Webinar From big things bigger things can grow

The COVID-19 global pandemic was arguably the most significant event for infection control practitioners globally in modern times. It brought with it unimaginable challenges and difficulties, forcing us to think differently in the most testing of circumstances. It was ‘big’, and during the height of the public health emergency phase it was hard to see how anything could have been bigger. But the pandemic also offered (and still offers) opportunities that were once considered unimaginable—to manifest other big opportunities once considered impossible. This presentation showcases one such success story. It details how seizing and manifesting opportunities from the pandemic led to the establishment of groundbreaking body of work that is moving the needle for infection control practitioners and our profession and some of the most vulnerable patients, and communities we serve.

Professor Ramon Z. Shaban is Clinical Chair of Communicable Disease Control and Infection Prevention with the Sydney Infectious Diseases Institute of the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney and Western Sydney Local Health District. Professor Shaban is a leading internationally credentialed expert infection control practitioner with particular strengths in high-consequence infectious diseases, disease control, emergency care and health protection. He is Chief Infection Control Practitioner and District Director of Communicable Disease Control and Infection Prevention for Western Sydney Local Health District, where he provides strategic and operational leadership of infection prevention and disease control services. He is also an Associate Director of the New South Wales Biocontainment Centre, Australia’s first purpose-built state-of-the-art facility for the prevention, containment and management of high-consequence infectious disease located at Westmead Hospital in New South Wales. He and a team of his colleagues identified and managed the first cases of COVID-19 in NSW at Westmead Hospital, and MPox within New South Wales.

Professor Shaban is Past President of the Australasian College for Infection Prevention and Control (ACIPC), and a former member of the Australian Government Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Antimicrobial Resistance and the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare Healthcare-associated Infection Advisory Committee. He has served as ACIPC Executive Representative to the World Health Organization Global Outbreak and Response Network. He has served as Technical Advisor to the World Health Organization on Antimicrobial Resistance, is Editor-in-Chief of the journal Australasian Emergency Care and a Senior Editor for the journal Infection, Disease and Health. He currently serves as a Professional Member (Panels and Hearings) with the Nursing and Midwifery Council of New South Wales and a Senior Member (Professional) with the Occupational Division of the NSW Civil and Administrative Appeals Tribunal