One of the founding fathers of Infectious Diseases in New Zealand receives 2024 ASID Life Member Award
Professor Stephen Chambers has been awarded the 2024 ASID Life Member Award at the Annual Scientific Meeting in Wellington, New Zealand.
Professor Chambers established the Infectious Diseases Department in Christchurch Hospital in 1987, growing the service over the next three decades until he retired from clinical ID in 2015. He has recruited, trained or mentored a large proportion of the Infectious Diseases specialists in New Zealand from their time as juniors, through Fellowship and as practising specialists, with strong advocacy for ASID membership and engagement.
His work as a clinician-scientist is highly respected. He has been a critical link for New Zealand Infectious Diseases researchers within the ASID Clinical Research Network (CRN). He founded and developed The Infection Group, a collaboration between Christchurch Hospital and the University of Otago, and was central in establishing Christchurch as a site for CRN trials. His personal body of research in NZ and overseas includes novel diagnostics for respiratory infections, effective delivery of anti-infectives, pharmacokinetics for antimicrobials, Legionella longbeachae in New Zealand, leprosy in Kiribati and the use of volatiles in the diagnosis of infectious diseases.
Professor Chambers has worked tirelessly to promote Infectious Diseases interests in NZ and the Pacific. Among his many initiatives, he has served for many years on the ASID Mycology Special Interest Group, has been actively involved with One Health Aotearoa, provided expertise to numerous Ministry of Health advisory groups, led programmes in the Pacific to address leprosy and antimicrobial resistance, and is a patron of the NZ Sepsis Trust.
Even in retirement Professor Chambers continues to be well regarded as a clinician and a teacher.
Media Contact: Alison Sweeney alison@asid.com.au or 0425 221 155.