Professor Kathy Petoumenos

New Program Head for the Biostatistics and Databases Program

News | Published on 08 Apr 2024

Professor Kathy Petoumenos, a longtime Kirby Institute leader and biostatistician, has been appointed Program Head of the Kirby Institute’s Biostatistics and Databases Program

Prof Petoumenos has been a crucial member of both the Biostatistics and Databases Program and the Kirby Institute for more than 20 years, working alongside outgoing Program Head Professor Matthew Law, who retires at the end of 2024.

Prof Petoumenos has extensive research and leadership experience, including in clinical trials and cohort studies, higher degree research and ethics roles. Her research is multi-disciplinary; she leads the Australian HIV Observational Database and has been lead biostatistician for HIV, hepatitis C and COVID-19 clinical trials coordinated through at the Kirby Institute. She is also member of the leadership team of IeDEA Asia-Pacific’s regional cohorts. Through her research and various roles, she has collaborated widely within the Kirby Institute, UNSW, and the national and global studies and networks she is involved with. 

“I am excited to take on this new role within the Biostatistics and Databases Program, and the Kirby Institute,” says Prof Petoumenos. “Matthew has been a key leader across our work for almost the entirety of the Kirby Institute’s history, and I look forward to working with him and the team in the leadup to his retirement at the end of the year.” 

Kirby Institute Director, Scientia Professor Anthony Kelleher, says: “I am extremely confident that Kathy has the skills and experience to lead the Biostatistics and Databases Program successfully into the future and I look forward to working with her in this new role.”