Tania Sorrell is Professor of Infectious Diseases, Deputy Academic Head University of Sydney (Western Clinical School, Westmead Campus) and Director Centre for Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, University of Sydney at Westmead. She was a post-doctoral Research Fellow at the University of California in Los Angeles and a Fellow in Infectious Diseases at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, California.

Professor Sorrell is involved in a number of local, national and international collaborations. She is engaged in collaborations with colleagues in the Netherlands, USA and Canada, including work in molecular epidemiology/taxonomy of fungi (the Netherlands); cryoptococcal virulence factors and pathogenesis (University of North Carolina USA and National Institute of Health USA); cryptococcal genome sequencing project (University of Washington, University of British Columbia, Canada, Duke University North Carolina); clinical mycology (University of Iowa and University of Alabama). Professor Sorrell has published widely and is a member of a number of Professional Committees and Advisory Boards (including Scientific Bodies).

Her major career achievements include:

• Establishment of Clinical Infectious diseases as a specialty within general Medicine in Australia and development of a Clinical research and training program. She has trained and/or fostered the careers of many of the current national leaders in Clinical Infectious diseases and Translational research in Infectious diseases/Microbiology;
  
• Establishment and expansion of research in Infectious diseases which encompasses bench to bedside, focussing on the neglected but important area of Medical Mycology and on novel uses of Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy and molecular tools in Infectious Diseases and Microbiology Research and practice;
  
• Establishment of the Centre for Infectious Diseases and Microbiology at Westmead in 1992, with the goal of creating a Centre of Excellence in research and Professional Training closely linked to the largest Infectious Diseases/Clinical and Public Health Laboratories in the state; o Major and consistent contributions to state, national and international policy forming and implementation bodies and to Westmead Hospital and the University of Sydney.