Rate My Professor James McCaw

Professor James McCaw is the Professor of Mathematical Biology at the University of Melbourne, holding joint appointments in the School of Mathematics and Statistics, Faculty of Science, and the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences. He obtained his PhD in Physics from the University of Melbourne in 2005 and BSc (Honours) in 2000. McCaw's academic career has progressed entirely at the University of Melbourne, beginning as a Research Assistant in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering in 1999, followed by Project Officer in the School of Physics (2004–2005), Research Fellow (2005–2011), Senior Research Fellow (2011–2014), Associate Professor in Mathematical Biology (2015–2017), and Professor since 2018. He also holds an honorary appointment at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity since 2017.

His research specializes in mathematical and computational modeling of infectious diseases, spanning within-host dynamics, epidemiology, outbreak detection, forecasting, surveillance design, and pandemic preparedness, with applications to pathogens including influenza, malaria, and SARS-CoV-2. Notable publications include "Targeting the Cell Stress Response of Plasmodium falciparum to Overcome Artemisinin Resistance" (PLoS Biology, 2015), "Altered temporal response of malaria parasites determines differential sensitivity to artemisinin" (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2013), "Estimating the fitness advantage conferred by permissive neuraminidase mutations in recent oseltamivir-resistant A(H1N1)pdm09 influenza viruses" (PLoS Pathogens, 2014), and "Key questions for modelling COVID-19 exit strategies" (Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2020). McCaw has garnered significant recognition, including the Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship (2024–2029) for "New mathematics for infectious diseases," ARC Future Fellowship (2012–2015), 2016 Australian Museum Eureka Prize for Infectious Diseases Research (with colleagues), Aileen Plant Memorial Prize in Infectious Diseases Epidemiology (2009), and multiple awards for COVID-19 modeling efforts such as the University of Melbourne Award for Excellence in Engagement (2021) and President's Award from the Public Health Association of Australia (2020). During the COVID-19 pandemic, he served as one of three invited expert members of the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (January 2020–April 2022), contributed to the Communicable Disease Network of Australia, and co-led a national consortium delivering weekly epidemic situational assessments, nowcasts, and forecasts to government.