Epidemiology Research

Staff within the Centre actively contribute to improving knowledge and understanding of viral hepatitis in both the scientific and public health domains through a number of forums. Centre staff publish in a wide range of scientific journals,  produce reports for public health organisations and other stakeholders, and also participate in a wide range of WHO and other international meetings and workshops. Centre staff present their work at a large number of domestic and international conferences, educational lectures and seminars to a wide range of audiences, serve on a number of working groups, committees and advisory panels, and are often approached by the media to provide expert opinions on viral hepatitis for the general public. 

Epidemiology - Surveillance

Epidemiological research is central to the Doherty Institute’s and the Centre’s role in addressing health conditions related to infection and immunity in Australia and globally. The Centre undertakes numerous research activities to investigate the epidemiology of hepatitis infection in Victoria, nationally, regionally and globally.

By understanding which diseases are responsible for a significant or increasing health burden in specific populations or across the entire community, and investigating ways to reduce this burden, epidemiological research helps set the agenda for other forms of research, clinical interventions, and public health policies.

Epidemiological work at the Centre covers a wide range of research, using a variety of techniques and strategies, some of which include:

• Enhanced notifiable disease surveillance and analysis 
• Geospatial analysis and mapping of disease distribution and responses
• Outbreak investigations and case-control studies to investigate emergent public health concerns
• Record linkage studies and interrogation of public health registries
• Community-based health intervention evaluations
• Mathematical modelling of disease transmission
• Molecular epidemiology and serosurveys
• Genomic analysis

The scope of epidemiological expertise represented in the Centre is recognised internationally. Centre staff actively contribute to education and training of future generations of researchers through teaching postgraduate epidemiology and public health students, supervising epidemiological researchers from undergraduate to PhD level, and providing training in epidemiology and surveillance methodology to public health workers.

Information on some of our current reseach projects can be accessed below.