Prof. Karin Thursky is the director of the National Centre for Antimicrobial Stewardship (NCAS) (based at the University of Melbourne), which is taking a ‘one health’ approach to improving antimicrobial use across all human and animal health sectors; clinical director of the Guidance Group at the Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH) at the Doherty; Associate Director of Health Services Research and Implementation Science at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and principal fellow in the Department of Medicine at the University of Melbourne and the Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology. She was awarded an MD in 2007, with a thesis titled: "Development of an antibiotic computerised decision-support system for the ICU at RMH".

Prof. Thursky is nationally and internationally recognised as an expert in health services research, especially in antimicrobial stewardship (AMS). As the clinical leader and original developer of the Guidance software (developed at the RMH), she has assisted in the implementation of AMS in over 70 hospitals nationally and has directly contributed to increased workforce capacity for both clinical practice and research in AMS. She is a member of the AMS working party for Australian Commission on Quality and Safety in Healthcare (ACQSHC); and an expert advisor for the national program (AURA) responsible for developing national antimicrobial use and pathogen surveillance, and the Antimicrobial Resistance Strategic Technical Advisory Group for the Commonwealth Department of Health. She leads the development and implementation of the National Antimicrobial Prescribing Survey (NAPS), a program that is a key partner in the AURA system. She has considerable expertise in the development of national consensus guidelines. Her expertise in knowledge translation has led to design, implementation and scaling of several successful projects, including the development and implementation of clinical pathways for sepsis, and ambulatory programs for the management of neutropenic fever. She is leading the implementation stream of the National Centre for Infections in Cancer (NCIC) (based at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre) with innovative programs for nurse led antimicrobial stewardship, ambulatory models of care, allergy delabeling, and automated surveillance programs for invasive fungal infection. Her broad experience across the precinct is facilitating new collaborations and will support the emerging opportunities for health services and implementation science research.