Tom Burkot

Professor Tom Burkot is a retired adjunct professor at the Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine (AITHM). Prior to this, he was a research entomologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, USA (CDC) from 1991 to 2011 where he worked on the transmission of malaria in Africa and Asia. As a National Research Council Fellow at Walter Reed, Dr Burkot developed the first enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays to identify and quantify human sporozoites in the mosquito vectors.

He has extensive experience in the surveillance and control of vector-borne diseases including protozoa, helminths, viruses and bacteria transmitted by mosquitos and ticks with  international field experience in  Asia, Africa and the South Pacific. He has also developed and delivered courses and training materials at the professional and technical levels for vector borne disease specialists.

Prof Burkot is a Fellow of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and formerly was a member of the Malaria Policy Advisory Group and the Malaria Elimination Oversight Committee of the WHO Global Malaria Programme, as well as being on the Management Board of Building Out Vector Borne Diseases in Sub-Sahara Africa and presently sits on the Aedes albopictus Torres Strait Programme Technical Advisory Group, .

He has published over 200 key articles in the highest ranked international journals with over 15,000 citations.

• Monitoring Aedes albopictus  in the Torres Strait
• Zoonotic malaria transmission  in Sumatra and Kalimantan
• Establishing a Pacific vector surveillance support network
• Understanding the ecology and behaviours of insect vectors of human diseases
• Evaluating novel interventions for malaria