Vanessa is a PhD student with a strong foundation in microbiology.  Vanessa has worked on projects in microbiology at Telethon Kids Institute (TKI) and The University of Western Australia (UWA). Vanessa’s research focus has involved studying bacterial-bacterial interactions, host-pathogen interactions, and antibiotic resistance mechanisms.  Vanessa graduated from a Master of Infectious Diseases at UWA in 2022 in which her thesis aimed to study bacterial-bacterial interactions in the upper respiratory tract of children. Her PhD research is aiming to understand the pathogenesis of Acute Rheumatic Fever and Rheumatic Heart Disease caused by Group A Streptococcus bacterium. Vanessa’s research interests are in microbiology, infectious diseases and cell biology and she is focused on translating her research into tangible outcomes for patients.