Suzy Ossipow

Dr Suzy Ossipow recently joined QIMR Berghofer as Research Centre Manager and Senior Research Fellow. She is the founding Research Centre Manager for the Don McManus Tropical Health Research Centre.

She is also the project coordinator for a five-year strongyloidiasis elimination trial in remote Australian Arnhem Land communities. Prior, she was the Executive Director, Communicable Diseases Branch, and Executive Director, Public Health Intelligence (Queensland Health).

Suzy has multi-country experience in soil-transmitted helminth (STH) and schistosomiasis epidemiology and 25 years’ experience in infectious disease roles. As Director of Measurement, Evaluation and Learning (END Fund), Senior MER Advisor (SCI Foundation), and Associate Director, Deworm the World (Evidence Action), Suzy has designed and implemented world-first impact assessment surveys and strengthened monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems contributing to global targets, particularly in India and Kenya. During 2020, she managed Queensland’s COVID-19 epidemiological team.

Suzy has been a member of India’s High-Level Scientific Committee on STH, a member of Ethiopia’s Schistosomiasis and STH Technical Advisory Group (TAG), and participant at various World Health Organization, Global Schistosomiasis Alliance, and STH Advisory Committee meetings. Suzy is a past Chair of the Neglected Tropical Disease NGO Network (NNN) Schistosomiasis and STH Disease Specific Group, and Observer, WHO TAG on Schistosomiasis and STH Control and Elimination. Suzy has been Associate Editor, then Deputy Editor, for PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases and is an Associate Editor for Frontiers in Tropical Diseases.

Suzy’s PhD and earlier postdoctoral work analyzed STH and schistosomiasis epidemiology in Timor-Leste (Australian National University), Ghana and Cameroon (Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine).