Associate Professor Michael Richards

Associate Professor Michael Richards, the Director of the Victorian Infectious Disease Service based at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, has particular interests in clinical infectious diseases, hospital acquired infections, emerging infectious diseases, and antibiotic stewardship in the hospital setting. He previously worked as a guest researcher at the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in the Hospital Infections Programme, including research on infections acquired in Intensive Care Units. He led a multidisciplinary collaborative group that successfully piloted programs using the web for restricted antibiotic approval which improved antibiotic use within the hospital. Another study collecting clinical and laboratory information on encephalitis (an infection that has been associated with a number of emerging pathogens in overseas reports in recent years) will hopefully be a prototype for collection of this information on other emerging undiagnosed illnesses. He is also the Director of the VICNISS Coordinating Centre which established and supports a surveillance program on hospital acquired infections for all Victorian public hospitals, and allows hospitals to compare their own risk adjusted infection rates with statewide aggregate infection rates. The centre undertakes research on surveillance and prevention strategies for hospital acquired infections.