Professor Jodie McVernon is a public health physician and epidemiologist. For the past 18 years she has been building capacity in infectious diseases modelling in Australia and our region to inform immunization and pandemic preparedness policy. She has led nationally distributed networks of modellers informing responses to the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic and the COVID-19 pandemic. Her particular interest is in the heterogeneity of impact of infectious diseases, including interventions for their control, and the need for a whole of society lens in preparedness and response.