Professor Wright is an infectious diseases physician and is considered one of Australia's leading HIV clinicians and HIV clinical researchers and she has been caring for people living with HIV infection for over 35 years.  Her HIV research expertise lies in the area of the benefits of early treatment, HIV prevention, HIV cure and HIV neurological disorders.   

Professor Wright is past President of the Australasian Society of HIV, Viral Hepatitis and Sexual Health Medicine (ASHM), which has over 1,000 members. She is currently the chair of ASHM’s PrEP Guidelines Panel and the COVID-19 Taskforce. Dr Wright is a member of the Victorian Department of Health Blood Borne Viruses and STIs Committee and is the chair of the HIV Working Group of this Committee and as Chair has overseen the past two Victorian HIV strategies. Dr Wright has been the convenor of several national and international scientific conferences.

Dr Wright has published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet Infectious Diseases and several other high impact journals. As a Principal investigator she has attracted A$9,785,945 in research funding that includes funding from the National Institutes of Health, the National Health and Medical Research Council, Australian State governments and grants from pharmaceutical companies. She is internationally recognised for her work in HIV prevention and HIV-associated neurological disorders.  

Dr Wright has appeared regularly in national and international media- television, radio and electronic and print media and has been interviewed by The Lancet and the New York Times- referencing her leadership in HIV research.

Dr Wright is highly regarded by the Australian HIV affected community and has won several community awards including the GLOBE award for Straight Ally of the Year in 2015 and the inaugural Special Service Award from the Victorian AIDS Council in 2017. In 2019 Dr Wright was acknowledged in the Victorian Parliament for her work in HIV Prevention in Australia. In 2021 Dr Wright was awarded an Order of Australia (AM) in recognition for her work in HIV medicine and research.

She is also Honorary Principal Fellow and Co-Head HIV Elimination Program, Burnet Institute and Honorary Associate Professor, Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity.

Professor Wright’s clinical research interests include HIV prevention involving pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and early HIV treatment, HIV cure and HIV- associated neurological disorders. Dr Wright has led national and international clinical trials including a large PrEP trial in Australia, which enrolled over 5,000 participants.