Professor David Durrheim

2011 College Recipient, College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences

Professor David Durrheim is Director Health Protection, Hunter New England, New South Wales; Conjoint Professor of Public Health Medicine at Newcastle University; and, Adjunct Professor of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at James Cook University.

Originally from South Africa where he obtained his first degrees from the Universities of Pretoria and Witwatersrand, Professor Durrheim graduated from James Cook University with a Masters of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in 1998 and was awarded the Australasian College of Tropical Medicine Medal for best overall student.

Moving to Australia, he completed a Doctor of Public Health at JCU in 2002 and between that year and 2004 he was Head of School, Public Health, Tropical Medicine and Rehabilitation Sciences, Director of the Anton Breinl Centre for Public Health and Tropical Medicine at the University and Director of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Collaborating Centre for the Control of Lymphatic Filariasis.

A Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Tropical Medicine, the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, and the Australasian Faculty of Public Health Medicine, he has written nearly 300 peer-reviewed articles and has published several scientific monographs and book chapters.

Professor Durrheim serves on a number of State and Commonwealth technical advisory committees on immunisation and communicable disease control. He is an expert advisor to the WHO Western Pacific Regional Office on the implementation of the International Health Regulations in Pacific Island Countries and Territories.

In 2009, Professor Durrheim became the first Australian to be appointed by the Director General of the World Health Organisation to the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunisation, and in 2010 he chaired the Global Technical Consultation to assess the feasibility of Measles Eradication in Washington, DC. David has chaired the Western Pacific Regional Measles Elimination Verification Commission since its inception, and serves on the Scientific Organisation of the Global Vaccine and Immunisation Research Forum.

Updated February 2018