Influenza symposium: a tribute to Alan Hampson

The retirement of Alan Hampson as deputy director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza led to a gathering of Australian virologists and public health experts to acknowledge his significant contribution to the field. The TGA hosted the event on 7 October 2005 in conjunction with the Australian Influenza Vaccine Committee (AIVC) meeting, with over 70 people attending the meeting. The WHO centre and the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing sponsored the meeting.

The meeting had two purposes: to farewell Alan, and to bring the flu community together to exchange information about the roles of the key players in influenza pandemic preparedness. The meeting consisted of a series of high level presentations given by 8 invited speakers:

• Dr Hitoshi Oshatani, head of the WHO Regional Office for Western Pacific, spoke on 'Avian influenza and pandemic threat'
• Dr Peter Colman, from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, spoke on 'The discovery of the influenza virus neuraminidase inhibitors'
• Mr David Ryan, from CSL Limited, spoke on 'Pandemic Influenza Vaccines in the Australian Context'
• Associate Professor Lorena Brown spoke on 'Influenza Research - How can we build on this knowledge to face a pandemic threat now and in the future?'
• Dr Paul Selleck, from CSIRO Australian Animal Health Laboratory, Geelong, spoke on 'Animal Influenza'
• Dr Moira McKinnon, from the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing, spoke on 'Australia's pandemic plan'
• Professor Niels Becker, from the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, spoke on 'Modelling to address key questions of pandemic influenza'
• Dr Gary Grohmann, from the TGA, spoke on 'The Role of the Regulator during Inter- and Pandemic- Influenza'
• Professor Ian Gust, director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza spoke on 'Global Health'

All speakers paid tribute to Alan's extraordinary 40-year contribution to influenza, acknowledging his influence on all sectors including research, diagnostics, WHO, public health policy and regulation.

The final presentation was given by Alan Hampson on 'Living with influenza'.

The meeting was preceded by a dinner on 6 October where Professor Ian Gust and Professor John Horvath gave fitting tributes to Alan Hampson.

The TGA thanks Alan for his contribution at the AIVC and for advice given over many years and wishes him all the best for his 'retirement'.

Conference presenters (left to right): Dr Gary Grohman, Dr Peter Colman, Professor Niels Becker,
Dr Paul Selleck, Mr Alan Hampson, Mr David Ryan, Dr Moira McKinnon, Professor Ian Gust
Dr Hitoshi Oshatani, Associate Professor Lorena Brown

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TGA executive

National Manager

Dr David Graham is the new National Manager of the Therapeutic Goods Administration. He replaced Mr Terry Slater as National Manager of the TGA following Mr Slater's retirement on 29 July 2005.

Dr Graham has qualifications in pharmacy and a PhD in pharmacology and toxicology. He has worked in a number of health and social policy areas of government, covering policy development, service delivery and regulation. The areas include ageing and aged care policy, employment policy and services, and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

For therapeutic products, his experience covers three arms of the National Medicines Policy: the quality, safety and efficacy of medicines; access to necessary medicines; and, the quality use of medicines. This has also meant extensive involvement in pharmaceutical industry policy. Dr Graham's previous position was General Manager of CRS Australia.

Principal Medical Advisor

Dr David Graham is pleased to announce that the new Principal Medical Advisor for the Therapeutic Goods Administration is Dr Rohan Hammett. Dr Hammett is a gastroenterologist and will take up his new role with the TGA on 14 November 2005. Dr Hammet replaces Dr John McEwen following his retirement.

Dr Hammett is a Consultant Gastroenterologist at Royal North Shore Hospital. Having undertaken his specialist training in Gastroenterology in Sydney, he undertook benchtop research at Harvard Medical School, then further training in Interventional Endoscopy at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston and the Middlesex Hospital, London. On return to Australia his interest in healthcare improvement led him to establish Northern Sydney Health's Clinical Practice Improvement Unit. In his role as Director of this unit he became the Project Director for the Australian Open Disclosure Project, which established national standards for how healthcare professionals and organisations should respond to adverse events.

In recent years he has also been the Director of Healthcare Improvement Projects at the NSW Clinical Excellence Commission designing and delivering several state and national Breakthrough Collaborative Programs aimed at improving care within the public health system. These programs have dealt with topic areas such as improved utilisation of blood products, improved investigation ordering, reductions in medication errors, improved access to acute care, reductions in adverse event rates and improved care for people with chronic disease.

Dr Hammett maintains active research interests in outcomes research in Gastroenterology and has been a leader within the patient safety movement within Australia.