Public Health Biosurveillance

Current biothreat surveillance systems are vulnerable to incomplete and delayed reporting of public health threats. Recent outbreaks of re-emerging and new communicable diseases have highlighted inefficiencies in public health monitoring and control systems.

Our program of biosurveillance research is based on collaborative links with the NSW Department of Healthand the Centre for Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, Institute of Clinical Pathology and Medical Research Network, Sydney West Area Pathology Service. It focuses on informatics approaches to optimising risk assessment and response to outbreaks of communicable diseases and addresses the need for improvement in the timeliness and specificity of early detection and control of biothreats.