Anita Williams
Research Officer, Infectious Diseases Epidemiology
MInfecDis MPhil(App Epi)
anita.williams@telethonkids.org.au
Anita is a microbiological scientist and experienced infectious disease epidemiologist specialising in antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and infection prevention and control.
Currently Anita is working on describing the AMR landscape in children across Australia, including developing a biennial report for the Australian Government from the national surveillance system of bacteraemia isolates (AGAR Kids). Additionally, Anita is investigating the costs and burden of AMR in children. Anita is also developing a study to describe the household transmission of RSV, Influenza, and other respiratory viruses to understand the dynamics of viral spread in the community.
Prior to moving to The Kids, Anita led Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) programs investigating how AMR impacts the organisations work in low-resourced and conflict-affected settings. During this time Anita published several studies describing the epidemiology of AMR from where MSF works, mentored several people through the MSF/WHO Structured Operational Research Training Initiative (SORT-IT) and led a course on operational research in AMR. During this time Anita also supervised several Masters students, and worked with national governments to understand the impact of AMR globally, including crafting a written submission to the UK Government All-Party Parliamentary Group on Antibiotics about the impact of antimicrobial resistance and the necessity of access to clean water, which was used to guide future Department of International Development (DfID) funding.
Before working for MSF, Anita worked in diagnostic clinical and public health laboratories in Australia and the UK.
Education and Qualifications
- Bachelor of Science (Microbiology/Human Anatomy) – Monash University
- Masters of Infectious Diseases – University of Western Australia
- Master of Philosophy in Applied Epidemiology (MAE) – Australian National University
Awards/Honours
- 2014 - Katie Edwards Memorial Scholarship, Foundation for Sustainable Development, Kenya
Projects
Estimating the Impact And Costs of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) at Perth Children’s Hospital
AMR is a rapidly growing challenge and has been identified as one of the World Health Organizations top 10 global health threats, with the potential to undo many of the health gains observed over the last century.
AGAR Kids
Bacteraemia is associated with significant morbidity and mortality in children and adults, more frequently affecting neonates, Indigenous children and children admitted to hospital.
March 2023
Published research
Are C-reactive protein and procalcitonin safe and useful for antimicrobial stewardship purposes in patients with COVID-19 - A scoping review
The primary objectives of this study were to assess the usefulness of C-reactive protein and procalcitonin in the diagnosis of bacterial co-infections in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and if their incorporation in antimicrobial stewardship programs is safe and useful, stratified by severity of disease as level of care, intensive care unit (ICU) or non-ICU.
Australian Group on Antimicrobial Research surveillance outcome programs - bloodstream infections and antimicrobial resistance patterns from patients less than 18 years of age
From 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2021, thirty-eight institutions across Australia submitted data to the Australian Group on Antimicrobial Resistance (AGAR) from patients aged < 18 years (AGAR-Kids). Over the two years, 1,679 isolates were reported from 1,611 patients. This AGAR-Kids report aims to describe the population of children and adolescents with bacteraemia reported to AGAR and the proportion of resistant isolates.