Events

Join the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (AAHMS) for this free webinar to hear from leading voices in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The webinar will be posted on the AAHMS website on Wednesday, 29 April and will include a live Q&A– no advance registration is required.

Australia is now at an important point in its COVID-19 response – we have seen the curve flatten, but how do we move forward from here? Join the discussion, led by Fellows and other experts from infectious diseases, epidemiology, intensive care, mental health and economics, to ask what can we expect over the coming weeks and months, and to consider how Australia can chart a course for resilience and recovery.

Panel Chair

Professor Shitij Kapur FMedSci FAHMS
Assistant Vice Chancellor (Health) and Dean, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne

Professor Kapur is a psychiatrist neuroscientist and has devoted his academic career to finding better treatments for Schizophrenia. His study of anti-psychotic drugs using brain imaging and clinical trials has helped understand why some patients respond while others get side-effects, and he has contributed to better dosing and timing of these medications. Professor Kapur has also served in important leadership roles in research institutions across the world, including Canada, the UK and Australia. 

Panel participants

Professor Sharon Lewin AO FAHMS
Director, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity

Professor Lewin is an infectious disease physician and basic scientist. The Doherty Institute, which she leads, is at the forefront of the research into COVID-19 and leads the work of the Australian Partnership for Preparedness Research on Infectious Disease Emergencies (APPRISE).

Associate Professor Kamalini Lokuge OAM
Lead, Humanitarian Health Research Initiative, Research School of Population Health, Australian National University

Professor Lokuge is a public health physician and medical epidemiologist.  She is an expert in public health responses to humanitarian crises, and for the last 25 years, she has worked in the control of high-risk infectious diseases such as Ebola, Lassa fever and avian influenza.

Professor Warwick McKibbin AO FASSA
Director, Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University

Professor McKibbin is an economist and has modelled the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, suggesting Australian GDP could fall by 3-5 per cent in 2020. He has previously modelled the impact of global outbreaks, including SARS and avian influenza.

Professor Steve Webb FAHMS
Senior Staff Specialist in Intensive Care, The Royal Perth Hospital and the University of Western Australia; Professor of Critical Care Research, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University

Professor Webb is working at the frontline in delivering intensive care for COVID-19 patients. His major research interests relate to the causes and management of immediately life-threatening illness, including influenza and pneumonia. He is a primary investigator on the REMAP-CAP study, a Randomised, Embedded, Multi-factorial, Adaptive Platform Trial for Community-Acquired Pneumonia, a study looking at COVID-19 that involves more than 50 facilities and 13 countries.

Professor Sir Simon Wessely FMedSci
Head, Department of Psychological Medicine at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neurosciences, King’s College London

Sir Simon joins us from the UK, where he is a former president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and a leading authority on traumatic stress. He has analysed the psychological impacts of quarantine measures in response to the outbreak and is leading a webinar series on COVID-19 for the Royal Society of Medicine in the UK.