Cairns Donor and Community Morning Tea

Queensland’s own QIMR Berghofer is leading life-changing medical research that’s improving health outcomes across the state and around the world.

Join us for a free morning tea and presentation, where you’ll hear directly from Professor Grant Ramm, QIMR Berghofer’s Interim Director and CEO; Professor Katja Fischer, Senior Group Leader, Scabies Research Group and members of the Centre for Tropical Health and Emerging Diseases.

Scabies and associated bacterial skin infections are a global problem. They result in a truly neglected, underrated yet significant health burden associated with overcrowding of people living in remoteness and poverty, including Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

There is no vaccine for scabies, only few suboptimal broad-spectrum anti-parasitic drugs and mite resistance against these drugs emerging. Another major challenge is the lack of early diagnostic markers for infection, to distinguish scabies from numerous skin conditions with similar symptoms. Professor Fischer is leading the only Australian group exploring scabies molecular biology in a formal, long-term, continuously funded research program. QIMR Berghofer’s research has changed the knowledge of mite biology, scabies pathogenesis and the mechanisms underlying the three-way interactions between mites, bacteria and the skin immune system.

Register for this event to learn about Queensland’s own medical research Institute and the impact our discoveries are having on your community.

We look forward to welcoming you.

RSVP by 27 April 2026

E: supportus@qimrb.edu.au

Ph: 1800 993 000