Associate Professor Philip Cunningham is Deputy Director of Research at St Vincent’s Health Network and Chief Operating Officer for the St Vincent’s Centre for Applied Medical Research. The Centre for Applied Medical Research is the peak medical research enterprise for St Vincent’s Hospital Darlinghurst campus and provides world class research support and infrastructure. He is the Chief Scientist at the NSW State Reference Laboratory for HIV at St Vincent’s which plays a significant role in the diagnosis and management for people living with HIV and informing the Australian Government’s public health response. He has worked extensively throughout the Asia Pacific region strengthening clinical laboratory capacity and quality management systems as a technical advisor to Kirby Institute UNSW, WHO and the US CDC.
His research interests include public health surveillance of target priority populations at risk of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, improving the demand for diagnostic testing. Philip was Vice President and Office holder Board of Directors for the Australasian Society for HIV Medicine (ASHM) for more than 9 years. He holds a conjoint appointment at the Kirby Institute for Infection and Immunity in Society at UNSW and was awarded the Order of Australia for services to medical research and sexual health medicine in the 2020 Queens Birthday Honours List..