Public Health researcher wins Prestigious Alumni Award

A/Prof. Chow receives his award from Professor Rodney Phillips,
Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, UNSW

Associate Professor Eric Chow has won the 2019 UNSW Young Alumni Award. The Young Alumni Award acknowledges the most accomplished UNSW Sydney Alumni under 35 years across 13

categories spanning science and technology to arts and services to the community.

Eric made a career change in 2012 by completing a Master of Public Health followed by a PhD at UNSW Sydney, where he received the Faculty of Medicine Dean’s List. The MPH provided Eric with new knowledge in public health, epidemiology, biostatistics, health promotion and mathematical modelling. His PhD thesis, which focused on HIV epidemiology and sexual practice among at-risk populations in China, has paved the way for his impressive research in the field of sexual health.




Eric is now an Associate Professor at Central Clinical School and heads the Health Data Management and Biostatistics Unit at the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre. The fourth most active researcher in

the field of sexual health globally, he has authored, and co-authored more than 160 publications. Combining his expertise in epidemiology and biostatistics, Eric’s outstanding research in the sexual health field has identified that saliva can carry infectious gonorrhoea, and kissing may be a risk factor for oral gonorrhoea.

"UNSW has changed my life from a basic medical scientist to
now a sexual health epidemiologist and biostatistician,
and I really love what I do. "

Professor Kit Fairley, Director of the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre and Professor of Public Health at Monash University speaks highly of his colleague.

“All of us here at the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre are extremely proud of the dedication and extraordinary quality of work Eric is producing. It is simply not possible to overstate Eric’s contribution to our centre.  This award is a fitting tribute to his hard work, and we are looking forward in particular to seeing the results of his upcoming work on using mouth wash to prevent or treat oral gonorrhoea.”

Eric is also leading several projects to evaluate the impact of the school-based human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination program for young men and women.

Congratulations Eric!