Jeffrey Warner

Jeff is a teacher and researcher with a strong interest in the microbiology and epidemiology of tropical infectious diseases.  Many years ago, from the comfort and security of Sydney, he asked a wise mentor how he might become involved in work in the tropics. The advice was simple: seek it out. He did—and that pursuit led to formative work in rural Papua New Guinea that has shaped his professional journey ever since and produced outputs that has contributed to domestic and international recognition including being admitted as a Fellow of the Australian Society for Microbiology.

Jeff is an internationally recognised expert in melioidosis, with over two decades of research into the ecology, epidemiology, and genomics of Burkholderia pseudomallei, including formative work in rural Papua New Guinea. Through NHMRC-funded projects and cross-institutional collaborations, his work with collegues will map the environmental distribution of this pathogen across Northern Australia, clarify its molecular diversity, link environmental isolates with human disease and better predict and mitigate risk. This work is hoped to directly inform clinical management, public health policy, and regional capacity-building, particularly in resource-limited tropical settings.

He is currently the Academic Head of Biomedical Sciences and Molecular Biology within the College of Medicine and Dentistry at James Cook University, and co-leads the Tropical Infectious Disease Research Group within the Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine.

Above all, Jeff values the opportunity to work with students, colleagues, and collaborators on research that is intriguing, rewarding, and deeply relevant to communities in the tropics.