Head of VTG

Dr Peter Richmond MBBS MRCP FRACP

Peter heads up the Vaccine Trials Group and is the main media spokesperson for VTG research studies. Peter is also a Senior Lecturer with the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Western Australia and a Consultant Paediatrician and Paediatric Immunologist at Princess Margaret Hospital for Children. Peter is also an Honorary Research Fellow at the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research. Peter's major research interest is the evaluation of new vaccines designed to prevent bacterial and viral infections in the paediatric population and understanding protective immunity infectious disease in young children. Peter has been involved in conducting clinical trials in children and adults since 1996.

Jennifer Ebsary

Originally a nurse and midwife Jenny has a long history in clinical research starting as a study coordinator. Moving to Sydney in 1995, Jenny joined the pharmaceutical industry as a Clinical Research Associate involved in a diverse range of studies. From 2002 to 2008, Jenny headed up one of the larger pharmaceutical company’s Australia/New Zealand clinical research units. After returning to Perth, Jenny joined VTG in June 2009 as the Clinical Research Manager.

VTG Clinical Trials Coordinator

Jennifer Kent RN

Jennifer began working at the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research in 2000 after working as a Practice Nurse for 10 years at a private GP Clinic. She worked as a research nurse on the Childhood Asthma Study and when that closed, started part-time at the Vaccine Trials Group in 2003. Jennifer is presently the Coordinator of the Combined Meningitis (HibMenCY) study for babies and Meningococcal B Vaccine Study for Toddlers. Jennifer is extremely interested in the vaccination processes in infants and children and really enjoys seeing the families of study participants and following through with their immunisation schedule.

 VTG Clinical Lab Coordinator

Jan Jones BSc (Hons) Dip Ed

Having taught Science at Lake Joondalup Baptist College for two years, Jan felt that teaching wasn’t for her, so decided to pursue a career in science. She joined VTG in 2005 as a Research Assistant, and helped process blood samples until her Honours degree started in February 2006. Since completing her Honours, she has worked with the Vaccine Trials Group as a Research Assistant and in 2008 coordinated the adult Meningococcal B study. In 2009 a new position was created and Jan became the Clinical Lab Coordinator, overseeing the laboratory side of the clinical trials and the general maintenance and quality control of the research laboratory.

Research Fellows

Dr Tanya Stoney MBBS, Diploma of Child Health WA

Another of our friendly doctors, Tanya joined the VTG in June 2006. She graduated from Medicine at UWA in 2001 and completed her internship at Royal Perth Hospital. She gained experience in rural General Practice before commencing Paediatric training at Princess Margaret Hospital. Tanya has taken time out from her training to start a family, and enjoys combining this with research.  She has a keen interest in promoting vaccination in our community, especially with the parents of young children, as well as assisting with staff development at child care centres.

Dr Andrew Currie PhD

Andrew joined VTG in 2008. He is a Senior Research Fellow with the School of Paediatrics & Child Health at UWA and an Honorary Research Fellow at the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research. He conducted his post-doctoral training  in 2000 at the British Columbia’s Research Institute for Children’s and Women’s Health,Vancouver, Canada, studying Cystic Fibrosis, and has been actively involved in research into infection and innate immunity since. He is currently investigating how the innate immune system of preterm infants defends them against early infection. Andrew is an active member of the immunology research community in Perth and is a WA committee member for the Australasian Society of Immunologists.

Dr Selma Wietsema PhD

Dr. Selma Wiertsema did her PhD in the Netherlands and joined the VTG in 2006. She is currently a research assistant professor in the School of Paediatrics and Child Health at the University of Western Australia. Her research interests lie in understanding specific immunity, microbiology and genetics of children with recurrent ear disease. She has coordinated the recruitment of a cohort of 300 children either with or without ear disease. Of all these children blood, cells, a swab from the nose, middle ear fluid, saliva and DNA has been collected. So far, it has been found that children with ear disease have more viruses and bacteria in their ear and nose, make a lot of antibodies to these bacteria and have a specific genetic make-up compared to healthy children. NH&MRC funding for 2011-2013 will allow further in depth investigation of antibodies in the middle ear and saliva and additional studies into the functionality of antibodies in these children. With industry support she is now developing a follow-up study investigating ear disease in Indigenous children.

Lea-Ann joined the VTG in June 2009 and has a research background in bacterial pathogenesis (particularly pneumococcal and meningococcal disease).  She was awarded her PhD in 2006 from the University of Glasgow where she was involved in the development of a new pneumococcal vaccine. In 2007 Lea-Ann moved to Perth to work at UWA on understanding the interactions between bacteria and host cells. She is excited to be bringing her microbiology background to the VTG team and have the opportunity to work with such a dynamic team of researchers. Her major research interest lies in development of protein-based vaccines for respiratory bacteria and surveillance of bacterial molecular epidemiology following vaccination.

Dr Ruth Thornton PhD

Ruth joined VTG in 2002, initially as an honours student. After one year honours, Ruth became a research assistant for two years before embarking on PhD candidature in 2005. Ruth has a strong interest in immunology and in understanding infectious diseases particularly in high risk populations.

Dr Chris Blyth MBBS FRACP FRCPA

Chris is a clinical academic with the School of Paediatrics and Child Health (University of Western Australia), a Consultant Paediatric Infectious Diseases Physician and Clinical Microbiologist (Princess Margaret Hospital for Children) and a Honorary Research Fellow at the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research. Chris's major research interests including the epidemiology, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of emerging pathogens causing respiratory disease in children and adults

Dr Tracy Markus MBBS

Tracy has just recently joined our team as one of our doctors. She previously worked as a GP in Canada and is currently working part-time as a GP in Perth, whilst simultaneously training to become a Paediatrician. She has a special interest in Immunology and is undertaking research in this area. She intends to shortly commence a Masters degree.

Dr Abhijeet Rakshasbhuvankar 

After the success in FRACP examination, Abhijeet has joined research as a Telethon Fellow. He is a part of team conducting a randomised controlled trial comparing effects of fish oil based and olive oil based lipid emulsions, on plasma fatty acid profile and immune functions of neonates. His other areas of interest are neonatal neurology, EEG and amplitude-integrated EEG.

Research Nurses

Camille Gibson RN Midwife BSc (Nursing) BSc (Environmental Health)

With a background in infection control in both private and public hospitals, Camille developed an interest in public health, immunology and effective vaccination programs. Camille joined the VTG in 2008.

Jane Jones BSc(Nursing) BSc Enviro(Hons)

Jane joined VTG in 2007 and is currently working on the HPV and Dengue Fever clinical trials. Previous experience includes working at Royal Perth Hospital. Jane enjoys working with children and their families and has a keen interest in the promotion of global health care

Fiona McDonald RGN SCM BSc (Nursing) Immunisation Certification

Fiona joined the VTG casually in 2007 and has been employed by PMH since 1988. She is currently enjoying the role of coordinator for the Group A Streptococcus (GAS) Study. Fiona has an interest in the health benefits of vaccination world-wide and looks forward to continual involvement with the VTG.

Jennifer Morrison RN

Jenny joined the Vaccine Trials Group in June 2009 after arriving from South Africa. Jenny is qualified in midwifery, paediatric and community health nursing. She has extensive working experience in child health. Jenny has always been interested in the health and wellbeing of babies/children and their families. Through her knowledge and the experience gained with the Vaccine Trials Group, she looks forward to working towards further improvements in paediatric health.

Alison Roberts RN, Dip Health Promotion

Alison joined VTG in 2008 to assist the team with the 'flu efficacy study. Previous experience includes general surgery and recovery, sleep technology and Community nursing. Recently she has completed Post Graduate studies in health promotion and is very interested in public health and research.

Christine Robins EN

Christine joined the Vaccine Trials Group in 2009. She has several years experience in General Practice nursing and most recently the Practice Manager of a very busy surgery south of the river. Christine has just taken on the role as co-ordinator of the Paediatric Active Enhanced Disease Surveillance studies and is looking forward to making a positive contribution to the VTG. She is also very passionate about the promotion of vaccination and preventative medicine.

Caroline Wharton EN 

Caroline has recently joined the Vaccine Trials Group in Febuary 2010.She joins the team with many years of nursing experience from a variety of environments, most recently Occupational Health (including Travel Vaccinations) and General Practice. She is very interested in research into preventable illness through vaccination and hopes to continue the positive work with the VTG.

Clinical Trials Pharmacist

Margaret Shave BPharm

Margaret is employed by the Health Department of WA and located at Princess Margaret Hospital for Children pharmacy department. As Clinical Trials Pharmacist, she is involved in reviewing drug trials protocols, preparation of dispensing procedures and maintaining correct storage conditions for trial stock, dispensing and accountability procedures. Her role in hospital-based trials include liasing with trial investigators and research staff with trial set up, coordination, randomisation, monitoring and training of new pharmacy staff in clinical trials.

Research Assistants

Lisa Montgomery

In 2006, after completing a Bachelor of Science with honours in molecular genetics, Karli joined the Arbovirology Surveillance and Research Group monitoring mosquito-borne virus’s activity in Western Australia. Karli joined the VTG team as a research assistant in the beginning of 2008, and with a strong interest in genetics and immunology, aims to improve prevention and the future treatment of infectious diseases.  

Angela Fuery BSc (Hons) PhD Candidate

Angela joined the VTG team at the start of 2005 after completing a Bachelor of Science with honours in Microbiology at UWA the previous year. Angela has been involved in coordinating the Otitis Media study in its final clinical phase and more recently coordinated  the Phase I Meningococcal B study in adults. Angela is undertaking her PhD research in meningococcal disease.

Sanela Bilic BSc, MBA

Sanela joined VTG in 2006. She completed a Bachelor of Science (Medical Science) degree as well as a Masters of Business Administration degree at Curtin University of Technology. Sanela has worked in the Histopathology Laboratory at Royal Perth Hospital as a Medical Scientist and she has coordinated the WA Research Tissue Network at Sir Charles Gairdner Hosptial. Sanela's work at VTG involves coordinating clinical studies and development of the VTG database.

Julie Hibbert BSc (Hons) MSc

Upon completing her Honours in biotechnology at Brock University, Ontario and her Masters in biochemistry and molecular biology, Alberta, Julie has worked for several years as the Senior Clinical Research Associate for two large clinical trials and as a reporting consultant for the Global Outcomes and Research division of Abbott Laboratories.  Wanting a change, Julie moved from Canada to Perth in May 2009 to work for the Vaccine Trials Group on identifying characteristics of the immune response of very pre-term infants.

Annemarie Naylor

Annemarie joined the Vaccine Trials Group in May 2009 as a Research Assistant.  Annemarie has vast knowledge and experience as a Clinical Trials Data Manager/Study Coordinator expanding over ten years.  Previous work experience includes working at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in the Department of Radiation Oncology, coordinating large national and international studies that were investigator-driven, under the umbrella of TROG.  More recently, Annemarie worked for the WA Lung Research Unit at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, undertaking sponsor driven studies, including research into Asthma, COPD and Cystic Fibrosis.  Annemarie has a Graduate Certificate in Clinical Trials Management from Canberra University.  Annemarie has special interest in the areas of research ethics, research governance and the consent processes in which participants are recruited.

Samantha Curtis BSc (Hons)

After completing her biomedical science Honours degree with supervisor Dr Peter Richmond in 2003, Samantha joined Peter and his VTG team as a Research Scientist. Since then, she have been involved in, and developed skills in, specimen processing, lab analysis, assay development, venepuncture and more recently, coordinating studies. Samantha's main passion is to improve the health of our kids through research into prevention of infectious diseases.

After completing a Bachelor of Science in biotechnology with Honours at Murdoch University and gaining experience working for the Tumor Immunology Group at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Amy joined VTG in May 2008 as a Research Assistant.  After a year with VTG, Amy left to travel and work abroad in The Netherlands before returning to VTG as a Research Officer in October 2010. Amy is looking forward to continuing work looking into the development of the immune system of premature babies.

Study Investigators