Dr Lenka Vodstrcil [BBiomed Sci, BSci(Hons), PhD] is a Senior Research Fellow and Principal Epidemiologist and Deputy Head of the Genital Microbiome Innovation Group at the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre, School of Translational Medicine, Monash University. She completed a PhD at the University of Melbourne in 2009 and began as a post-doctoral research fellow at the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre in 2010.

Lenka has a strong track record with >120 publications, national and international collaborations and impact on treatment guidelines and clinical practice.

Lenka leads translational research on women's sexual and reproductive health and sexually transmitted infections which are prone to antimicrobial resistance.

The common vaginal dysbiosis, bacterial vaginosis (BV), affects 1 in 4 women globally and is associated with several adverse sequelae including preterm birth, misscarriage, and HIV acquisition and transmission, but is highly refractory to treatment. Lenka's women's health programme aims to improve post-treatment cure for women with BV and understand the key drivers of a non-optimal vaginal microbiome. Her body of work has shown that BV has the epidemiological and microbiological profile of an STI, which requires consideration of sexual partners to prevent acquisition and re-infection. This work has recently culminated in a successful NHMRC-funded multicentre randomised controlled trial, that showed that the addition of male-partner treatment to female treatment for BV significantly improves cure. This research proves that BV is sexually transmitted and provides a simple cheap and short intervention to not only improve BV cure for women, but open up exciting new opportunities for BV prevention. Her paradigm-shifting work has changed the landscape of BV management. 

She also leads a research programme on the STI, Mycoplasma genitalium, which has the propensity to develop antimicrobial resistance. It is associated with gential symptoms in men and women and adverse reporductive health outcomes. Lenka's research into Mycoplasma genitalium assesses the application of novel resistance-guided therapy pathways to treat patients according to the drug-resistance profile and tracks the effectiveness of new treatment strategies. This program aims to maintain a high cure rate, and ensure optimal antimicrobial stewardship.

Lenka is a member of the ARC ITRP Research Hub to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance: https://amrhub.org.au/