Aaron is currently completing his PhD at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity under the supervision of Associate Professor Steven Tong. Aaron’s research aims to describe patterns in the spread of influenza across northern Australia. The epidemiology of influenza in northern Australia is unique due to the tropical climate, widely dispersed population and large Indigenous population. Aaron’s project examines notifications of influenza infection in this region to elucidate patterns of transmission. This includes geographic, chronological and ethic parameters. This data is examined side by side with data from phylogenetic analyses of samples linked to notifications, allowing for the transmission of influenza in this area to be described in never before seen detail. A second arm of Aaron’s PhD project involves undertaking an assessment of the current effectiveness of the influenza vaccination program for Indigenous Australians in the Northern Territory through conducting a retrospective case-control study.