A/Prof Harin Karunajeewa

Associate Professor Harin Karunajeewa is an internationally renowned academic physician (accredited in both Infectious Diseases and General Internal Medicine) with a PhD in Clinical Pharmacology. His wide-ranging clinical and research career enable him to provide authoritative opinions on scenarios related to any infectious disease. His clinical pharmacology expertise makes him well-placed to address issues relating to drug side-effects and the appropriateness (or otherwise) of any prescription medicine administration.  His hospital-based practice of General Medicine, roles on Quality and Safety and Committees and experience chairing an Ethics Committee mean he can provide particularly insightful commentaries on more complex organisational issues regarding patient care, for example when numerous medical specialties are involved or issues of systems failures, ethical conundrums or deficiencies in clinical governance arise in the hospital setting. He is especially skilled at synthesizing, interpreting and critically evaluating the accumulated research evidence on a particular scenario, to determine whether management represents “best practice”.

Previously, Harin has worked with the World Health Organisation, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the pharmaceutical industry and world-renowned Medical Research Institutes and Universities. His research and clinical work have taken him to numerous countries throughout the Asia Pacific and to regional and remote rural settings in Australia. A skilled communicator, he has provided interviews and expert commentary on television, radio and in print media and been invited to provide testimony to the Australian Federal Senate. He continues to do clinical work at Western Health in Melbourne where he has served as its Director of Clinical Research.

• Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (Hons), University of Melbourne, VIC
• Doctor of Philosophy, University of Western Australia, WA
• Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians

• Consultant Physician (Infectious Diseases and General Medicine), Western Hospital, VIC
• Honorary Associate Professor, University of Melbourne, VIC
• Director of Clinical Research, Western Hospital, VIC
• Senior Research Officer, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Parkville, VIC

• Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians
• Member of the Australasian Society of Infectious Diseases
• Panel Member for the Northern Australia Tropical Disease Collaborative Research Program (NATDCRP)
• Panel Member for the Rotarians Against Malaria Solomon Islands Elimination Project