Professor Wenbiao Hu

Biography

I have more than 34 years working and research experience and substantial knowledge and skills in environmental health and infectious diseases. I completed my PhD study at the School of Public Health, Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in 2005. I have been awarded over 7 highly prestigious and competitive grants (including a NHMRC postdoctoral research fellowship, three NHMRC project grants, a QUT Vice-Chancellor Senior Research Fellowship, a Hong Kong Health and Medical Research Funds and ARC Future Fellowship). I have been at the leading edge of research into identifying the major socio-ecological determinants of infectious diseases using spatiotemporal statistical models. I have a leadership role in the NHMRC dengue early warning project between China (China Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)) and Australia. I have pioneered the development of an early warning of infectious diseases, with real-world application in national and local disease control programmes. I have supervised 15 PhD students, 2 Masters research students to completion.

Research Interests  
Climate Change and Infectious Diseases Transmission; GIS and Spatiotemporal Model; Biostatistics; Environmental Epidemiology; Develop Early Warning Systems for Infectious Diseases.

Research Projects
Forecasting the impact of climate change on dengue transmission. New Vectors, New Diseases: Understanding the Risk of Chikungunya Transmission in Australia. Development of early warning systems for dengue fever based on socio-ecological factors. Developing internet-based early warning systems for influenza in Australia. Impact of increased influenza and pneumococcal vaccine coverage on the burden of influenza in the elderly: a comparison between Hong Kong and Brisbane. Social and environmental determinants of seasonal influenza epidemics.