Working groups
Associate Professor Alisa Pedrana BBmedSc (hons), PhD (Public Health) is a senior research fellow and public health practitioner, who co-leads the Public Health discipline at Burnet Institute. She holds an adjunct research fellow position at Monash University and Co-lead’s the Health Services Research and Implementation Platform at Monash Partners.
Her research focusses on Blood-borne virus/Sexually Transmitted Infections epidemiology and the integration of health interventions and evaluation to inform health services and quality of care improvements. Her current work on Hepatitis C elimination uses implementation science and co-design approaches to strengthen health systems and works closely with community organisations to produce evidence to support decision and policy making.
In her current role as coordinator of the Eliminate Hepatitis C Australia Partnership, a $11.3M national project, she leads a multi-disciplinary team of over 80+ researchers, implementation scientists, government workers, and health services and community organisation members to develop a cohesive national response to increase hepatitis C testing and treatment.
She has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles in leading local and international journals, and delivered over 50 presentations at local, national, and international conferences. Over the past five years she has secured $25 million in competitive research grants and tender funds as a lead investigator.
2022 (2)
The Optimise Study: COVID-19 related worry, acceptability of prevention measures and confidence in Government. (PUBLIC HEALTH REPORT) Jin D, Saich F, Heath K, Altermatt A, Merner B, Ryan R, Lusher D, Wang P, Pedrana A, Stoové M, Gibney K, Hellard M. The Optimise Study. August, 2022.
2021 (6)
This report focuses on: Average overall contacts between October 2020 and March 2021, Average contacts per setting, over time, The impact of contacts on mood and the influence of people's social network on attitudes toward vaccination.
The Optimise Study: Social networks and mixing patternsHepatitis C poses a significant public health concern in Australia, with over 170,000 individuals estimated to be living with chronic hepatitis C infection as of the beginning of 2017. Until the availability of direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) for all Medicare-eligible Australians with hepatitis C infection on March 1st, 2016, there was a growing population of individuals living with hepatitis C. This trend was accompanied by an increasing burden of liver disease, rising rates of liver cancer, and premature deaths attributed to long-term hepatitis C infection.
2019: Australia’s progress towards hepatitis C elimination annual reportThe Optimise Study is a partnership between Burnet Institute and Doherty Institute in collaboration with University of Melbourne, Swinburne University of Technology, Monash University, La Trobe University, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, the Centre for Culture Ethnicity and Health, and the Health Issues Centre.
The Optimise Study: The impact of COVID19 on income and finances. (PUBLIC HEALTH REPORT)This report focuses on:<br/>• Attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccines<br/>• Concerns about the vaccines<br/>• Information needs regarding COVID-19 vaccines and the rollout strategy<br/>
The Optimise Study: Vaccine preparednessThe Medical Journal of Australia
Alisa Pedrana, Margaret Hellard
International Journal of Drug Policy
Laura Nevendorff, Mark Stoové, Alisa Pedrana
PLoS ONE
Tianhui Ke, Zhang Yan-qin, Damian Pavlyshyn, Aimée Altermatt, Alexander Thomas, Thi Nguyen, Shelley Walker, Alisa Pedrana, Mark Stoové, Margaret Hellard
This project delivers hepatitis C prevention, testing and treatment services and hepatitis B testing and vaccination services.
Expanding access to hepatitis C testing and treatment using a pharmacy-based model.
This pilot and feasibility study aimed to increase hepatitis B testing in Melbourne’s Chinese community.
This project aims to find out how Victorians are experiencing COVID-19 and responding to the measures introduced to stop the spread of the virus.
This project addresses critical knowledge gaps in Australian and global efforts to eliminate hepatitis C as a public health threat by 2030.
Newly published Burnet study demonstrates the feasibility and effectiveness of simplified treatment of hepatitis C in Myanmar.