HEP Hero Ben Cowie

Associate Professor Ben Cowie

Hepatitis B Expert

“I am a Hep Hero because my patients and others living with viral hepatitis are the heroes who inspire me every day” 

I started working with Hepatitis Victoria closely in 2009 through the Victorian Hepatitis B Alliance, presenting to the Board about hepatitis B and in through the development of the first National Hepatitis B Strategy.

I am an Infectious Diseases Physician with the Victorian Infectious Diseases Service at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, and an Epidemiologist at the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory.

I work with a range of committees related to viral hepatitis and public health, including the Commonwealth Government’s Ministerial Advisory Committee for Blood Borne Viruses and Sexually Transmissible Infections and the Hepatitis B Expert Resource Panel of the Western Pacific Regional Office of the World Health Organisation.

I have mostly been involved in helping develop and explain information relating the public health impact of hepatitis B and how best to develop public health policies that meet the needs of people living with hepatitis B.

I am concerned with the number of people living with hepatitis, over 400,000 Australians, and how few know about it.  Especially when you consider that liver cancer (mostly caused by viral hepatitis) is the fastest increasing cause of cancer deaths of Australians.  Together we must act to address this – there is no time to waste.

By seeking political change and defending the rights to health and wellbeing of people living with viral hepatitis we can all make a difference.