Professor Peter Morris AM

Senior Principal Research Fellow, Head of the Ear Health Research Program, Child and Maternal Health Division

Qualifications:

PhD, University of Sydney, 1999; Fellow, Royal Australian College of Paediatrics, 1998; Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery, London University, 1986.

Approved level of HDR supervision at Charles Darwin University:

Primary Supervisor for PhD

Location:

Darwin - Royal Darwin Hospital campus

Biography:

Professor Peter Morris is a hospital clinician and visiting paediatrician to the Tiwi Islands. He is interested in clinical trials and systematic reviews of interventions for important childhood conditions. Peter teaches medical students through the Northern Territory Clinical School, supports doctors and nurses working at the Royal Darwin Hospital, and supervises students and staff within the Menzies School of Health Research. His research focus is on intervention studies and the application of evidence in practice.

Peter is an editor with the Acute Respiratory Infections Group of The Cochrane Collaboration. He is a contributor to the Indigenous Health InfoNet (ear and lung health). Peter contributes to the hospital paediatric guidelines and the CARPA Standard Treatment Manual. He also provides training in critical appraisal, evidence-based practice, clinical paediatrics and neonatal resuscitation.


 

 

 

Research Themes
  • Child and Maternal Health
  • Ear and Hearing Health
  • Maternal and Infant Health
  • Deadly Ears in Deadly Hands Trial: ‘Deadly Ears at Discharge’ - A hospital-based randomised controlled trial of an additional ear and hearing assessment to inform discharge planning by a trained Aboriginal Ear Health Worker in Aboriginal children with chronic ear infection.
  • Az@birth Trial: ‘Azithromycin before Birth’- Single dose azithromycin shortly before birth to reduce infection in Aboriginal mothers and babies: a randomised controlled trial.
  1. Francis JR, Fairhurst H, Yan J, Fernandes Monteiro A, Lee AM, Maurays J, Kaethner A, Whalley GA, Hardefeldt H, Williamson J, Marangou J, Reeves B, Wheaton G, Robertson T, Horton A, Cush J, Wade V, Monteiro A, Draper ADK, Morris PS, Ralph AP, Remenyi B. Abbreviated Echocardiographic Screening for Rheumatic Heart Disease by Nonexperts with and without Offsite Expert Review: A Diagnostic Accuracy Study. J Am Soc Echocardiogr. 2023 Jul;36(7):733-745. 
  2. Laird PJ, Walker R, McCallum G, Toombs M, Barwick M, Morris P, Aitken R, Cooper M, Norman R, Patel B, Lau G, Chang AB, Schultz A. Change in health outcomes for First Nations children with chronic wet cough: rationale and study protocol for a multi-centre implementation science study. BMC Pulm Med. 2022 Dec 29;22(1):492. 
  3. Middleton BF, Fathima P, Snelling TL, Morris P. Systematic review of the effect of additional doses of oral rotavirus vaccine on immunogenicity and reduction in diarrhoeal disease among young children. EClinicalMedicine. 2022 Oct 6;54:101687. 
  4. Leach AJ, Wilson N, Arrowsmith B, Beissbarth J, Mulholland EK, Santosham M, Torzillo PJ, McIntyre P, Smith-Vaughan H, Chatfield MD, Lehmann D, Binks M, Chang AB, Carapetis J, Krause V, Andrews R, Snelling T, Skull SA, Licciardi PV, Oguoma VM, Morris PS. Immunogenicity, otitis media, hearing impairment, and nasopharyngeal carriage 6-months after 13-valent or ten-valent booster pneumococcal conjugate vaccines, stratified by mixed priming schedules: PREVIX_COMBO and PREVIX_BOOST randomised controlled trials. Lancet Infect Dis. 2022 Sep;22(9):1374-1387.
  5. Leach AJ, Mulholland EK, Santosham M, Torzillo PJ, McIntyre P, Smith-Vaughan H, Wilson N, Arrowsmith B, Beissbarth J, Chatfield MD, Oguoma VM, Morris PS. Otitis media outcomes of a combined 10-valent pneumococcal Haemophilus influenzae protein D conjugate vaccine and 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine schedule at 1-2-4-6 months: PREVIX_COMBO, a 3-arm randomised controlled trial. BMC Pediatr. 2021 Mar 8;21(1):117. 
  6. Leach AJ, Morris PS, Coates HL, Nelson S, O'Leary SJ, Richmond PC, Gunasekera H, Harkus S, Kong K, Brennan-Jones CG, Brophy-Williams S, Currie K, Das SK, Isaacs D, Jarosz K, Lehmann D, Pak J, Patel H, Perry C, Reath JS, Sommer J, Torzillo PJ. Otitis media guidelines for Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children: summary of recommendations. Med J Aust. 2021 Mar;214(5):228-233.
  7. Binks MJ, Beissbarth J, Oguoma VM, Pizzutto SJ, Leach AJ, Smith-Vaughan HC, McHugh L, Andrews RM, Webby R, Morris PS, Chang AB. Acute lower respiratory infections in Indigenous infants in Australia's Northern Territory across three eras of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine use (2006-15): a population-based cohort study. Lancet Child Adolesc Health. 2020 Jun;4(6):425-434. 
  8. Leach AJ, Homøe P, Chidziva C, Gunasekera H, Kong K, Bhutta MF, Jensen R, Tamir SO, Das SK, Morris P. Panel 6: Otitis media and associated hearing loss among disadvantaged populations and low to middle-income countries. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2020 Mar;130 Suppl 1(Suppl 1):109857.
  9. 9. Goyal V, Grimwood K, Ware RS, Byrnes CA, Morris PS, Masters IB, McCallum GB, Binks MJ, Smith-Vaughan H, O'Grady KF, Champion A, Buntain HM, Schultz A, Chatfield M, Torzillo PJ, Chang AB. Efficacy of oral amoxicillin-clavulanate or azithromycin for non-severe respiratory exacerbations in children with bronchiectasis (BEST-1): a multicentre, three-arm, double-blind, randomised placebo-controlled trial. Lancet Respir Med. 2019 Sep;7(9):791-801. doi: 10.1016/S2213-2600(19)30254-1. Epub 2019 Aug 16.
  10. Brewster DR, Morris PS. Indigenous child health: Are we making progress? J Paediatr Child Health. 2015 Jan;51(1):40-7. 
     
Click here to view more Peter Morris publications in PubMed.
  1. MEDIA RELEASE | New research: NT children receive an effective vaccine to reduce hearing loss
  2. MEDIA RELEASE | Menzies researchers in the top 2 per cent
  3. Researchers at CDU some of the most influential in their fields
  4. $74 million investment in Australian-led clinical trials
  5. Preventing infant wheeze and childhood asthma
  6. Ear disease in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children
  7. Otitis media guidelines for Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children
  8. CDU academics named among world’s most influential
  9. Acute lower respiratory infections in Indigenous infants in the NT
  10. Northern Territory paediatrician honoured with Menzies Medallion
  11. Australian Doctor - otitis media clinical trial
  12. New Vaccine could help reduce Chronic ear disease.
  13. Extra vaccines may reduce 'unacceptable rates' of chronic ear disease in Indigenous children
  14. New treatment trialled in battle against ear disease
  15. Rapid iron infusion trial to tackle widespread deficiency among children in Australia’s Northern Territory
  16. Menzies secures 2016 NHMRC funding for groundbreaking projects