Rebecca Lorch DipAdultNurs BSc(Hons)
Project Coordinator (ACCEPT Study)
Rebecca Lorch was working as a Clinical Nurse Specialist at the Sydney Sexual Health Centre and has a strong background in midwifery, including community midwifery, in Wales and Australia. Rebecca co-ordinates primary care services mainly in rural and regional NSW and is located at the Cliffbrook Campus.
rlorch@nchecr.unsw.edu.au |
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Larissa Lewis
Research Assistant
Larissa Lewis comes to NCHECR with a general practice background in sexual health. She has a bachelor degree in Political Science from Trent University in Canada and is currently working on a degree in midwifery from University of Technology Sydney.
llewis@nchecr.unsw.edu.au |
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Muhammad Shahid Jamil MBBS MPH MHM
Muhammad Shahid Jamil has a medical background and graduated with public health and health management degrees from UNSW. Before joining the Kirby Institute, Shahid has worked at the School of Public Health and Community Medicine for the QUIT Smoking Project - a randomized controlled trial in general practices of NSW, VIC and ACT comparing usual GP care, Quitline and practice nurse intervention in helping people stop smoking. He works on a systematic review of uptake and outcome of chlamydia and gonorrhoea testing in non-clinical settings.
m.jamil@unsw.edu.au |
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Denton Challander BA, BMT
Denton joined the Kirby Institute in January of 2011. He is currently working on the eTest Project with Dr Rebecca Guy and the National Prison Entrants’ Bloodborne Virus and Risk Behaviour Survey with Dr Tony Butler. Denton is studying at the National Centre in HIV Social Research after completing his previous studies in Canada. His postgraduate research focuses on the interplay of ethnicity, sexual
risk-taking, and online sex seeking among men who have sex with men.
Aside from that, he provides quantitative and qualitative research support to other NCHSR projects.
d.callander@unsw.edu.au |
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Phillip Read BSc. MBBS MRCP DipGUM DFFP DipHIV MPH FAChSHM
Phill trained in Sexual health in both the UK and Australia, and holds a clinical position as Postgraduate Fellow at the Sydney Sexual Health Centre. He is responsible for co-ordinating joint research projects between the Kirby Institute and Sydney Sexual Health Centre. He has an interest in bacterial STIs, molecular diagnostics, and the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Current projects focus on sex workers, culturally and linguistically diverse men who have sex with men, and the molecular epidemiology of syphilis.
phillip.read@unsw.edu.au |
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Lucy Watchirs Smith BA, MPH Candidate
Program Coordinator
Lucy is the program coordinator for the SHP program. She is currently studying for a Masters of Public Health at the University of Sydney.
lwatchirs-smith@kirby.unsw.edu.au
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REPORTS