On World AIDS Day 2020, Burnet Institute has been acknowledged in Federal Parliament for excellence in the field of HIV research.

Burnet Director and CEO Professor Brendan Crabb, and Doherty Institute Director, Professor Sharon Lewin were singled out for mention by the Member for Higgins, Katie Allen MP, a former public health professor and paediatrician, in an address to Parliament.

“Higgins is vibrant and diverse, and we have communities that include many from the LGBTQI+ community … and it is also home to world-leading HIV-AIDS research,” Dr Allen said.

“I’d like to acknowledge the hard work of Professor Brendan Crabb AC, the director of the Burnet Institute, which is on the border of my electorate of Higgins.

“The Burnet’s world-class sentinel surveillance system, ACCESS, is now rolled out across states and territories and is being used to monitor HIV related outcomes during the COVID pandemic.”

“Professor Lewin leads a multidisciplinary research team working on mechanisms of HIV latency, clinical trials, advancing potential HIV cure strategies, and how HIV is affected by co-infections such as hepatitis B.

“She was central to bringing the International AIDS Conference to Melbourne in 2014 and was local co-chair.”

Professor Crabb also featured virtually in Canberra at the 2020 World AIDS Day Parliamentary Breakfast with, among others, Foreign Minister Senator The Hon Marise Payne, Health Minister, The Hon Greg Hunt MP, and Shadow Minister for Health, The Hon Chris Bowen MP.

The event, hosted jointly by Mr Tim Wilson MP and Senator Louise Pratt started in 2010 to acknowledge those we’ve lost to AIDS related conditions and those who are living with HIV.