Sexual health research wins Eureka Prize
Monash University’s Associate Professor Eric Chow, Professor Christopher Fairley AO, Professor Catriona Bradshaw and Professor Marcus Chen are part of a team which has won a prestigious Eureka Prize for their important work on sexual health.
They were awarded the Australian Infectious Disease Research Centre Eureka Prize for Infectious Diseases Research at a ceremony in Sydney.
Associate Professor Chow was recognised with Professor Christopher Fairley AO, Professor Catriona Bradshaw and Professor Marcus Chen in collaboration with Professor Deborah Williamson (Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, University of Melbourne) and Professor Jane Hocking (University of Melbourne).
They won Australia’s top science award for their work investigating sexually transmitted infections (STI) and antibiotic resistance. The multidisciplinary team is investigating rapid rises in STIs and antibiotic resistance, which are a growing global concern.
The team has identified new routes of transmission for gonorrhoea, and developed novel interventions and diagnostic and treatment strategies to improve the control of gonorrhoea, chlamydia, syphilis, and Mycoplasma genitalium (an emerging STI of concern).
Associate Professor Chow is an STI epidemiologist and biostatistician based at the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre (MSHC) at The Alfred Hospital.
He heads the Health Data Management and Biostatistics Unit at MSHC and is an Associate Professor at Central Clinical School, Monash University.
“The beauty of this team exemplifies diversity. It is gender-balanced, fosters a cross-disciplinary approach comprising highly diverse skills and expertise and spans all career stages,” Associate Professor Chow said. “We are honoured to win a Eureka Prize, which greatly recognises our work in sexual health to improve individuals’ treatment and care.”
Professor Christopher Fairley AO, Director of Melbourne Sexual Health Centre, said, “Excellence in clinical services, laboratory services and universities linked together in a strong collaborative team allowed us to discover new transmission routes and optimise treatment that will improve STI control around the world.”
Ultimately, the team aims to enhance healthcare system efforts to achieve optimal antimicrobial use that improves patient outcomes, ensures cost-effective therapy and reduces adverse effects, including antimicrobial resistance.
Among other things, it has:
- used genomics to respond to sexually transmitted pathogens
- identified kissing as new route of transmission for gonorrhoea and investigated mouthwash as a potential intervention that could reduce antibiotic use
- conducted the first clinical trial to compare the efficacy of the drugs azithromycin with doxycycline for rectal chlamydia to inform Australian and international treatment guidelines
- identified new treatment strategies and new agents for M. genitalium, an STI that has developed alarming rates of antibiotic resistance and is now listed as an antibiotic threat by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. They developed a novel resistance-guided treatment strategy that dramatically improved M. genitalium cure and changed international policy and practice.
See their video, and read about other Monash finalists here.