Nick Thomson
Field Director of Research at University of Melbourne
Nick has been working at the intersection of law enforcement and HIV for much of the last 12 years in South East Asia through his role as Field Director of Research for Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. During that period Nick completed his PhD on the Public Health and Public Security Implications of Narcotics in South East Asia. He worked with his team to develop multisectoral collaborations between law enforcement agencies and public health actors in order to progress the public health needs of at risk populations including migrants, people who use drugs and prisoners. He worked closely with law enforcement and public security agencies as well as the public health sector and civil society groups from across from Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Southern China, Nepal. During this time Nick acted as a Technical Director on AusAID research projects in South East Asia and as an independent consultant for multiple UN, government and non government agencies
Throughout these experiences, Nick was developing a keen interest in how better to engage law enforcement agencies across multiple issues of public health. Now based between Melbourne and Asia and as a past Director of the Centre for Law Enforcement and Public Health, he is pursuing the issue of enhancing collaboration between law enforcement and public health through a variety of activities including building an executive leadership course with colleagues from George Washington University for teaching into security agencies various regions including Asia. Nick is involved in the development of a research program that is creating new partnerships with police training academies across Central Asia, Eastern Europe, South East Asia and Australia and the Pacific. Nick maintains a role with the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health for a range of across Asia as well as a role as Field Director of Research for the AOD Hotspots Project with the School of Population and Global Health at the University of Melbourne. Nick is the series editor of an upcoming Lancet Series titled “The Intersection of Security and Health: Towards Public Health Armies”.