“Antimicrobial resistance represents one of the most significant challenges to human health and wellbeing as well as globally sustainable food production of the 21st century.”

Associate Professor Aaron Jex is the Monitoring Program Lead at SAAFE CRC. He leads the infectious diseases research laboratory at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, is a Lecturer in Parasitology, and has worked within the Victorian water industry for more than 15 years, where he’s focused on molecular-based diagnostics and systems biology.

Aaron is acutely aware of the interconnected relationship between public health and our environments – particularly the integral role of waterways. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he played a key role in developing the advanced technologies that underpinned Victoria’s COVID wastewater monitoring program. This included methods to support wastewater-based detection of high-risk SARS-CoV-2 variants and whole genomic sequencing methods to assist community tracing.

Aaron heads up the Population Health and Immunology division at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, where he leads an infectious diseases research laboratory. He is also a Lecturer in Veterinary Parasitology at the University of Melbourne.

Given the essential role antimicrobials play in the control of infectious diseases, Aaron’s interest in infectious disease research naturally evolved to include antimicrobial resistance (AMR). He joined SAAFE CRC to help make a lasting impact on AMR reduction, food security, and environmental sustainability. As our Monitoring Program Lead, he’s currently focused on building the expertise, platforms and protocols needed to underpin AMR research and surveillance.

Through his research, Aaron hopes to improve our understanding and control of infectious disease, reduce the transmission of antimicrobial resistance and support more sustainable food production, global and environmental health.