The Telethon Institute for Child Health
Research is headed by leading paediatrician and infectious diseases
specialist Professor Jonathan Carapetis.
Professor Carapetis took up the position of Institute Director in
July 2012 after six years leading the Menzies School of Health
Research in Darwin.
Professional
Biography:
Professor Carapetis holds separate qualifications as a medical
practitioner (MBBS), specialist paediatrician (FRACP Paediatrics),
specialist infectious diseases physician (FRACP Infect Dis), and
specialist public health physician (FAFPHM), as well as a PhD.
He is recognised as a leading mind in the Australian health field,
with particular expertise in Indigenous child health.
From 2006-2012, Professor Carapetis was Director of the Menzies
School of Health Research in Darwin where he forged new directions
in research and training to tackle the big problems in Indigenous
health.
Amongst his many accolades, Professor Carapetis was named as
Northern Territory Australian of the Year for 2008. He has been
named as one of Australia's top 100 brains in Cosmos magazine,
selected in the top ten in Medicine and Health in the Bulletin
Magazine's "Smart 100" list, and attended the Prime Minister's
20:20 summit in Canberra in 2008.
Professor Carapetis has made an international contribution and
commitment to the reduction of rheumatic heart disease. While rare
in most developed countries, Australia has one of the highest rates
of the disease in the world due to its prevalence within Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander communities, particularly in Northern
Australia.
Professor Carapetis undertook his medical training at the Royal
Melbourne and Royal Children's Hospitals.
Previous positions include terms as Director of the Centre for International Child Health at the University of Melbourne, Theme Director at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Melbourne and Clinical Fellow in Paediatric Infectious Diseases at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada.
Professor Carapetis is married with two children.
Qualifications:
- PhD ‐ University of Sydney
- FAFPHM ‐ Australian Faculty of Public Health Medicine
- FRACP (Infectious Diseases) ‐ Royal Australian College of Physicians
- FRACP (Paediatrics) ‐ Royal Australian College of Physicians
- MBBS ‐ University of Melbourne
- BMedSc ‐ University of Melbourne
Areas of expertise and research interests:
- Rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease
- Other group A streptococcal diseases
- Vaccine preventable disease
- Indigenous child health
- Child development and education
- Youth health and education
- Skin sores and scabies
Current projects:
- Alternative treatments for skin sores: a randomized controlled trial of trimethoprimsulfamethoxazole regimens compared to benzathine penicillin
- Towards uncovering genetic susceptibility to rheumatic heart disease
- World Heart Federation Pacific Rheumatic Heart Disease Control Programme
- Evaluation of the NT Mobile Preschool Programme
- gECHO - Screening for rheumatic heart disease in school‐aged Indigenous children
- Improving delivery of secondary prophylaxis for rheumatic heart disease
- A pilot trial of nurse‐led echocardiography for rheumatic heart disease in Fiji
- Evaluation of a Continuous Quality Improvement approach to rheumatic heart disease care in primary health services the Northern Territory and Fiji
- International standardization of echocardiography for rheumatic heart disease
- A trial of alternative schedules of pneumococcal vaccines in Vietnam
- Evaluation of the effectiveness of rotavirus immunization in the Northern Territory
- Measuring the burden of severe respiratory infections, including influenza, in children in the Northern Territory
- A trial of mass‐drug administration of ivermectin to control scabies and strongyloidiasis in a remote Aboriginal community
- One Disease at a Time - Saying goodbye to scabies in the East Arnhem region
- 1+1 Healthy start to life
Video: Professor Jonathan Carapetis talks to cystic fibrosis sufferer Kiah
Media release: Telethon Institute appoints new Director, 6 Dec 2011
