Member Spotlight: Chris Blyth

Chris Blyth, MBBS, PhD, is Professor of Paediatric Infectious Diseases at the School of Medicine, University of Western Australia and head of the Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases at The Kids Research Institute, Australia. He earned his medical degree from the University of Western Australia, undertook paediatric residency at Princess Margaret Hospital in Perth, followed by an infectious diseases fellowship at Sydney Children’s Hospital and clinical microbiology training at Royal North Shore Hospital Laboratory and Institute of Clinical Pathology and Medical Research, both in Sydney. He completed PhD studies on exploring influenza vaccinology on his return to Perth, where he also established the Department of Infectious Diseases at Perth Children’s Hospital. Dr. Blyth serves an Associate Editor for the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society.

Why pediatric ID? For me, it was a steady progression towards a career in pediatric infectious diseases rather than a Eureka moment. As a medical student, I was always fascinated by internal medicine, microbiology and pathology as well as global and public health. Following time spent working as a junior doctor in both adult infectious diseases and pediatrics, it became evident that I could incorporate all my interests into one specialty. Through my clinical work, I loved the opportunity to engage with our diagnostic laboratory; to follow the patient (and their samples) through the complete cycle – see the patient, take the sample, grow the organism, identify the optimal treatment and provide this recommendation to the patient and their family. The was the catalyst to undertake formal clinical microbiology training. Training in these two specialties has enabled my clinical work to straddle the hospital and clinic as well as the diagnostic laboratory.

Where have you taken your ID focus? I am spending increasing amounts of time, clinically, through my research and in collaboration with policy makers, developing and implementing vaccine programs and policy. It is a really exciting time in the immunisation world, on the back of COVID-19 with new RSV prevention products being implemented and many new vaccines on the way. I love seeing the positive impact of these programs, both through my clinical work and work with health departments and laboratories.

Although it is an exciting time, it is also challenging for those working in immunisations, with the rise of misinformation and disinformation, increasing external influence and changing community sentiments. These challenges are what really push me at the moment. There has never been a time like now where effort and advocacy for science, pediatrics and public health are required.

What is a recent development in pediatric ID that you are working on? Utilising my clinical and laboratory training, I have led a number of national hospital and laboratory-based surveillance platforms, seeking to evaluate immunisation programs, including respiratory syncytial virus, and antimicrobial resistance. Incorporating data from all Australian tertiary pediatric hospitals, these platforms have most recently enabled us to document the impact and effectiveness of RSV programs being implemented and describe the burden and impact of pediatric AMR in Australia in a 2024 JPIDS paper and one in 2025. These networks provide an wonderful opportunity to monitor, evaluate and revise national treatment and prevention policies, impacting on children and families Australia wide.

What do you enjoy most about being a PIDS member? What keeps you renewing your membership? Being a PIDS member has enabled me to be part of the JPIDS associate editors group. I have loved to get to know other associated editors, provide an international perspective to our discussions, and play a small part in disseminating excellent research and guidance to the international pediatric ID community. Having served my time, I would encourage ID physicians working outside North America to apply to be an associate editor and look forward to continuing to read and review for JPIDS in the years to come.