Professor Ben Howden

Professor Ben Howden is a medical microbiologist, infectious diseases physician and molecular biologist. He is Director of the Microbiological Diagnostic Unit Public Health Laboratory (MDU PHL) at the Doherty Institute, Medical Director of the Doherty Centre for Applied Microbial Genomics and a Laboratory Head in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Melbourne. He is currently the Chair of the Public Health Laboratory Network (PHLN) and Co-Director of the Centre for Pathogen Genomics at University of Melbourne (Doherty Institute). Professor Howden is an established leader in public health research, regional training and pathogen genomics and has pioneered state-wide and national implementation of microbial genomics into clinical and public health practice. In his roles, Professor Howden is responsible for the provision of public health laboratory services, the translation of microbial genomics into public health and clinical microbiology, and research investigating antimicrobial resistance and bacterial pathogenesis, evolution and host-pathogen interactions.