Professor Jason Grebely
Professor Grebely is an NHMRC Fellow and Head of the Hepatitis C and Drug Use Group at the Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney. He has training in Molecular Biology, Pharmacology, and Epidemiology with expertise in public health, health services, and translational research. He is a leading international expert in HCV epidemiology, natural history, and treatment. His research encompasses clinical trials to evaluate HCV treatment as a prevention measure, novel strategies and models of care to enhance linkage to HCV testing and treatment, as well as clinical trials and cohort studies examining HCV treatment and reinfection among individuals who inject drugs.
Dr Susan Matthews
Dr Matthews is Co-Director/Discipline Lead at the Flinders University International Centre for Point-of-Care testing (College of Medicine and Public Health) with a PhD qualification in medical science and laboratory management and an honours degree in science. She has over 19 years of experience managing tertiary teaching hospital laboratory and point-of-care testing services to ensure quality and compliance with international standards (ISO 15189). Her technical expertise relevant to this grant includes the scale-up of point-of-care testing networks, minimisation of operator risk and patient harm, operator training and competency, quality management, device connectivity, result interpretation, and public health notification.
David Silk
David Silk, BSc is a Program Manager at the Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney, David has worked at the Kirby Institute for over 10 years coordinating a range of clinical trials from multi-centre international randomised studies in HIV across developed and developing countries, to observational cohorts to scale-up HCV testing in multiple settings across Australia. David has extensive experience in project management of clinical trials taking place within healthcare services. Prior to this role David was a Regulatory Compliance Associate for a HIV research charity based at Chelsea & Westminster Hospital, London.
Corey Markus
Corey is a senior research officer with the Flinders University International Centre for Point-of-Care Testing. He has over 20 years of experience in diagnostic paediatric laboratory medicine as a multidisciplinary scientist. Additionally, he is the lead scientist for the BACH project, an international laboratory harmonization effort for total Bile acids measurements and a sub-study of the TURRIFIC clinical trial. Corey is currently a member of the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry Working Group on Method Validation and the Asia Pacific Federation of Clinical Biochemists Harmonization of Paediatric Reference Intervals Working Group. Corey plays a key role in delivering the Program operator training, competency assessment, and quality assurance for the Australian HCV Point-of-Care Testing network.
Brittany Whitford
Brittany, BSc, is a Scientific Officer at the Flinders University International Centre for Point-of-Care Testing, having joined the Australian HCV POCT Program in July 2024. She brings extensive laboratory experience in serological assays and diagnostics manufacturing with a strong focus on quality assurance systems. Currently, she delivers operator training and quality management across enrolled sites, ensuring high standards of practice and the reliable delivery of point-of-care testing within the network.
Larissa Kahl
Larissa is a Senior Scientific Officer with the Flinders University International Centre for Point-of-Care Testing. She holds a Bachelor of Laboratory Medicine (Honours) and has a background in both clinical diagnostics and public health research. Since joining the Centre in 2023, Larissa has been involved in the implementation and ongoing management of the Hepatitis C point-of-care testing network. In her role, she provides scientific and technical support to health services, delivers operator training, and contributes to resource development and quality assurance activities across the program.
Simon Comben
Simon Comben is a clinical project coordinator who joined the Kirby Institute in October 2021 to work on the Australian Hep C Point of Care Testing program. His previous role included working as a clinical trials coordinator at St Vincent’s Hospital in anal cancer research. Within this role, he helped initiate a variety of investigator-initiated projects from start to closure, and worked as a research nurse, interacting with study participants. Before his research roles, he worked as a Registered Nurse in various areas, including haematology, the cardiothoracic/vascular post-operative ward, and the Intensive Care Unit.
Stephanie Davey
Stephanie is a Clinical Project Coordinator at the Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney, joining in September 2022. She has completed a BSc at the University of Sydney and a PGCert in Clinical Trials from the University of Edinburgh. She previously worked as a clinical trials coordinator at the Royal Free Hospital in London, working on Rheumatology, Pulmonary Hypertension, and Covid-19 clinical trials. While in this role, she coordinated a range of Phase II-IV clinical trials, managing site setup, recruitment, follow-up, and close-out of commercial studies.
Samira Hosseini Hooshyar
Samira is a clinical project coordinator and research scientist at the Kirby Institute, UNSW, where she has been making significant contributions since 2018. She holds a PhD in clinical epidemiology, with her doctoral research focused on eliminating hepatitis C among people living with HIV, including HIV-positive individuals who inject drugs and men who have sex with men.
Her research expertise centers on infectious disease surveillance and prevention, with particular specialization in HIV, sexually transmitted infections, and hepatitis C virus infection. Since 2014, Samira has also served as a researcher and project coordinator at the WHO Collaborating Centre for HIV Surveillance in Iran, bringing a valuable international perspective to her work.
Jake Abbott
Jake Abbott, BMedSci, BBus, is a Clinical Project Coordinator at the Kirby Institute, UNSW, Sydney, starting January 2024. Previously, Jake worked at Scientia Clinical Research, an early phase clinical trial unit at PoWH Randwick, as a Clinical Study Coordinator for 3 years. During this time, Jake coordinated over 15 different phase 0/1 clinical trials investigating ailments such as advanced solid tumours, diabetes, hypertension, COVID-19, ulcerative colitis, narcolepsy, and hepatitis.
On the National Program, Jake coordinates HCV point-of-care testing at community sites in NSW, WA, and TAS, as well as the sub-studies One-Stop-Shop and SELECT.
Elise Tu
Elise is a Program Manager at the Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney, with a PhD in microbiology. She has over 10 years of experience coordinating clinical trials, with a focus on multi-center, international, randomized studies in HIV and HCV. She has extensive experience in the management, setup, and close-out of clinical study sites and oversees the operational study team, including data managers and laboratory team. She has also previously worked in a diagnostic laboratory to establish a 24-hour service for Organ and Tissue Donor screening programs for BBVs by nucleic acid testing at the Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney.
Maria Martinez
Maria Martinez is the Laboratory Coordinator for the Viral Hepatitis C Research Program at the Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney. She has immense experience in wet laboratory research for HBV and HCV sequencing and analysis. She assists the program through sample management, laboratory coordination, HCV RNA fingerstick POCT, and provides consumables and laboratory support to sites across different studies. Before working at the Kirby Institute, Maria worked in diagnostic laboratories, specifically serology and nucleic acid testing of blood-borne viruses.
Keren Smart
Keren Smart is a Research Assistant with the Australian HCVPOCT Program team. She brings valuable experience from her previous role at Hepatitis Queensland, where she worked across a range of health promotion projects for hepatitis B and C. Her background includes hands-on experience with hepatitis C point-of-care testing (POCT) outreach clinics. Keren's expertise in community health promotion and POCT delivery makes her a strong addition to the program team.
Rebecca Henry
Becca Henry is a Research Assistant providing communications and administrative support to the program. She joined the Kirby Institute in 2017 as part of the TVRP team and is currently pursuing her PhD in tuberculosis and HIV co-infection in resource-limited countries. She completed her BSc at the University of Sydney in 2010 with first-class honours in Microbiology. Before joining the Kirby Institute, she gained experience coordinating clinical trials in neurology and pharmacology.