Professor Jonathan Carapetis

The Telethon Kids Institute is headed by leading paediatrician and infectious diseases specialist Professor Jonathan Carapetis.

Professor Carapetis took up the position of Institute Director in July 2012 after six years leading the Menzies School of Health Research in Darwin.

He is recognised as a leading mind in the Australian health field, with particular expertise in Indigenous child health.

Amongst his many accolades, in 2013, Professor Carapetis was awarded Honorary Doctor of Science, Charles Darwin University, Northern Territory. He was also named as Northern Territory Australian of the Year in 2008.

He has been named as one of Australia's top 100 brains in Cosmos magazine, selected in the top ten in Medicine and Health in the Bulletin Magazine's "Smart 100" list, and attended the Prime Minister's 20:20 summit in Canberra in 2008.

Professor Carapetis has made an international contribution and commitment to the reduction of rheumatic heart disease. While rare in most developed countries, Australia has one of the highest rates of the disease in the world due to its prevalence within Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, particularly in Northern Australia.

Previous positions include terms as Director of the Centre for International Child Health at the University of Melbourne, Theme Director at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Melbourne and Clinical Fellow in Paediatric Infectious Diseases at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada.

Professor Carapetis holds a clinical position with Perth Children's Hospital and is a Professor at the University of Western Australia, Head of the Telethon Kids Institute Strep A and Rheumatic Heart Disease Team, and Co-director of REACH (Rheumatic heart disease. Evidence. Advocacy. Communication. Hope)

Professor Carapetis is married with two children.