Australia’s trusted immunisation experts
07 April 2026 | NewsWhy are more Australian parents taking childhood influenza vaccination off the priority list?Read the full article
Lucy is a clinician researcher and Clinical Lead of AusVaxSafety. She is a paediatrician in the NSW Immunisation Specialist Service and Senior Clinical Lecturer at the University of Sydney Children’s Hospital Westmead Clinical School. Lucy has an interest in vaccine safety, having completed a PhD in seizures in children post-vaccination. She continues to do research in vaccine safety to inform policy and practice on safe vaccination options and in improving patient and provider confidence in vaccine safety.
Thuy is a senior epidemiologist with AusVaxSafety and an adjunct senior lecturer at the University of Sydney Children’s Hospital Westmead Clinical School. At NCIRS, she supports vaccine safety programs through data analysis, reporting and research to inform policy to improve surveillance and strengthen vaccine confidence. She holds a Master of Public Health from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and a PhD in Medical Studies from the University of Tasmania. With over a decade of public health experience, she specialises in infectious disease surveillance, applied epidemiology and health service research. Before joining NCIRS, Thuy worked as a senior epidemiologist in Tasmania and trained as a biostatistician with the NSW Ministry of Health.
Lucy Dawes joined NCIRS in August 2023 as a Senior Research Officer. She works as an epidemiologist, providing critical research support to the AusVaxSafety National Vaccine Active Surveillance System. Lucy plays a key role in running AusVaxSafety’s National Immunisation Program and National COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Surveillance reports, in addition to conducting enhanced surveillance of the Shingrix vaccine. She holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Sydney (High Distinction) and a PhD in Cell Biology from the University of East Anglia (UK). Additionally, Lucy has held postdoctoral research positions in biomedical science both in the UK and in Australia.
Alexis Pillsbury is a senior research officer at NCIRS within policy and vaccine safety. In her primary role, she works as an epidemiologist and coordinator of vaccine safety surveillance under the national AusVaxSafety surveillance initiative. She also works within NCIRS policy team. Alexis completed her Master of Philosophy Applied Epidemiology (MAE) degree while working at NCIRS and also has postgraduate degrees in international public health and public policy. In addition to her interests in vaccine-preventable diseases and vaccine safety, she is also interested broadly in infectious disease epidemiology and surveillance, disease control in developing countries and issues concerning public health politics.
Kath is a Clinical Nurse Consultant (CNC) with post-graduate qualifications in Immunisation, Child & Family Health, Infection Control and a Master of Public Health. Kath joined AusVaxSafety in 2021 and supports the team in the review of notifiable AEFI as well data collection for several studies. Kath has 12 years of experience in the Public Health Unit network as Immunisation Coordinator (Northern Sydney PHU and Illawarra Shoalhaven PHU). She previously worked at NCIRS from 2010 to 2015 as the Adverse Events Following Immunisation (AEFI) CNC. Kath’s particular interest is making sure AEFIs are followed up thoroughly to ensure public confidence in the vaccination program remains high.
