Professor Benjamin Cowie

Professor Benjamin Cowie is an Infectious Diseases Physician And Epidemiologist, with appointments in both the Epidemiology Unit at VIDRL and VIDS. In addition, Ben serves as Acting Chief Health Officer in the Department of Health, Victoria. He is a Professorial Fellow in the Department of Infectious Diseases, Melbourne Medical School. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ben has supported the Victorian Government’s responses with a focus on community engagement, clinical care for people living with COVID-19, control of community transmission of infection, and in helping establish Victoria’s COVID-19 vaccination program.

Ben has built a broad research agenda in the epidemiology and control of communicable diseases, with a focus on viral hepatitis. He has supervised a number of Masters and PhD students in this area and has been awarded substantial funding support for both research and innovative program development in relation to viral hepatitis. Ben has been involved in the development of health public policy in relation to viral hepatitis in Australia and internationally, and in 2015 was named the inaugural Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Viral Hepatitis at the Doherty Institute.