Organisations
Burnet Institute
type: not-for-profit private research body
location: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
WWW: www.burnet.edu.au
description
The Burnet Institute is Australia’s largest communicable diseases research institute, investigating some of today’s most serious viral infections such as HIV/AIDS, hepatitis and measles.
It was founded in 1986 and named in honour of the highly acclaimed Australian scientist Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet. We integrate basic and applied laboratory research in virology and other communicable diseases with field research and the design, implementation and evaluation of public health programs.
We assist socially marginalized groups by tackling tough problems: HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections, hepatitis, and illicit drug use. Our laboratory research is motivated and informed by the direct experience of our people on the streets and in communities in developing and developed nations.
The Burnet Institute is the only medical research institute to be accredited for funding by AusAID, an Australian Federal Government overseas funding agency, and in 1998, we were accorded Collaborating Centre status by the United Nations Program on AIDS (UNAIDS) - one of just 12 such centres in the world.
The Burnet Institute also has an important educational role, and provides training in research and in public health at the undergraduate and postgraduate level through its associations with the University of Melbourne, Monash University, RMIT University, LaTrobe University and University Udayana in Indonesia.
