The TBPod

Dr Alice Sawka, adult respiratory and TB physician in Adelaide, is joined by Courtney Murphy, a paediatric specialist TB nurse at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, to explore the challenges of diagnosing tuberculosis in children. They discuss innovative approaches such as induced sputum, improving diagnostic yield and reducing invasive procedures, and the importance of microbiological co...

Dr Martin Allen, Consultant Respiratory Physician at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire and National Clinical Lead for Respiratory Medicine within the GIRFT programme, joins Dr Jack Callum to discuss the development and impact of the GIRFT tuberculosis report across England and Scotland. They explore how data-driven review and peer-led evaluations are uncovering gaps in TB care, from d...

Dr Padmasayee Papineni, Consultant and Co‑Clinical Director in Infectious Diseases at London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust, joins Dr Jack Callum to discuss the lived experience of tuberculosis care through narrative medicine. The conversation centres on her 2022 Lancet Wakley Prize–winning essay “Directly Observed Therapy,” which follows socially vulnerable patients navigating TB alon...

Dr Peter MacPherson, Professor of Global Public Health at the University of Glasgow, joins Dr Jack Callum to discuss his research on HIV–TB care and shifting TB epidemiology. He discusses findings from the SaDAPT trial, showing that same‑day ART initiation for people with HIV and TB symptoms is non‑inferior to waiting for TB results and carries similarly low IRIS risk, supporting flexible, program...

Dr Joseph Donovan, clinical researcher at OUCRU Vietnam and Associate Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, joins Dr Angus Lane, medical registrar to discuss the global burden and diagnostic challenges of tuberculosis meningitis (TBM). He outlines key findings from major trials in Vietnam and Indonesia, including the ACT HIV trial of adjunctive dexamethasone, discusses global practice guide...

Catherine Berry, ACTnet Steering Committee member and ID physician at John Hunter Hospital, Newcastle, was joined by Dr Jodie Schildkraut and Dr Van Le Hong, key researchers in the global Unite4TB consortium, which is accelerating the development of new TB treatments. Dr Schildkraut, based at Radboud University Medical Center, leads the Phase 2B/C clinical trials work package and coordinates acros...

Associate Professor Nicolas Alan Menzies, from the School of Global Health and Population at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts, joins Dr Andrew Burke to discuss his research on the contribution of post-TB sequelae to life-years and quality-adjusted life-years lost due to TB disease in the United States. Drawing on data from both U.S. and Brazilian cohorts, he e...

Dr Matthew Burman is a TB clinician and researcher from East London, Queen Mary University and the Blizzard Institute. Today he presents the data from the CATAPULT trial which randomised patients to either have their latent TB infection managed by a TB clinic in secondary care, or be managed in primary care by their GP in concert with a community pharmacist. This amazing trial re-evaluates how we...

Dr. Stijn Deborggraeve is the Diagnostics Advisor Infectious Diseases at Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Access Campaign. In this episode we discussed GeneXpert technology including pricing, logistics, and future developments.

Dr Graeme Hoddinott is a Senior Lecturer in Global Health at the University of Sydney. He is also an Extraordinary Associate Professor in paediatrics at Stellenbosch University. Much of his research experience is on tuberculosis, especially among children, adolescents, and their families.  In this episode, we explore ground-breaking research on the preferences of children and adolescents in tuberc...

Associate Professor Sarah Bernays , co-director of the Masters of Global Health program at the University of Sydney, leads a social science research program focused on community engagement in infectious disease prevention, treatment, and care. Her work emphasizes understanding how individuals, households, and communities respond to health adversity, risk, and vulnerability while fostering resilien...

Professor Guy Marks AO FAHMS is a distinguished respiratory and public health physician and environmental epidemiologist. Currently serving as the President and interim Executive Director of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease ( The Union ), he has led the Respiratory and Environmental Epidemiology group at the Woolcock Institute since 1997. His research primarily focuses...

Amanda Christensen joins us in this month's edition to discuss the critical impact of nurses in the fight against tuberculosis. Amanda is the Executive Director at the Australian Respiratory Council and is deeply experienced in the field of tuberculosis care. We explored the ideal attributes of TB nurses, offering perspectives on tuberculosis both within Australia and across the Pacific. We d...

Today we had the pleasure of being joined by Associate Professor Patrick Phillips from the University of California, who is the Co-Director of the UC Tuberculosis Research Advancement Center, Clinical & Population Health Science Core. Patrick has a wealth of statistical experience and specialises in the design, implementation, and optimisation of clinical trials for new treatments for drug-sen...

Handaa Enkh Amgalan is an author, TB advocate and director of QA at the International Rescue Committee in Germany who has not only recently spoken at the UN TB High Level Meeting but also written an incredible memoir of her experience being diagnosed with severe pulmonary tuberculosis as a teenager growing up in Mongolia. Handaa gives an incredible insight into what it means to be diagnosed with s...

Professor Adrian Martineau from the Queen Mary University London talks to us about the limitations of current latent TB infection diagnosis and how we can do better.  his research into whether we can use fragments of TB DNA found in bone marrow cells to better predict who should be treated with Tuberculosis Preventative Treatment. REFERENCES Martineau, Adrian R., et al. "Towards a molecular m...

Today we discuss the MTBVAC with Dr Montañés. MTBVAC is an attenuated vaccine from a human mycobacterial isolate which has just progressed to a phase 3 trial and shown very promising results in the phase 2 study. Dr Montañés has been involved in this project for over a decade and has an incredible insight into the development and promise of this vaccine for global TB epidemiology. References Martí...

Prof Greg Fox speaks with Prof Philip Hill about TB household contact tracing and building research capacity in TB. Prof Hill is an ID specialist and public health physician who did his PhD in TB Epidemiology. He is the current McAuley Chair in International Health as well as being Founding Direction & Co-Director of the Centre for International Health at the University of Otago. References 1)...

Today we speak with Dr Guglielmetti about the END-TB trial which looks at new all oral regimens for MDR-TB. REFERENCES 1) https://endtb.org/ 2) Nyang’wa, Bern-Thomas, et al. "A 24-week, all-oral regimen for rifampin-resistant tuberculosis." New England Journal of Medicine 387.25 (2022): 2331-2343. 3) Conradie, Francesca, et al. "Treatment of highly drug-resistant pulmonary tuberculo...

Today we delve into the world of TB diagnostics and the future of leveraged TB technologies with Dr Morten Ruhwald. Dr Ruhwald is a the head of the TB programme over at FIND, an institution dedicated to accelerating equitable access to reliable diagnosis around the world. Dr Ruhwald elaborates on the current state of TB diagnostics, new clinical strategies, usability factors,  and future TB perspe...

Today we speak with Dr Chris Lowbridge about the amazing work of the TB teams in the Northern Territory. Chris talks about the challenges of controlling tuberculosis across 1.42 million square kilometres, more than 100 local languages, and some very isolated communities. References Meumann, Ella M., et al. "Tuberculosis in Australia's tropical north: a population-based genomic epidemiolo...

Today we speak with Dr Clifton Barry from NIH in Bethesda, Maryland who is head of the most highly cited research group in the field of TB over the past year and has made extraordinary contributions to TB drug development. Dr Barry speaks about his involvement in the PREDICT TB study, the TB Drug Accelerator and some of the most exciting drug developments in recent years. REFERENCES Green, Simon R...

Today we get an update on where the TB Vaccine pipeline is up to, how TB vaccines work and what exciting candidates might be on the horizon. We speak with Professor Jamie Triccas from the University of Sydney about his work as the principal investigator on the Advancing Vaccine Adjuvant Research for Tuberculosis (AVAR-T) which is an NIH funded project to identify the most promising adjuvant-TB imm...

Today we have the pleasure of speaking with Professor Giovanni Migliori about TB Elimination. Professor Migliori is the director of the WHO collaborating centre for TB and lung disease and is the current chief editor for the international journal of TB and lung disease. He was formerly the secretary general of the ERS and president of the Union's European region. Today he speaks about his rec...

Today we speak with Prof Mola, Dr Welch and Dr Visiliu about their amazing work tackling TB in pregnancy in Papua New Guinea. They talk about the epidemiological, geographical and social challenges of providing maternal TB care in PNG along with some insights into treatment and control. REFERENCES: Hamada, Yohhei, et al. "The safety of isoniazid tuberculosis preventive treatment in pregnant a...