Peter Simmonds

University of Queensland, Australia

Current term (2023): First (1st half)
(6 year term; no limit on reappointments)

Biography

Dr Walker is an Honorary Professor in the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, University of Queensland. He is a virologist with expertise in a wide range of diseases of humans, livestock and aquatic animals. His research has included topics such as virus discovery and characterisation, molecular epidemiology, virus evolution, viral immunity and vaccine development.

Dr Walker was formerly Chief Research Scientist at the CSIRO Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL) in Geelong. He was also Research Group Leader for Disease Emergence and Response, Head of Aquatic Animal Health and Head of Vector-borne Diseases at this highly secure (BSL3/4) national facility. He has worked extensively with governments, FAO, OIE and industry on improving biosecurity in Asia and Australia. He currently serves as Proposals Secretary on the ICTV Executive Committee and as chair of the ICTV Rhabdoviridae and Roniviridae Study Groups. He has served previously on Executive Committee of the Cooperative Research Centre for Emerging Infectious Diseases, the Executive Council of the Asian Fisheries Society, the OIE ad hoc Committee on Crustacean Diseases and the Australian Government's Gene Technology Technical Advisory Committee.

Dr Walker has published over 180 refereed research papers and book chapters on arthropod-borne viruses, invertebrate immunity and diseases of aquatic invertebrates. He has served on the editorial boards of Reviews in Aquaculture, Frontiers in Microbiology, Archives of Virology and Virus Genes, and as Associate Editor of the Encyclopaedia of Virology.

For more information:

https://scmb.uq.edu.au/profile/6315/peter-walker