An MAE in the time of COVID-19

Abstract

In this thesis, I present the key projects and experiences that enabled me to fulfill the requirements of the MAE at the Australian National University. During my candidature from February 2020 to December 2021, I was based in Melbourne at the Department of Infectious Diseases at Alfred Health, and the Public Health Discipline at the Burnet Institute. My field placement activities commenced with a focus on COVID-19, through a secondment to the Victorian Department of Health at Human Services. During the secondment, I was a part of several aspects of outbreak investigation and response, including the implementation of an enhanced surveillance system on hospitalisations with COVID-19, which I later evaluated. I embarked on several projects that were unable to be complete, and touch on these setbacks in this thesis. In the end, I completed an epidemiological project based at the Alfred Hospital that investigated proximity networks of healthcare workers to quantify and mitigate the risk of COVID-19 transmission in a hospital setting. Additionally, I analysed the performance of International Statistical Classification of Diseases codes for identifying injection-related infections in people who inject drugs, and analysed hospital admission trends and outcomes of the cohort at the Alfred Hospital. The MAE provided the opportunity for a variety of additional field and teaching experiences. The highlight was fieldwork at the Howard Springs International Quarantine Facility at the Centre for National Resilience in the Northern Territory. This thesis provides a comprehensive overview of my key projects and experiences, including lessons learnt along the way.