Nigel Curtis MBBS, DCH, DTM H, MRCP, FRCPCH, PhD

Professor Nigel Curtis is Professor of Paediatric Infectious Diseases at the University of Melbourne and Head of Infectious Diseases at the Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne. He is also Joint Leader of the Infectious Diseases & Microbiology Research Group in the Murdoch Children's Research Institute.

Nigel trained in Cambridge, London and Vancouver, and has also worked for short periods in The Gambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. He has a wide range of clinical and laboratory research interests focusing on the immune response to infectious diseases. Nigel's PhD project investigated the role of superantigens in the pathogenesis of Kawasaki disease. Current research projects include host-pathogen interactions in severe staphylococcal and streptococcal disease, DNA microarray-based studies of gene expression in acute rheumatic fever, studies of the immune response to BCG vaccine and the immunodiagnosis of tuberculosis. He is also leading a large randomised controlled trial of BCG immunisation of infants in Melbourne to investigate the non-specific effects of this vaccine including its ability to prevent allergic disease.