Dr Geoffrey Eather

Doctor Eather is the current Deputy Director of the Metro South Clinical Tuberculosis (TB) Service and a Respiratory Clinician working with the Department of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine at the Princess Alexandra Hospital.

Their major clinical interest is in diagnosis and management of complex mycobacterial diseases, including drug-resistant tuberculosis and non-tuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) infection. They lead the largest integrated mycobacterial diseases clinic in the state and has developed specialist clinics in the assessment and management of complex latent tuberculosis.

Dr Eather has co-authored several papers with international research groups on tuberculosis and NTM, but with a focus on clinical TB research in Queensland. Their major current research interest is in diagnostic testing of TB in immune compromised individuals, with a particular focus on understanding limitations of diagnostic tests for latent TB and exploring alternative diagnostic biomarkers. 

Dr Eather also leads the Metro South Clinical TB unit research group that has developed collaborations with the UQ Frazer Institute, exploring the impact of therapy for mycobacterial diseases on the microbiome, and the establishment of platforms to explore functional immune screening utilising in vitro granuloma models.   

These emerging clinical-basic collaborations maximise the benefit of co-location of the clinical TB and Respiratory Services with translational research facilities. Doctor Eather is also collaborating to establish a mycobacterial diseases biobank that includes TB cases, leveraging from work already done with NTM disease by the research group from the Gallipoli Medical Research Foundation.