Associate Professor Noleen Bennett

VICNISS

The VICNISS Coordinating Centre provides a state-wide, standardised surveillance service for healthcare associated infections (HAIs) and related events. The goal of VICNISS is to monitor and reduce the incidence of HAIs, providing support for health services in Victoria. VICNISS aims to support Victorian health services to carry out international best practice surveillance and analysis, and to lead interventions for quality improvement to improve the health of all Victorians.

VICNISS provides a source of high quality data for regular performance monitoring, and for a valuable resource for the research community. Over the time of VICNISS surveillance, infection rates in key areas of focus have fallen markedly, reducing the significant financial and personal cost of these infections on both individual patients and the health system.

VICNISS collaborates with the National Centre for Antimicrobial Stewardship (NCAS), with a major involvement in aged care NAPS (ac-NAPS). VICNISS is also engaged by DHHS Residential Aged Care Services to carry out monitoring of infection control indicators in Victoria’s public residential aged care services, including participation in ac-NAPS.

Lab Team

• Professor Michael Richards

  Director of Director of VICNISS
• Associate Professor Noleen Bennett

  Senior Infection Control Consultant / Project Officer
• Dr Ann Bull

  Operations Director (VICNISS)
• Jenny Bradford
• Judy Brett

  Senior Infection Control Consultant
• Simon Burrell

  Database Manager
• Chris Clark

  Administration Assistant/Office Manager
• Alex Hoskins

  Senior Infection Control Consultant
• Nabeel Imam

  Biostatician/Epidemiologist
• Sandra Johnson

  Epidemiologist
• Roland Laguitan

  Senior DevOps and BI Developer
• Dr Tim Spelman

  Biostatistician
• Ling Wang

  Software Development
• Associate Professor Leon Worth

  Acting Director of VICNISS

National Centre for Antimicrobial Stewardship

The National Centre for Antimicrobial Stewardship (NCAS) is a health services research program that aims to improve the use of antimicrobials across animal and human health, to influence national policy, and to generate a research workforce across nurses, pharmacists, doctors and veterinarians. NCAS aims to lead and facilitate the embedding of antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) within clinical practice across diverse healthcare settings and among different practitioner groups in Australia. Its research and surveillance programs aim to improve antimicrobial prescribing by understanding prescribing behaviours through qualitative and quantitative methods, monitoring current prescribing patterns across healthcare settings, identifying targets for quality improvement, and developing interventions, new policies and practices.

Lab Team

• Professor Karin Thursky

  Director of NCAS; Director of the Guidance Group; Deputy Director of Infectious Diseases (Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre)
• Professor Kirsty Buising

  Deputy Director of NCAS; Director of the Guidance Group; Infectious Diseases Physician
• Dr Rodney James
• Caroline Chen

  Pharmacist and Guidance Project Officer
• Dr Noleen Bennett
• Robyn Ingram
• Associate Professor Caroline Marshall

  Head of the Infection Prevention and Surveillance Service (Royal Melbourne Hospital)
• Professor Glenn Browning
• Professor Mike Richards
• Renu Padhmanaban

  Guidance IT Manager
• Associate Professor Rhonda Stuart
• Dr David Kong
• Professor Danielle Mazza
• Dr Trish Peel
• Dr N.Deborah Friedman
• Dr Helen Billman-Jacobe
• Dr Thomas Schulz

  Infectious Diseases and General Physician (Royal Melbourne Hospital)
• Dr Ann Bull

  Operations Director (VICNISS)
• Associate Professor Leon Worth

  Acting Director of VICNISS
• Evette Buono
• Professor Frank Dunshea
• Courtney Ierano
• Jaclyn Bishop
• Karen Urbancic
• Lesley Hawes
• Leslie Dowson
• Dr Laura Hardefeldt
• Dr Helen Crabb
• Dr Kirsten Bailey
• Dr Arjun Rajkhowa