Prof Janet Davies

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Asthma and respiratory health: Real Health Public Lecture @ Gardens Point

IHBI’s Real Health public lecture on Saturday 13 October focuses on asthma and respiratory health, with researchers discussing health challenges and treatment options.

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Professor, School of Biomedical Sciences

Doctor of Philosophy - Biological Sciences (Murdoch University)

Professor Janet Davies BSc PhD GAICD is head of the Allergy Research Group and Associate Dean of Research, Faculty of Health at QUT.  She was also appointed Director of the QoVAX SET Program in Metro North Health (2021-2023). As Assistant Director of Research (2016-2021), she contributed to research strategy, policy, knowledge transfer and implementation at Metro North Health.  With over 25 years research experience within the hospital and health sector, the scope of her multidisciplinary research encompasses molecular allergen characterisation, immunity to allergens and viruses, and environmental health. She has authored over 100 research papers, 15 government reports, patents granted in Australia and USA and three patent applications.  Janet assembled pollen allergy researchers nationally to lead the Australian Aerobiology Working Group (2013) through to the NHMRC AusPollen Partnership (2016-2020 https://auspollen.edu.au/), to establish Australia’s national standardized pollen monitoring and forecast network, including design and implementation of quality control and audit system. Her research is supported by National Health and Medical Research Council, Australian Research Council Discovery grants, an ARC Linkage, well as government and industry collaboration agreements. Prof Davies engages in collaborative research with the global leaders in allergy diagnosis (ThermoFisher Scientific, Sweden), Abionic Switzerland and treatment (Stallergenes Greer, France), the national pathology service provider Sullivan Nicolaides Pathology and Abacus dx. She is now the Discovery and Biorepository Pillar Lead  and co-chair of the Respiratory Research Stream for the National Allergy Centre of Excellence.

Additional information

As an internationally renowned thought leader in allergy research Prof Davies  was appointed to the position of Vice Chair of the WHO IUIS Allergen Nomenclature Committee (2016-2021), which set criteria for designation of substances as allergens.  As part of an international Task Force on Component Resolved Diagnosis in 2015, she contributed multiple chapters for the world’s first guidelines on use of allergen components for clinical diagnosis; Molecular Allergology User’s Guide (2016, revised 2022). In 2013, Prof Davies initiated Australia’s first Australian Aerobiology Working Group with 19 members from 5 countries. This led to the NHMRC AusPollen Partnership (2016-2020) and the wider AusPollen Aeroallergen Collaboration Network that standardised pollen monitoring nationally and is recognised as a NHMRC Impact Case Study (2023). Prof Davies leads inter-sector partnerships with government stakeholders in health sector at national level. She has fostered key national partnerships with industry and government exemplified by the NHMRC AusPollen Partnership and the commissioned report for Victorian Department of Health and Human Services that underpinned the $15.6M public health response program including the Victorian Thunderstorm Asthma Pollen Surveillance project managed by the Bureau of Meteorology, for which she contributed and she served on the oversight committee (2017-2019).  In 2020, she was an expert witness for the Commonwealth Parliamentary Inquiry on Allergy and Analphylaxis that underpinned establishment of the National Allergy Council and the National Allergy Centre of Excellence.

Type
Appointment to State/National/International Reference Group or Government Committees
Reference year
2017
Details
Project Steering Committee for interagency Victorian Department of Health and Human Services and Bureau of Meteorology Thunderstorm Asthma Pollen Forecasting Service
Type
Appointment to State/National/International Reference Group or Government Committees
Reference year
2015
Details
EAACI Task Force on Component Resolved Diagnostics, invited appointee of expert Task Force to attend fully funded workshop in Berlin April 2015. Through this Task Force I led the chapter on grass pollen allergen and contributed to another on weed pollen allergens to the first international guidelines and clinical algorithms for component resolved allergy diagnosis "EAACI Molecular Allergology User¿s Guide" published as supplement in Pediatric Allergy Immunology and as a book launched by EAACI in 2016.
Type
Editor/Contributor of a Prestigious Work of Reference
Reference year
2015
Details
EAACI Handbook of Molecular Allergology; invited co-author of two chapters- Grass Pollen Allergens and Weed Pollen Allergens
Type
Editor/Contributor of a Prestigious Work of Reference
Reference year
2014
Details
Global Atlas of Allergy, Contributing author
Title
AusPollen: Implementation of a Standardized National Pollen Alert System for Better Management of Allergic Respiratory Health
Primary fund type
CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
Project ID
1116107
Start year
2016
Keywords
Title
Cause and Effect: New Mechanisms of Particles Formation in Thunderstorms
Primary fund type
CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
Project ID
DP190100376
Start year
2019
Keywords
Title
Satellite tracking of emerging health threats from grass pollen exposure
Primary fund type
CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
Project ID
DP170101630
Start year
2017
Keywords
Title
Development of an Allergen-Specific Blood Test for Bahia Grass Pollen Allergy
Primary fund type
CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
Project ID
1017441
Start year
2011
Keywords
Allergy testing; Antibody; Allergen; Diagnosis; Asthma prevalence; Allergy; Allergic rhinitis; Asthma
Title
A New and Effective Approach to Reversing Allergic Airways Inflammation
Primary fund type
CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
Project ID
1043311
Start year
2013
Keywords
Asthma therapy; Gene therapy; Allergic Airways disease; Allergy prevention; Anaphylaxis
  • Impact of grass pollen exposures on public health: an investigation of pollen seasons, health indicators and sustainability
    PhD, Principal Supervisor
    Other supervisors: Associate Professor Darren Wraith