ABOUT US

Nafisa Yussf is co-founder and Director of Hepatitis B Voices Australia. She has an extensive background and expertise in public health; community engagement, social research, and advocacy and policy development working in both government and non-government sectors. She is passionate about health equity and social justice – utilising intersectional, culturally safe and community led frameworks. She is a global advocate for people living with hepatitis B utilising her lived experience to influence public health policy in relation to hepatitis B. She is also a Board member of the Australian Muslim Women’s Centre for Human Rights.

Uyen is a co-founder of Hepatitis B Voices Australia. After arriving to Australia in 2008 Uyen struggled to find hepatitis B resources and support. She joined LiverWELL (Hepatitis Victoria) in 2013 as a community volunteer providing lived experience perspectives, advice, and speeches; whilst receiving great support from the organisation and the sector. Between 2017-2018 Uyen joined LiverWELL Board. In 2018, Uyen started a Vietnamese online support group with Ms Lien Tran (another co-founder of HBVA) and friends for Vietnamese living with hepatitis B all over the world to find support; and especially, for people living with hepatitis B and the newcomers to navigate health care in Australia. The online forum has helped many Vietnamese living with hepatitis B find support in documents preparation for visa health assessment; and found a surprising number of successful stories shared. Significantly, it has been a casual platform to promote the ASHM Prescriber Map in Australia. Uyen’s wish is for all hepatitis B affected Australians, especially the affected visa holders to not feel stigmatised and achieve their life goals.

Associate Professor Thomas Tu is a molecular biologist with a particular focus on integrated Hepatitis B virus DNA and its role in disease progression. He currently leads a research group at the Westmead Institute for Medical Research in the Storr Liver Centre (Sydney, Australia), where his team focuses on persistent forms of the Hepatitis B virus (covalently closed circular DNA and integrated HBV DNA). He is particularly passionate about developing an HBV cure and mitigating the associated liver cancer, as he himself lives with chronic Hepatitis B. Due to his unique perspectives on Hepatitis B, Dr. Tu is President of the Australian Centre for Hepatitis Virology, the premier Australian society for hepatitis virus researchers. He is also board member of Hepatitis Australia, guiding the strategic direction of the peak national advocacy body for people with liver disease. Importantly, Dr. Tu is founder and Director of HepBCommunity.org (a global support network for people affected with HBV), guiding people through their HBV diagnosis and linking them with trustworthy scientific and medical information. He has won multiple awards for his research and outreach, most recently the 2022 Young Tall Poppy Science award.

Dr. Aye Aye Khaing is a Director of Hepatitis B Voices Australia. She has a Master of public health and is passionate about community engagement and public health. Aye Aye is a Burmese woman who is an overseas medical graduate – she has worked in Malaria programs, and projects in international non-profit organization in Myanmar. She has presented her research projects and programs in many international conferences and forums. Aye Aye is currently pursuing her medical registration in Australia. She is an advocate and a Hep Hero (since 2017) at LiverWELL in various projects as a lived experienced speaker, translator and advisor for certain activities. She arrived in Australia in 2016 after she was married to her childhood friend, Dr. Oakar Tun. Aye Aye is very enthusiastic to work for the community. Some of her contributions are “Australia visa application and hepatitis” resource produced by LiverWELL as well as contributing to the Hepatitis B Testing policy. Aye Aye is also the Secretary at the Australia Myanmar Medical Association to raise community education and support the Myanmar medical graduates. Aye Aye is delighted to be a part of the team, which paves the way to eliminate hepatitis B. A message from Aye Aye is that “participation is very important, so take a role and we can create a better world”.

Lien is a Vietnamese researcher at the WHO Collaborating Centre for Viral Hepatitis, Doherty Institute, Australia. Her research focuses on hepatitis B care delivery in primary care. She is an active advocate for people and communities affected by hepatitis at national and international level. Her advocacy is grounded on personal and professional experience with constant exposure to affected community, health professionals, researchers, and policy makers. Lien co-founded and moderates an online support group for Vietnamese living with hepatitis in Australia. She is current Regional Board Member for the World Hepatitis Alliance, representing the WHO Western Pacific Region