Associate ProfessorJustin Beardsley

MBChB, PhD, FRACP

Associate Professor Beardsley is an infectious disease specialist, fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, and clinical researcher. He completed his PhD through the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit in Ho Chi Minh City, focussed on fungal infections. He conducted a multi-national randomised clinical trial into adjunctive steroid therapy for Cryptococcal Meningitis in South East Asia and Africa (Beardlsey et al, NEJM 2016). His other core research focussed on epidemiology of fungal infections, immune responses in Cryptococcal Meningitis, pharmacokinetics of anti-fungal drugs in the central nervous system, and temporal trends in cryptococcal drug susceptibility. He was involved in several other clinical trials in Cryptococcal Meningitis and hepatitis C, and is a co-author on the Lancet Global Burden of Disease series in his capacity as GBD specialist on Vietnam and HIV.

Since his appointment at the University of Sydney Infectious Disease Institute (Sydney ID) he has continued his research into infectious diseases inlcuding fungal infections, tuberculosis and AMR. He has a particular interest in reducing the impact of these chronic conditions in resource-limited settings, as a means of impacting global inequalities. He works on the emergence of antifungal resistance, and the one health / climate change drivers of this phenomenon.  Associate Professor Beardsley leads the Fungisphere special interest group as part of his role.

He led a group of researchers from Australia and New Zealand on behalf of the WHO to develop their 2022 Fungal Priority Pathogen List - a grounbreaking global prioritisation which ranks pathogens according to their need for research & development. He continue this work as a member of two WHO Expert Advisory Panels: on Implementing the Fungal Priority Pathogen List and on One Health and AMR.