Associate Professor Vincent Cornelisse
Conjoint Associate Professor
MBBS, PhD, FAChSHM, FAChAM, FRCP
PhD thesis: “Epidemiology of gonorrhoea, chlamydia and HIV in men who have sex with men, and evaluation of new prevention strategies."
Medicine & Health
The Kirby Institute
A/Prof Cornelisse is the medical director of HIV, sexual health and viral hepatitis services on the North Coast of New South Wales, across Mid North Coast and Northern NSW Local Health Districts, with clinics in Tweed Valley, Lismore, Coffs Harbour, Grafton, Kempsey and Port Macquarie, across a 500km stretch of NSW coastline.
After in 2025 receiving a $796K grant from the Cancer Institute NSW, Vincent and the North Coast Sexual Health Team developed and implemented an anal cancer screening program for people living with HIV, in line with the new Australian anal cancer screening guidelines, titled The PEACH Study (Preventing and Eliminating Anal Cancer for people living with HIV). The PEACH Study has initially been implemented in Tweed Valley and Lismore, where a large number of people with HIV reside, and is the first anal cancer screening program in a rural/regional setting. https://www.kirby.unsw.edu.au/news/research-grant-anal-cancer-prevention-services
Prior to moving to the North Coast, Vincent was a staff specialist in sexual health medicine and addiction medicine at Kirketon Road Centre (KRC) in Kings Cross, Sydney. KRC is a NSW Health facility for people who face barriers to accessing mainstream healthcare, including people experiencing homelessness, people who inject drugs, sex workers, young people and LGBTIQ people. https://www.seslhd.health.nsw.gov.au/services-clinics/directory/kirketon-road-centre
Vincent completed his sexual health specialist training in Melbourne, and completed his PhD in sexual health epidemiology at Monash University, based at Melbourne Sexual Health Centre, focusing on the prevention of HIV and sexually transmitted infections, with a particular focus on the role of saliva use during sex as a major transmission mechanism for gonorrhoea. This thesis was awarded the "Award for Best Thesis in Sexual Health Medicine" from the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP), and this work won Vincent the "Public Health Researcher Award" from the Premier of Victoria. Thesis summary: https://doi.org/10.26180/7604633 - completed by publication (see ORCID record - https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0657-9677).
Prior to specialising in sexual health medicine, Vincent was a rural GP and medical superintendent of a small rural hospital in outback Queensland.
Current Sector Contributions
- President-Elect of the Chapter of Sexual Health Medicine of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP);
- Principal author of the Australian Consensus Statement on Doxy-PEP for STI prevention - https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2024/220/7/australian-consensus-statement-doxycycline-post-exposure-prophylaxis-doxy-pep
- Co-author of the Australian STI Management Guidelines;
- Co-author of the Australian HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Guidelines.
E-mail
Location
North Coast Sexual Health & HIV Services, NSW Health, Lismore, NSW.
- Publications
- Media
- Grants
- Awards
- Research Activities
- Engagement
- Teaching and Supervision
2024 Accelerated Research Implementation Grant - Cancer Institute NSW - $796,000 - Implementation of Anal Cancer Screening for People Living with HIV in Rural NSW.
- 2019 - Winner of the Public Health Researcher Award - Victorian Premier's Awards in Health and Medical Research
- 2019 - Levinia Crooks Emerging Leader Award in STIs and BBVs - The Australasian Society for HIV Medicine (ASHM)
- 2021 - Best Postgraduate Thesis in Sexual Health Medicine - Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP)
- 2023 - Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians (UK)
- Sexual health epidemiology and public health interventions to reduce transmission of HIV and other sexually transmissible infections;
- The PEACH Study - Preventing and Eliminating Anal Cancer for people living with HIV