Professor Christopher Blyth

Biography

Prof Blyth is a clinical academic and mid-career clinician-scientist. He is Professor of Paediatric Infectious Diseases (School of Medicine, University of Western Australia) and Director of the Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases (WCVID; Telethon Kids Institute).

He established the Department of Paediatric Infectious Diseases at Perth Children’s Hospital (PCH) and is a Clinical Microbiologist with PathWest Laboratory. He has fifteen years experience in conducting clinical paediatric and infectious diseases research focusing on questions relevant to public policy and practice.

His research focuses on influenza, COVID-19 and other vaccine-preventable respiratory tract infection. His PhD (Preventing influenza morbidity in Australian children through vaccination; 2016) evaluated the WA preschool influenza vaccination program, significantly influencing national influenza policy.

He has been supported by a NHMRC Career Development Fellowship (2016-19; 1111596) and more recently a NHMRC EL2 Investigator Grant (2020-24; 1173163). In 2019, he became an Associate Member of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Science and was elected to the Scientific Steering Committee of the Global Human Vaccines Project.

He was appointed as a member of the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) in 2012, serving until December 2021. He was deputy chair from 2015 and co-chair from 2018, leading development and implementation of Australia’s COVID-19 vaccination program. He was appointed to the Commonwealth Government’s COVID-19 Vaccines and Treatments for Australia Science and Industry Technical Advisory Group (SITAG) in August 2020 and continues in this role.