Australasian Bone and Joint Infection (BJI) Conference 2024

Martin McNally is Honorary Consultant in Limb Reconstruction at the Oxford Bone Infection Unit in the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, Oxford University Hospitals and King James IV Professor at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.

He has a particular interest in osteomyelitis, infected fractures and non-unions. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers, reviews and book chapters. His current research and clinical studies focus on diagnosis and treatment options together with assessment of outcomes and quality of life for infection patients. He has been a champion of multi-disciplinary working in bone infection. He is Past-President of the European Bone and Joint Infection Society (EBJIS) and the Girdlestone Orthopaedic Society. He is a member of the EFORT Scientific Committee and Co-chair of the International Fracture-related Infection (FRI) Group.

Prof Patel is the Elizabeth P. and Robert E. Allen Professor of Individualized Medicine, Director of the Infectious Diseases Research Laboratory, Co-Director of the Clinical Bacteriology Laboratory, Vice Chair of Education in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, and former Chair of the Division of Clinical Microbiology, at the Mayo Clinic. Professor Patel’s research focuses on understanding the inherent biology of periprosthetic infection. She has over 600 peer-reviewed publications, is supported by the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is the Director of the Laboratory Center of the Antibacterial Resistance Leadership Group of the National Institutes of Health, and is the Past President of the American Society for Microbiology.

Dr Boast is a paediatric infectious diseases, general paediatric and clinical pharmacology trainee from the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, and is enrolled in a PhD at The University of Melbourne. A key part of her PhD is leading the BEST trial together with A/Prof Amanda Gwee - an ASID-endorsed multicentre RCT on all oral treatment of bone and joint infections in children.

Prof Richard de Steiger MBBS PhD FRACS FA OrthA is the Epworth, Victor Smorgon Chair of Surgery, The University of Melbourne, and for 17 years was the Deputy Director of the Australian Orthopaedic Association, National Joint Replacement Registry. He has a strong interest in the investigating and management of Peri-prosthetic Joint Infection.

Prof Davis is an infectious diseases physician at John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle, and the head of the Infection Research Program at the Hunter Medical Research Institute at the University of Newcastle. He is a clinical trialist, and currently a chief investigator on several large multinational trials investigating treatments for Staph aureus bacteraemia, severe sepsis, COVID-19 and prosthetic joint infection. He was the co-lead of the PIANO study and now co-leads the ROADMAP trial. Josh is also a Past President of ASID.

Dr Giulieri is a clinician researcher based at the Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity at the University of Melbourne, with a special interest in orthopaedic infections and bacterial genomics. He is an Infectious Diseases Physician at the Royal Melbourne Hospital where he has a clinic specialised in orthopaedics infections. Before moving to Melbourne, he was the Head of the Infectious Diseases Consultation in the Orthopaedics Department at the Lausanne University Hospital, Switzerland. He is member of the ROADMAP trial study group.

Associate Professor Amanda Gwee is the Leader of the Antimicrobials Group at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute. She is a general paediatrician, infectious diseases physician and clinical pharmacologist as well as the Clinical Lead of Research in the Department of General Medicine at the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne.
Her research program focuses on optimising antimicrobial use and access in children and includes national and international clinical trials, pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic studies, and cohort studies.

Associate Professor Pete Lazzarini is a podiatrist and Research Fellow with Queensland University of Technology and Queensland Health in Brisbane, Australia.
Pete has an internationally-recognised track record in diabetes foot disease research, with >110 peer-reviewed publications and >$5.8 million in grant funding in the field. He is the Secretary of the International Working Group on the Diabetic Foot Offloading Guideline Group, was Founding Chair of Diabetes Feet Australia and has held National Health and Medical Research Council Fellowships.
Pete leads a diabetes foot disease research program that has produced significant new global knowledge: quantifying disease burdens, identifying risk factors and developing novel treatments. He is particularly motivated by nurturing the next generation of researchers to develop practice and policy solutions that help end avoidable amputations within a generation.

Dr Rughani trained in Plastic Surgery from the Oxford School of Surgery, UK and is now a Consultant Specialist Plastic & Reconstructive Surgeon at the Royal Brisbane & Women’s Hospital & Senior Clinical Lecturer at University of Queensland.
His clinical expertise is in Skin cancer, Head & Neck Reconstruction, Microsurgery, Limb trauma, education and teamwork.