The 2018 Southern Cross Travel Medicine Conference
The 2018 Southern Cross Travel Medicine Conference was a huge success. Over 130 people came together to learn, discuss and share information about travel and tropical medicine.
Details of the speakers and organising committee are below.
If you attended the 2018 Conference and would like to access the presentations, please click on the Attendee Login button to access the login page.
Welcome and Invitation to the 3rd SCTMC
A very warm welcome to the official website of the Third Southern Cross Travel Medicine Conference (SCTMC 2018), which will be held at the Hilton Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, from 7-9 September 2018. Brisbane is one of Australia’s most livable cities with incredible shopping, restaurants and various other attractions, many of which are around the banks of its scenic river system. It is also close to the Gold Coast and the famous theme parks to the south, to the Sunshine Coasts to north and to the hinterlands and tablelands to the west.
The theme for this year’s conference is “Translating Knowledge into Practice Downunder”. Like our previous two conferences in Auckland (2016) and Melbourne (2017), SCTMC 2018 will build on a strong platform of professional development for health practitioners working in the field of travel medicine with stimulating, succinct and novel sessions covering a range of important travel and tropical medicine topics, including: A Changing Environment and Management of Malaria; Global Geography and Vaccine Preventable Disease – Including Rabies; the Safety and Security of Travellers; the Health of Special Traveller Populations; Controversies in Travel Health Practice; Management of Bugs, Bites and Stings; and Geographic Dermatology and its Impact Upon the Traveller. We will again be hosting the popular Yellow Fever Workshop on Saturday afternoon 8 September 2018.
We invite all doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other health professionals working in the field of travel and tropical medicine, general practice, military medicine, occupational health, infectious diseases and related fields throughout the region to take full advantage of all the professional development opportunities offered at SCTMC 2018. It is also an opportunity to network with colleagues, including our international and national invited speakers, and enjoy as much as possible of our fabulous host city of Brisbane and the of State of Queensland – home of the Great Barrier Reef.
The Australasian College of Tropical Medicine (ACTM) and the ACTM Faculty of Travel Medicine are proud to be hosting SCTMC 2018. See you in Brisbane from 7-9 September 2018.
Professor Peter A Leggat, AM, MD, PhD, DrPH
SCTMC 2018 Chair and ACTM President
International Speakers
Prof Eric Caumes
Head of Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, University Pierre et Marie Curie, France
Learn About Prof Caumes
Eric Caumes is Professor of Infectious and Tropical diseases, at the Paris Sorbonne University, and head of the department of infectious diseases, at the Teaching Hospital “Pitié Salpêtrière” in Paris, France. He is a clinician (MD) certified in Dermatology (1989) then in infectious and tropical diseases (1993). His department includes a 40 beds unit, and a consultation attended by more than 10.000 patients per year.
His involvement in travel medicine started during the eighties as he worked in Nepal (1984-1985), then he was involved in the International Society of Travel Medicine (ISTM). He was a member of the Executive Board of the ISTM (2007–2011), and he is currently the Editor in Chief of the Journal of Travel Medicine (2011–2018).
His research input in travel medicine concerns returned ill travelers, skin infections (cutaneous larva migrans, leishmaniasis, skin and soft tissue infections), imported tropical diseases (schistosomiasis, malaria, gnathostomiasis, typhoid), and sexually transmitted infections. He has published more than 300 articles related to travel medicine or infectious/tropical diseases, and has contributed to write many chapters in about a dozen of textbooks in travel medicine, or tropical diseases.
Prof Rose McGready
Professor of Tropical Maternal & Child Health, Nuffield Department of Medicine, Oxford University
Learn About Prof McGready
Professor Rose McGready has been based at the Shoklo Malaria Research Unit (SMRU), a Thailand based unit and part of the Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit. SMRU aims to do research relevant to improving the health of the local population and this is integrated with provision of humanitarian health care, in the majority, delivered by an inspiring and dedicated band of local health care workers.
Since 2014, Rose holds the post of Professor Tropical Maternal and Child Health (MCH) at Oxford University since 2014 and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (UK) since 2008, and Educational Consultant to the Bangkok School of Tropical Medicine since 2013</p
Dr Sundeep Dhillon MBE
Wilderness Medicine Expert
Learn About Prof Dillon
Dr Dhillon is a world expert on wilderness and extreme travel, helped by his love of mountaineering. In 1998, he became the youngest person to achieve The Seven Summits and held the World Record for many years. He holds medical and physiology degrees from Oxford University and is described as one of St Edmund Hall’s most inspirational alumni. He is a frequent invited speaker, including being a TedX speaker.
He spent 20 years in the British Army working with Airborne Forces, ensuring they remained in peak physical and psychological form for short notice deployments.
He was awarded an MBE for services to military medicine in 2008.
Sundeep passionately believes that everyone can extend the boundaries in health and performance with the right help.
Australian and NZ Experts in Travel and Tropical Medicine
Prof Joe Torresi
Doherty Institute, University of Melbourne
Learn About Prof Torresi
Professor Joe Torresi is a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Practitioner Fellow in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology and a Professor of Medicine, University of Melbourne. He is an infectious diseases physician at the Austin hospital, Knox Private Hospital, a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, has a PhD in Microbiology and is co-director of the Australian GeoSentinel Surveillance network site.
Joseph heads a hepatitis virology laboratory at the Doherty Institute, which is focused on vaccine and immunology research for hepatitis C and hepatitis B and C pathogenesis
Prof Peter Leggat
James Cook University, Townsville
Learn About Prof Leggat
Professor Peter A. Leggat, AM, is co-Director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre (WHOCC) for Vector-borne and Neglected Tropical Diseases (VBDs & NTDs) at James Cook University, Townsville. He is President, The Australasian College of Tropical Medicine (ACTM), and Dean, Faculty of Travel Medicine, ACTM. He is also Secretary-Treasurer of the International Society of Travel Medicine.
Professor Leggat has published more than 500 journal papers, 30 books and directories, and 90 chapters, and presented more than 400 papers at national and international conferences. The WHOCC assists the WHO in furthering their efforts to control or eliminate are range of VBDs and NTDs, endemic in the region.
Prof Marc Shaw
Worldwise Travel Health & Vaccination Centre, Auckland
Learn About Prof Shaw
Marc Shaw is Professor College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, James Cook University, Australia. A Fellow of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practice, he was a GP for 15 years before specialising in travel and tropical medicine and is a Fellow of the Faculty of Travel Medicine from Glasgow, a Fellow of the Australasian College of Tropical Medicine and a Fellow of the Faculty of Travel Medicine and Expedition Medicine from the same College.
In 2008 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and was a recipient of the Inaugural Award for Travel Medicine from the Australasian College of Tropical Medicine. He has research interests in all aspects of travel and geographic medicine, as well as a practical interest in expeditions to remote regions. Currently he is Medical Director of Worldwise Travellers Health Centres of New Zealand.
He admires fine-humour, and can definitely tell the difference between a glass of Château d’Yquem and a bottle of gin!
Dr Colleen Lau
Australian National University, Canberra
Learn About Dr Lau
Dr Colleen Lau is a clinician with special interest in travel medicine and tropical medicine. Colleen’s research interests include infectious disease epidemiology, emerging infectious diseases, environmental health, spatial epidemiology, travel vaccinations, malaria prophylaxis, tropical medicine, and the impact of global environmental change on infectious diseases. Her research projects focus on answering practical questions in clinical management of infectious diseases, and operational questions on improving strategies to solve public health problems. She is currently an NHMRC Fellow in the Department of Global Health at the Research School of Population Health.
Dr Lau has a particular interest in the eco-epidemiology of leptospirosis, and the impact of global environmental change (including climate change, flooding, population growth, urbanisation, agricultural intensification, and biodiversity loss) on the transmission dynamics of this disease. Her work has included eco-epidemiology studies and risk mapping of leptospirosis in American Samoa, Fiji, and Queensland. She was also engaged as a WHO consultant to help develop Fiji’s National Guidelines for Diagnosis and Management of Leptospirosis.
Another special research interest is lymphatic filariasis elimination, to determine the most effective strategies for managing the endgame of the global disease elimination program. Dr Lau is currently leading an operational research project on lymphatic filariasis elimination in American Samoa, in collaboration with the Taskforce for Global Health, CDC Atlanta, and the American Samoa Department of Health.
Dr Lau is a regular guest lecturer in Tropical Medicine at James Cook University, in Travel Medicine at the University of Otago, and at Continuing Medical Education (CME) events for General Practitioners.
Dr Eddy Bajrovic
Travelvax Australia, Perth
Learn About Dr Bajrovic
Dr. Eddy Bajrovic, MBBS is a respected Medical practitioner from Perth, Western Australia.
A member of ISTM since 1998, he has served as Medical Director of Travelvax Australia since 2008. Eddy has always had a strong involvement in teaching. During his time as a director of the Perth Division of General Practice from 1995-1998, Eddy was responsible for the provision of GP educational programs.
In 2010, Eddy spent a month in Tanzania, undertaking a short course in tropical medicine, visiting local medical centres and hospitals and took the opportunity to climb Mt Kilimanjaro. In March 2016), Eddy spent 4 weeks in Nepal and climbed Mera Peak (6,400m asl).
After spending several years travelling and working in hospital placements, Eddy settled on a career in his passion – general practice. Part-time, he is a sought-after presenter at Travel Medicine meetings around the world.
Dr Sarah McGuinness
Monash University, Melbourne and Alfred Hospital, Melbourne
Learn About Dr McGuinness
Dr. Sarah McGuinness is an infectious diseases physician with special interests in travel medicine and infectious disease epidemiology. Sarah leads a hospital-based travel medicine clinic at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne that provides care for patients with complex medical needs including solid organ and bone marrow transplant recipients and patients living with HIV.
In addition to her medical qualifications, Sarah holds a Certificate in Travel Health (ISTM) and a Master of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. She teaches in the Monash University Master of Public Health program, and along with Professor Karin Leder and Associate Professor Mike Starr, runs an annual Travel Medicine Masterclass in Melbourne.
Major General Professor John Pearn AO
Paediatrician and Physician
Learn About John Pearn
Major General Professor John Pearn AO, KStJ, RFD, is an internationally recognised paediatrician and physician, author, teacher, past Surgeon-General of the Australian Defence Force and Patron of the KJ McPherson Education and Research Foundation.
In addition to his role as a military doctor, he established the first hospital genetics clinics in Queensland at the Royal Children’s Hospital and the Royal Women’s Hospital in 1974, holds triple higher doctorates in medicine, science and philosophy. He is also a long-serving Committee Member of the International Society of the History of Medicine.
Lisa Scotland
Director of Worldwise Travellers Health and Vaccination Centre
Learn About Lisa Scotland
Lisa is the Director of Worldwise Travellers Health and Vaccination Centre in Palmerston North and Whanganui, New Zealand. She is nurse specialist in Travel Medicine with a special interest in women’s health and sexual health.
She has been fortunate enough to have travelled to many parts of the world for both work and pleasure and this has only increased her passion for travel and travel medicine.
Lisa is an authorised Yellow Fever vaccinator through the Ministry of Health.
Her focus is to provide travellers with knowledge to enable them to make informed choices and enjoy their travel as much as possible. Travel medicine is becoming more complex as our travellers go to more diverse locations and often high risk.
Lisa’s enjoys passing on her knowledge to people within the industry, so they can inform and advise our travellers appropriately.
She has recently returned from Europe where she attended the Northern European Travel Conference.
Tonia Buzzolini
National Operations Manager, Travelvax Australia
Learn About Tonia Buzzolini
Tonia has an extensive knowledge in travel medicine gained while working at Travelvax Australia for the past 17 years, most recently as the National Operations Manager. She has a Master’s degree in Public Health and Tropical Medicine, she passed the International Society of Travel Medicine’s Certificate of Travel Health in 2005, and was a contributing author to the ‘The Practical Compendium of Immunisations for International Travel’; Springer 2015.
As part of her role as National Operations Manager for Travelvax she is responsible for devising education modules, standard protocols and operating procedures pertaining to the practice of travel medicine. In addition to organising and presenting at the annual national Travelvax conference, she has frequently been asked to speak to healthcare professionals on the topic of travel medicine, including for the Australian GPCE & Australian Practice Nurse Association meetings in NSW, the Worldwise Travellers Health and Vaccination Centres national conference in New Zealand in 2015 and, most recently, she was invited by Primary Health Tasmania to speak to GP and nurse audiences on a tour in May.
Friday 7 September 2018
13.00 – 13.50
REGISTRATION
13.50 – 14.00
OPENING SESSION
Welcome from the ACTM President: Prof Geoff Quail
Prof Joe Torresi and Prof Geoff Quail
14.00 – 15.30
OPENING PLENARY SESSION 1: THE WORLD: CHALLENGES IN TRAVEL MEDICINE IN A CHANGING WORLD
Prof Joe Torresi and Dr Colleen Lau
14.00 – 14.30
NOT MORE FAKE NEWS? FAKE ANTIMALARIALS AND GLOBAL POLITICS
Prof Rose McGready
14.30 – 15.00
EMERGING GLOBAL DISEASES AND THEIR IMPACT ON TRAVELLERS
Prof Eric Caumes
15.00 – 15.30
CHANGING GLOBAL GEOGRAPHY AND THE CHALLENGES IN WILDERNESS MEDICINE
Dr Sundeep Dhillon
15.30 – 15.45
AFTERNOON TEA
15.45 – 17.00
OPENING PLENARY SESSION 2: CHANGING PATTERNS OF DISEASE IN TRAVELLERS
Prof Marc Shaw and Prof Peter Leggat
15.45 – 16.15
GEOGRAPHIC DERMATOLOGY: A GUIDE FOR TRAVEL
Prof Eric Caumes
16.15 – 17.00
CONVOCATION ADDRESS: Dr Sundeep Dhillon
Escaping the Human Limitations in Extremes of Travel
17.00 – 18.00
Social Networking Welcome Drinks & Canapés (Conference Foyer)
Saturday 8 September 2018
7.00 – 8.00
REGISTRATION
8.00 – 8.45
‘FOCUS ON’ – Malaria Prophylaxis Simplified
Dr Colleen Lau
8.50 – 9.00
Welcome to Day 2: Housekeeping and Introduction
Prof Joe Torresi
9.00 – 10.30
Queens Ballroom
PLENARY SESSION: MALARIA IN TRAVELLERS
Chairs: Prof Geoff Quail and Dr Eddy Bajrovic
9.00 – 10.30
Redlands Lockyer Moreton Room
A PRACTICAL APPROACH TO TRAVEL MEDICINE (PART 1)*
Convenors: Tonia Buzzolini & Lisa Scotland
9.00 – 10.30
Queens Ballroom
MALARIA AND WOMEN’S AND NEWBORN HEALTH
Prof Rose McGready
9.00 – 9.40
Travel Consultation Boot-Camp
How to do a pre-travel consult
9.30 – 10.00
MALARIA PROPHYLAXIS – The Changing Landscape of Malaria Prophylaxis: Recommendations
Dr Sarah McGuinness
10.00 – 10.30
User-Friendly Travel Health Resources
How to find what you need to know
10.00 – 10.30
POST-TRAVEL MALARIA – ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT
Prof JoeTorresi
10.00 – 10.30
The ABC of Medical Kits
How to customise medical kits
10.30 – 11.00
MORNING TEA
11.00 – 12.30
TRAVEL MEDICINE PRACTICE: VACCINE PREVENTABLE DISEASES AND TRAVELLING WITH CHILDREN
Chairs: Prof Peter Leggat and Dr Sarah McGuinness
11.00 – 12.30
Redlands Lockyer Moreton Room
A PRACTICAL APPROACH TO TRAVEL MEDICINE (PART II)*
Convenors: Lisa Scotland, Prof Marc Shaw, Dr Colleen Lau, Dr Eddy Bajrovic
11.00 – 11.30
TRAVEL VACCINES AND THE DISEASES THEY PREVENT: AN UPDATE
Dr Eddy Bajrovic
11.00 – 11.45
Snags in the Travel Consult
How to deal with the challenges of travel consultations
11.30 – 12.00
PRACTICAL PUNCH POINTS: RABIES UPDATED – NEW WHO GUIDELINES
Prof Marc Shaw
12.00 – 12.30
TRAVELLING WITH CHILDREN
Prof John Pearn
11.45 – 12.30
Twisted Travel Tales – Case Studies
How to pull it all together
12.30 – 13.30
LUNCH
13.30 – 15.00
Queens Ballroom
INFECTIONS TRAVELLERS BRING HOME
Chairs: Prof Rose McGready and Dr Colleen Lau
13.30 – 17.15
Redlands Lockyer Moreton Room
YELLOW FEVER WORKSHOP (PART I)*
Convenors: Prof Marc Shaw & Dr Eddy Bajrovic
13.30 – 14.00
THE SPECTRUM OF INFECTIONS IN RETURNED TRAVELLERS
Prof Joe Torresi
13.30 -13.50
Why all the fuss and why am I here?
A short history of yellow fever
14.00 – 14.30
STIs IN TRAVELLERS
Prof Eric Caumes
13.50 – 14.20
What is yellow fever?
Epidemiology, transmission and clinical features
14.30 – 15.00
ARBOVIRAL INFECTIONS IN TRAVELLERS
Prof Joe Torresi
14.20 – 15.00
The legalities
International Health Regulations; New Zealand and Australian State Requirements
15.00 – 15.15
AFTERNOON TEA
15.15 – 17.15
DESTINATIONS AND HEALTH ADVICE: NOT ALL IS INFECTIOUS
Chairs: Dr Sarah McGuinness and Tonia Buzzolini
15.15 – 17.15
YELLOW FEVER WORKSHOP (PART II)*
Convenors: Prof Marc Shaw & Dr Eddy Bajrovic
15.15 – 15.45
DESTINATION PACIFIC ISLANDS
Dr Colleen Lau
15.15 – 15.45
I wouldn’t give it to my mother…
Yellow fever vaccine – indications, contraindications and adverse events
15.45 – 16.00
PRACTICAL PUNCH POINTS: Adrenaline Travellers (remote and off-piste travel)
Dr Sundeep Dhillon
15.45 – 16.10
The immunocompromised traveller & YF vaccine
Prof Joe Torresi
16.00 – 16.30
PRACTICAL PUNCH POINTS: CRUISE SHIP MEDICINE
Prof Peter Leggat
16.10 – 16.35
Putting the pieces together
Case Studies; Who is the ‘special case’ traveller
16.30 – 17.00
URTICARIAL SKIN DISEASES IN TRAVELLERS
Prof Eric Caumes
16.35 – 17.00
Yellow Fever test: Short MCQ paper
17.00 – 17.15
PRACTICAL PUNCH POINTS: SAFETY IN AIR TRAVEL
Issues in chronic illness, pregnancy and DVT
Dr Sarah McGuinness
17.00 – 17.15
What happens now?
Yellow fever approval process; closing remarks
Sunday 9 September 2018
7.00 – 8.00
REGISTRATION
8.00 – 8.45
‘FOCUS ON’ – Traveller’s Diarrhoea
Dr Sarah McGuinness
8.50 – 9.00
Welcome to Day 3: Housekeeping and Introduction
Convenor: Prof Marc Shaw
9.00 – 10.30
Queens Ballroom
The ‘WISEwords’ Talks
Chair: Prof Marc Shaw
Short presentations involving ‘Wisdom, Innovation, Stimulation, Entertainment’ in Travel Medicine including “Ideas to stimulate the brain from those whose brains stimulate”
10.30 – 11.00
MORNING TEA
11.00 – 12.30
CLOSING PLENARY: TRAVELLERS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS AND HEALTH ADVICE
Chairs: Prof Peter Leggat and Prof Joe Torresi
11.00 – 11.30
THE DERMATOLOGY OF TRAVEL AND TROPICAL MEDICINE
Tropical skin infections and the Dermatology of Travellers
Prof Eric Caumes
11.30 – 12.00
A PRACTICAL APPROACH TO THE IMMUNOSUPPRESSED TRAVELLER
Dr Sarah McGuinness
12.00 – 12.30
ALTITUDE MEDICINE: UNDERSTANDING THE PHYSIOLOGY AND PRACTICAL MANAGEMENT
Dr Sundeep Dhillon
12.30 – 12.45
CLOSING REMARKS
Prof Joe Torresi, Chair of the Scientific Program Committee
Organising Committee
- Chair: Professor Peter A. Leggat, AM, College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, Division of Tropical Health and Medicine, James Cook University
Scientific Program Committee
- Chair: Professor Joe Torresi, Doherty Institute, University of Melbourne
Co-Chairs:
- Professor Peter A. Leggat, AM, James Cook University
- Professor Marc Shaw, James Cook University; Medical Director, WORLDWISE Travellers Health and Vaccination Centres
- Dr Colleen Lau, Australian National University, Canberra
Conference organisers: Event Associates
Event Manager: Leisa Thompson
M: +61 431 334 017
Event Coordinator: Tina Gaudry
M: +61 403 139 625