Andrew Taylor-Robinson

Professor Andrew Taylor-Robinson is an infectious disease immunologist specializing in mosquito-borne pathogens.

Andrew received a BSc Hons in microbiology (immunology major) from University College London and a PhD in parasite immunology from the University of Glasgow for work on immunity to malaria. His postdoctoral training was undertaken at the University of Edinburgh and the University of Glasgow, which included periods at the Medical Research Laboratories in The Gambia and the Max-Planck-Institut für Immunbiologie in Freiburg, Germany. He was then awarded a Wellcome Trust fellowship to become a research group leader at the University of Leeds, and was subsequently appointed to the tenured academic staff. Prior to joining Vin University, most recently he held professorial appointments at Central Queensland University and Charles Darwin University in Australia. He is an International Scholar of the Center for Global Health at University of Pennsylvania.

Andrew has over 30 years’ research experience of tropical diseases that pose a major global public health threat. His interests include pathogen-host interactions, particularly protective-versus-pathological immune responses, in order to inform vaccine development and therapeutic regimens. This involves work on blood, liver and mosquito lifecycle stages of the malaria parasite. Over the last decade, this perspective has broadened to encompass other life-threatening and debilitating mosquito-transmitted tropical infectious diseases. These include dengue, Zika and a range of arboviruses unique to Australia, and for which native animals act as reservoir hosts.

Andrew's research is progressively shifting from basic to applied investigation, with a clinical focus encompassing epidemiology, treatment, prevention and control of diseases of poverty, as well as infection outbreak preparedness and response. Current collaborations involve colleagues in endemic countries in South and Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. These often consider socially innovative ways to address healthcare needs in underprivileged populations, especially in regional and remote locations. His current position affords an opportunity to undertake interdisciplinary research on vector-borne and other infectious diseases of direct relevance to urban and rural communities in Vietnam. A further project on bringing enhanced cryobiology technologies to bovine embryology involves an industrial partnership in Vietnam.

Andrew has a deep commitment to engaged teaching and a passion for facilitating student learning at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. He is an award-winning teacher of interrelated themes across immunology, microbiology, infectious disease, haematology and pathology disciplines.

Andrew regularly performs outreach and local community engagement activities. He is an increasingly sought-after commentator in the mainstream media, nationally and internationally, on subjects of mosquito-transmitted infections, infectious disease control and public health management.