Professor Michelle Gatton

Faculty of Health,
School of Public Health & Social Work
Biography
Dr Michelle Gatton is a Professor of Public Health in the School of Public Health and Social Work, Faculty of Health, Queensland University of Technology. Michelle completed her PhD in Medical Engineering (QUT) in 2000. She has a BSc(Hon) majoring in applied mathematics and statistics, and environmental pollution and health. Between 2000 and 2012 Michelle was a Research Fellow at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR) where she was head of the Malaria Drug Resistance and Chemotherapy Laboratory (2010-2012). In 2008 Michelle was awarded an NHMRC Career Development Award (Level 1) in Population Health. Michelle joined QUT in 2013. Michelle’s research interests focus primarily on mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria. Recent research projects include modelling the transmission of HRP2-negative malaria parasites, quantifying the impact of malaria control activities, and investigating parasite dormancy following treatment with the artemisinin class of drugs. Michelle has a keen interest in ensuring the quality of diagnostic tools used for clinical diagnosis of malaria and COVID-19, and regularly works with the World Health Organization, Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) and Australian Army Malaria Institute on projects related to malaria diagnostics.Personal details
Positions
- Professor
Faculty of Health,
School of Public Health & Social Work- Kelvin Grove Q Block Membership
Institute of Health Biomedical Innovation (IHBI),
IHBI Health Projects - Kelvin Grove Q Block Membership
Keywords
Mosquito-borne disease, Malaria, Diagnostics, Mathematical modelling, Biostatistics, Infectious Diseases
Discipline
Public Health and Health Services
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2008
Qualifications
- PhD (Queensland University of Technology)
- BSc(Hons) (Griffith University)
Professional memberships and associations
Senior Fellow of The Higher Education Academy
Teaching
Dr Michelle Gatton has extensive experience teaching at both under-graduate and post-graduate level. She coordinates and teaches Health Statistics at the post-graduate level, contributes to other biostatistics and research methods units, and supervisors research projects/dissertations within the Masters of Public Health course. Michelle draws on her research and consultancy experience to help students contextualise topics and develop critical thinking.
Experience
Dr Michelle Gatton has active collaborations with international partners that generate evidence to inform policy. From 2008-2018 Michelle was an active partner in the WHO Malaria Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) product testing program which directly compared the performance of commercial malaria RDT products. The results from this program directly informed the procurement lists of major donors and governments in malaria endemic countries. She is also actively involved with country-level surveillance of pfhrp2-deleted parasites, and field performance of COVID-19 rapid antigen tets.
Selected publications
- Chaudhry A, Cunningham J, Cheng Q, Gatton M, (2022) Modelling the epidemiology of malaria and spread of HRP2-negative Plasmodium falciparum following the replacement of HRP2-detecting rapid diagnostic tests, PLoS Global Public Health, 2 (1).
- Peatey C, Chen N, Gresty K, Anderson K, Pickering P, Watts R, Gatton M, McCarthy J, Cheng Q, (2021) Dormant Plasmodium falciparum parasites in human infections following artesunate therapy, Journal of Infectious Diseases, 223 (9), pp. 1631-1638.
- Cheng Q, Mihreteab S, Anderson K, Pasay C, Smith D, Gatton M, Cunningham J, Berhane A, (2021) Epidemiology of mutant Plasmodium falciparum parasites lacking histidine-rich protein 2/3 genes in Eritrea 2 years after switching from HRP2-based RDTs, Scientific Reports, 11.
- Gatton M, Chaudhry A, Glenn J, Wilson S, Ah Y, Kong A, Ord R, Rees-Channer R, Chiodini P, Incardona S, Cheng Q, Aidoo M, Cunningham J, (2020) Impact of Plasmodium falciparum gene deletions on malaria rapid diagnostic test performance, Malaria Journal, 19.
- Dondorp A, Ekawati L, Gatton M, González I, Guérin P, Incardona S, Lilley K, Menard D, Nosten F, Obare P, Ogutu B, Olliaro P, Price R, Proux S, Ramsay A, Reeder J, Silamut K, Sokhna C, Dhorda M, Ba E, Kevin Baird J, Barnwell J, Bell D, Carter J, (2020) Towards harmonization of microscopy methods for malaria clinical research studies, Malaria Journal, 19.
- Cunningham J, Jones S, Gatton M, Barnwell J, Cheng Q, Chiodini P, Glenn J, Incardona S, Kosack C, Luchavez J, Menard D, Nhem S, Oyibo W, Rees-Channer R, Gonzalez I, Bell D, (2019) A review of the WHO malaria rapid diagnostic test product testing programme (2008-2018): performance, procurement and policy, Malaria Journal, 18, pp. 1-15.
- Gatton M, Ciketic S, Barnwell J, Cheng Q, Chiodini P, Incardona S, Bell D, Cunningham J, Gonzalez I, (2018) An assessment of false positive rates for malaria rapid diagnostic tests caused by non-Plasmodium infectious agents and immunological factors, PLoS One, 13 (5), pp. 1-9.
- Berhane A, Anderson K, Mihreteab S, Gresty K, Rogier E, Mohamed S, Hagos F, Embaye G, Chinorumba A, Zehaie A, Dowd S, Waters N, Gatton M, Udhayakumar V, Cheng Q, Cunningham J, (2018) Major threat to malaria control programs by Plasmodium falciparum lacking histidine-rich protein 2, Eritrea, Emerging Infectious Diseases, 24 (3), pp. 462-470.
- Mills K, Gatton M, Mahoney R, Nelson A, (2017) 'Work it out': evaluation of a chronic condition self-management program for urban Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, with or at risk of cardiovascular disease, BMC Health Services Research, 17, pp. 1-10.
- Gatton M, Dunn J, Chaudhry A, Ciketic S, Cunningham J, Cheng Q, (2017) Use of PfHRP2-only RDTs rapidly select for PfHRP2-negative parasites with serious implications for malaria case management and control, Journal of Infectious Diseases, 215 (7), pp. 1156-1166.
QUT ePrints
For more publications by Michelle, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).
Awards
- Type
- Recipient of a Nationally Competitive Research Fellowship
- Reference year
- 2008
- Details
- The NHMRC Career Development Award in Population Health is a 4-year fellowship awarded by the National Health and Medical Research Council to outstanding mid-career researchers.
Research projects
- Title
- Containment and spread of artemisinin resistant Plasmodium falciparum
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- 78188228
- Start year
- 2013
- Keywords
- Title
- Mechanisms of artemisinin induced dormancy in P. falciparum
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- 1021273
- Start year
- 2012
- Keywords
- Malaria; Malaria Therapy; Malaria Drug Resistance; Cell Cycle Control; Drug Effects
Supervision
Current supervisions
- Strenghtening Tuberculosis and Diabetes Mellitus Implementation Program in Central Java, Indonesia |
PhD, Mentoring Supervisor
Other supervisors: Dr Jerico Pardosi, Dr Kaeleen Dingle, Associate Professor Sanjeewa Kularatna - Characteristics and Outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People with suspected Acute Coronary Syndrome
PhD, Principal Supervisor
Other supervisors: Dr Ray Mahoney, Associate Professor Jaimi Greenslade - Gambling and mental health: uncovering the underlying temporal mechanisms
PhD, Associate Supervisor
Other supervisors: Associate Professor Darren Wraith
Completed supervisions (Doctorate)
- Burden of Oesophageal Cancer in Shandong, China: Geographical and Socioeconomic Disparities (2020)
- Bullying Roles and Associations with Mental Health of Adolescents in Vietnam: A Short-Term Longitudinal Study (2017)
- Riverine Flooding and Ross River Virus Outbreaks in Inland New South Wales (2017)
- Operational Research for Malaria Elimination in Bhutan (2016)
- Investigation of genetic and immunological factors that influence the performance of Plasmodium falciparum Histidine-Rich Protein 2 (PfHRP2)- detecting Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDT) for malaria (2011)
- Strengthened national systems for surveillance and assessment of water supply related dengue risk (2011)