Debbie Eagles announced as new director of CSIRO’s Geelong-based disease preparedness centre

An internationally renowned expert in viral disease in livestock has been appointed to lead a major Geelong institution.

New director for CSIRO's Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness in Geelong, Dr Debbie Eagles.

Australia’s national science agency has announced the new director of its Geelong-based Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness (ACDP).

Dr Debbie Eagles will lead CSIRO’s Portarlington Rd high-containment facility effective immediately.

The centre helps protect livestock and aquaculture industries as well as Australians from emerging infectious disease threats.

Prior to taking on this role, Dr Eagles played a pivotal role in the CSIRO’s response to the Covid pandemic, working as the ACDP’s deputy director.

The CSIRO’s executive director of future industries Kirsten Rose said Dr Eagles had already helped shape the direction of ACDP.

“Our ACDP facility is an integral part of Australia’s biosecurity infrastructure and is vital in ensuring we can continue to protect and prepare Australia from biothreats and emerging infectious and zoonotic diseases,” Ms Rose said.

As a veterinary epidemiologist, Dr Eagles has a wealth of knowledge in the biosecurity field.

She is internationally renowned as a World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) reference laboratory expert on bluetongue virus, an insect-borne viral disease which affects livestock, particularly sheep.

While the disease, which has a death rate as high as 70 per cent in sheep, has only been reported twice in Australia, it has wreaked havoc abroad.

She is also a WOAH and Australian qualified expert on the UN Secretary-General Mechanism’s roster for investigations of alleged use of chemical, biological or toxin weapons.

Before Dr Eagles was ACDP’s deputy director, she spent three years as research director for

CSIRO’s diagnosis, surveillance and response program, following eight years in the veterinary diagnostic team.

Originally published as Debbie Eagles announced as new director of CSIRO’s Geelong-based disease preparedness centre