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Dr Matthew O’Sullivan AM from our Westmead laboratory has been appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for services to medicine.
He was involved in treating some of the first COVID-19 patients in Australia and has now been honoured for his years of work in the field of infectious diseases.
Dr O’Sullivan is the Supervising Pathologist at our Microbiology Laboratory at Westmead Hospital, where he is also Head of the Department of Infectious Diseases.
He has a clinical interest in staphylococcal infection, tropical medicine, HIV, infections in immunocompromised hosts and diagnosis, and in the management and clinical biocontainment of infectious diseases, such as Ebola and COVID-19.
His research interest is in genotyped-based surveillance of pathogens responsible for hospital-acquired infections.
In early 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr O’Sullivan travelled to Christmas Island to help manage 278 Australians who were quarantined there.
“We did a rapid assessment of every evacuee as they arrived and identified those who needed further testing,” Dr O’Sullivan said.
“We actually set up a laboratory on the island, which was a major achievement and supported the whole operation.
“That meant we could do the primary testing there and have results within hours, rather than a three-day wait if we needed to send them to the mainland.
“We also did check-ups every day, but a lot of our work became keeping people occupied and entertained for the two weeks of isolation.”
We’re proud to have you on our team Dr O’Sullivan, congratulations on this well-deserved honour!
