Natkunam Ketheesan

Professor Ketheesan is an academic with interests in teaching, research and research training. He obtained his medical degree (MD Hons) at the Vinnitsa State Medical University and after working briefly as a junior clinician, went on to complete his MSc in Clinical Immunology and PhD at the University of Leeds under the tutelage of Professor Eileen Ingham. He held post-doctoral positions at the universities of Leeds, Western Australia and Queensland and in 2000 joined James Cook University. Within a decade, he was promoted from Lecturer to Senior Lecturer and Associate Professor and in 2011 conferred the title of Professor with a Personal Chair in Infection and Immunity.

In 2018, Professor Ketheesan joined the University of New England and is currently a tenured Professor in Biomedical Science (Infection and Immunity). In Australia, he concurrently holds Honorary Senior Research Fellowships with the New England Institute of Healthcare Research and the Menzies School of Health Research. He is also a Visiting Professor to the Universities of Jaffna and Colombo and the Principal Consultant for Australian Tropical Solutions. As a Visiting Fellow/Professor he has conducted research during sabbaticals at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Oklahoma University Health Sciences Center, University of Massachusetts Medical School and the Griffith University Institute of Glycomics.

Professor Ketheesan’s research has been focused on investigating the interactions between selected clinically relevant bacterial pathogens and the host, enabling the development of strategies to better identify and combat infections and their complications. His group has developed novel rodent models to determine host-pathogen interactions in rheumatic heart disease, melioidosis, tuberculosis and Q fever. His work has been funded by both international and national funding agencies including the National Health and Medical Research Council and the Australian Research Council. Professor Ketheesan has co-authored over 125 peer reviewed journal articles and book chapters, delivered over 175 conference presentations and invited seminars and has supervised to completion over 45 research theses.