On this page: Role of the ACV | Membership | 2021 ACV proposed meeting dates | Contact details for the ACV

Role of the ACV

The ACV provides independent medical and scientific advice to the Minister for Health and the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) on issues relating to the safety, quality and efficacy of vaccines supplied in Australia including issues relating to pre-market assessment, post-market monitoring and safe use in national immunisation programs.

The Committee is established under Regulation 39F of the Therapeutic Goods Regulations 1990 and the members are appointed by the Minister for Health.

The ACV was established in January 2017, following consolidation of previous functions of the Advisory Committee on the Safety of Vaccines (ACSOV) and the pre-market functions for vaccines of the Advisory Committee on Prescription Medicines (ACPM).

Membership comprises professionals with expertise in specific scientific, medical or clinical fields, or consumer health issues.

Membership

Chair

Professor Allen Cheng is an infectious diseases physician. His current appointments are as Director, Infection Prevention and Healthcare Epidemiology at Alfred Health, Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Preventative Medicine at Monash University, and as an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Menzies School of Health Research. Professor Cheng has diverse clinical experience in metropolitan and regional hospitals in Australia and internationally, and research interests in clinical infectious diseases, tropical medicine and influenza epidemiology. His PhD thesis was on the bacterial disease melioidosis. Professor Cheng is the Vice-President of the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed scientific publications. He is currently a co-chair of the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI). Professor Cheng provides expertise in the field of infectious diseases in adults and children.

Members

Professor Jim Buttery is a specialist paediatric infectious diseases clinician. Professor Buttery serves as the Head of Epidemiology and Surveillance for SAEFVIC and the head of Monash Immunisation at Monash Health, as well as head of the Department of Infection and Immunity at Monash Children's Hospital. He is currently serving on the Victorian Immunisation Advisory Committee and is a member of the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of the Global Vaccine Safety Initiative. In October 2020, he will take up the inaugural Chair in Child Health Informatics at the University of Melbourne. Professor Buttery provides expertise in infectious diseases in children, epidemiology, vaccine program implementation, and paediatrics.

Dr Jeanine Bygott is a medical practitioner with a specialty in microbiology and experience in travel medicine clinics in Australia and Ireland. Currently a consultant medical microbiologist at Sullivan Nicolaides Pathology, a private pathology laboratory in Queensland, she provides advice to general practitioners on the administration of vaccines. She has completed a Master of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and a Diploma Course in Vaccinology at the Pasteur Institute in Paris. She is also a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Pathologists in medical microbiology and virology. Dr Bygott provides expertise in bacteriology, virology, and the provision of immunisation treatment by an individual.

Associate Professor Rosemary Ffrench is the Principal Scientist at the National Serology Reference Laboratory, Principal Fellow at the Burnet Institute, and a consultant to the World Health Organization on maintaining laboratory capacity in emergency settings. Her academic appointment at Monash University includes lecturing on vaccines, infectious diseases and immunology. She has published extensively on human immunity and vaccine development and holds a patent for the MicroCube vaccine platform. Associate Professor Ffrench provides expertise in immunology, diagnostics and vaccine development.

Ms Madeline Hall is a Nurse Practitioner specialising in vaccine preventable diseases with a special interest in vaccine safety. She has extensive experience in vaccine preventable diseases and is involved in advanced health assessments and risk screening of adults with specific vaccination requirements, such as persons who have had a previous serious or unexpected adverse event following immunisation, immuno-compromised persons, and those at occupational risk. Ms Hall is a member of ATAGI and a member of the Adverse Events Following Immunisation - Clinical Assessment Network. Ms Hall provides expertise in the fields of provision of immunisation treatment by an individual and nursing.

Professor Kristine Macartney is the Director of the National Centre for Immunisation Research & Surveillance, a paediatric infectious diseases specialist at The Children's Hospital at Westmead, and Professor in the Discipline of Paediatrics and Child Health, University of Sydney. Her doctoral thesis was on rotavirus infection and mucosal immunity. She is the senior technical editor of the Australian Immunisation Handbook and has research interests in viral vaccine preventable diseases, vaccine safety and policy-making. Professor Macartney served on the Advisory Committee on the Safety of Vaccines throughout its period of operation. Professor Macartney provides expertise in the fields of vaccinology, adverse events surveillance, infectious diseases, virology, epidemiology and paediatrics.

Professor Lisa Nissen is the Head of the School of Clinical Sciences at the Queensland University of Technology. A registered pharmacist, Professor Nissen was the chair of the Queensland Pharmacists Immunisation Pilot and the research leader for the evaluation of the pilot implementation, tasked with ensuring that the training development was fit for purpose and that the data collected included safety outcomes. She worked with the Australian Pharmacy Council to develop accreditation standards for the vaccination training programs for pharmacists. Her research interests include the quality use of medicines and the factors that influence prescribing. Professor Nissen provides expertise in vaccine program implementation.

Dr Vicky Sheppeard is a public health physician specialising in communicable disease control. As Director of the Communicable Diseases Branch, NSW she delivered new immunisation programs, responded to emerging infectious disease threats, and adopted innovative technologies. Dr Sheppeard has also served as the NSW representative on Communicable Disease Network Australia and deputy chair of the National Immunisation Committee. Dr Vicky Sheppeard provides expertise in the fields of communicable disease control in adults and children and vaccine program implementation.

Associate Professor Adrienne Torda is a physician specialising in infectious diseases. She is a senior staff specialist in the Department of Infectious Diseases at the Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney and an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine, UNSW Sydney. She has a PhD, a Graduate Diploma of Bioethics, is an Associate Fellow of the Australia and New Zealand Association of Health Professional Educators and is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Her research interests include translational research topics such as vaccine coverage in vulnerable populations and diabetic foot infections. She is involved in a number of medical education research projects, examining the impact of educational innovations in medicine. From 2004 to 2007 she was a member of the National Influenza Pandemic Committee. Associate Professor Torda provides expertise in infectious diseases in adults and children.

Ms Diane Walsh is the Deputy Chair of the Board of the Northern Territory Primary Health Network (PHN) and is currently on the Advisory Group of the PHN Immunisation Support Program. She previously served as the chair of the Top End Division of General Practice Board of Management for over 10 years, and has been a member of the Northern Territory Medical Board, the management committee of Health Consumers of Rural and Remote Australia, and the National Medicines Policy Committee. Ms Walsh provided the consumer perspective on the statutory Therapeutic Goods Committee, including on medicine labelling. She has worked as a school teacher and operated a small business. Ms Walsh provides expertise in health issues from the consumer perspective.

2021 ACV proposed meeting dates

Contact details for the ACV

On this page: Role of the ACV | Membership | 2020 ACV meeting dates | Contact details for the ACV

Role of the ACV

The ACV provides independent medical and scientific advice to the Minister for Health and the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) on issues relating to the safety, quality and efficacy of vaccines supplied in Australia including issues relating to pre-market assessment, post-market monitoring and safe use in national immunisation programs.

The Committee is established under Regulation 39F of the Therapeutic Goods Regulations 1990 and the members are appointed by the Minister for Health.

The ACV was established in January 2017, following consolidation of previous functions of the Advisory Committee on the Safety of Vaccines (ACSOV) and the pre-market functions for vaccines of the Advisory Committee on Prescription Medicines (ACPM).

Membership comprises professionals with expertise in specific scientific, medical or clinical fields, or consumer health issues.

Membership

Chair

Professor Allen Cheng is an infectious diseases physician. His current appointments are as Director, Infection Prevention and Healthcare Epidemiology at Alfred Health, Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Preventative Medicine at Monash University, and as an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Menzies School of Health Research. Professor Cheng has diverse clinical experience in metropolitan and regional hospitals in Australia and internationally, and research interests in clinical infectious diseases, tropical medicine and influenza epidemiology. His PhD thesis was on the bacterial disease melioidosis. Professor Cheng is the Vice-President of the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed scientific publications. He is currently a co-chair of the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI). Professor Cheng provides expertise in the field of infectious diseases in adults and children.

Members

Professor Jim Buttery is a specialist paediatric infectious diseases clinician. Professor Buttery serves as the Head of Epidemiology and Surveillance for SAEFVIC and the head of Monash Immunisation at Monash Health, as well as head of the Department of Infection and Immunity at Monash Children's Hospital. He is currently serving on the Victorian Immunisation Advisory Committee and is a member of the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of the Global Vaccine Safety Initiative. In October 2020, he will take up the inaugural Chair in Child Health Informatics at the University of Melbourne. Professor Buttery provides expertise in infectious diseases in children, epidemiology, vaccine program implementation, and paediatrics.

Dr Jeanine Bygott is a medical practitioner with a specialty in microbiology and experience in travel medicine clinics in Australia and Ireland. Currently a consultant medical microbiologist at Sullivan Nicolaides Pathology, a private pathology laboratory in Queensland, she provides advice to general practitioners on the administration of vaccines. She has completed a Master of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and a Diploma Course in Vaccinology at the Pasteur Institute in Paris. She is also a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Pathologists in medical microbiology and virology. Dr Bygott provides expertise in bacteriology, virology, and the provision of immunisation treatment by an individual.

Associate Professor Rosemary Ffrench is the Principal Scientist at the National Serology Reference Laboratory, Principal Fellow at the Burnet Institute, and a consultant to the World Health Organization on maintaining laboratory capacity in emergency settings. Her academic appointment at Monash University includes lecturing on vaccines, infectious diseases and immunology. She has published extensively on human immunity and vaccine development and holds a patent for the MicroCube vaccine platform. Associate Professor Ffrench provides expertise in immunology, diagnostics and vaccine development.

Ms Madeline Hall is a Nurse Practitioner specialising in vaccine preventable diseases with a special interest in vaccine safety. She has extensive experience in vaccine preventable diseases and is involved in advanced health assessments and risk screening of adults with specific vaccination requirements, such as persons who have had a previous serious or unexpected adverse event following immunisation, immuno-compromised persons, and those at occupational risk. Ms Hall is a member of ATAGI and a member of the Adverse Events Following Immunisation - Clinical Assessment Network. Ms Hall provides expertise in the fields of provision of immunisation treatment by an individual and nursing.

Professor Kristine Macartney is the Director of the National Centre for Immunisation Research & Surveillance, a paediatric infectious diseases specialist at The Children's Hospital at Westmead, and Professor in the Discipline of Paediatrics and Child Health, University of Sydney. Her doctoral thesis was on rotavirus infection and mucosal immunity. She is the senior technical editor of the Australian Immunisation Handbook and has research interests in viral vaccine preventable diseases, vaccine safety and policy-making. Professor Macartney served on the Advisory Committee on the Safety of Vaccines throughout its period of operation. Professor Macartney provides expertise in the fields of vaccinology, adverse events surveillance, infectious diseases, virology, epidemiology and paediatrics.

Professor Lisa Nissen is the Head of the School of Clinical Sciences at the Queensland University of Technology. A registered pharmacist, Professor Nissen was the chair of the Queensland Pharmacists Immunisation Pilot and the research leader for the evaluation of the pilot implementation, tasked with ensuring that the training development was fit for purpose and that the data collected included safety outcomes. She worked with the Australian Pharmacy Council to develop accreditation standards for the vaccination training programs for pharmacists. Her research interests include the quality use of medicines and the factors that influence prescribing. Professor Nissen provides expertise in vaccine program implementation.

Dr Vicky Sheppeard is a public health physician specialising in communicable disease control. As Director of the Communicable Diseases Branch, NSW she delivered new immunisation programs, responded to emerging infectious disease threats, and adopted innovative technologies. Dr Sheppeard has also served as the NSW representative on Communicable Disease Network Australia and deputy chair of the National Immunisation Committee. Dr Vicky Sheppeard provides expertise in the fields of communicable disease control in adults and children and vaccine program implementation.

Associate Professor Adrienne Torda is a physician specialising in infectious diseases. She is a senior staff specialist in the Department of Infectious Diseases at the Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney and an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine, UNSW Sydney. She has a PhD, a Graduate Diploma of Bioethics, is an Associate Fellow of the Australia and New Zealand Association of Health Professional Educators and is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Her research interests include translational research topics such as vaccine coverage in vulnerable populations and diabetic foot infections. She is involved in a number of medical education research projects, examining the impact of educational innovations in medicine. From 2004 to 2007 she was a member of the National Influenza Pandemic Committee. Associate Professor Torda provides expertise in infectious diseases in adults and children.

Ms Diane Walsh is the Deputy Chair of the Board of the Northern Territory Primary Health Network (PHN) and is currently on the Advisory Group of the PHN Immunisation Support Program. She previously served as the chair of the Top End Division of General Practice Board of Management for over 10 years, and has been a member of the Northern Territory Medical Board, the management committee of Health Consumers of Rural and Remote Australia, and the National Medicines Policy Committee. Ms Walsh provided the consumer perspective on the statutory Therapeutic Goods Committee, including on medicine labelling. She has worked as a school teacher and operated a small business. Ms Walsh provides expertise in health issues from the consumer perspective.

2021 ACV proposed meeting dates

Contact details for the ACV