The Science of Saving Koalas
Join us in New York to learn how science combined with frontline wildlife care is saving an iconic and unique Australian species.
For the first time, you can go inside Currumbin Wildlife Hospital, one of the busiest wildlife hospitals in the world, to hear how scientists have successfully stabilised a wild koala population.
Hosted by: Steven Marshall AO, President of The American Australian Association
The interactive experience features Dr Michael Pyne OAM and Dr Lyndal Hulse.
Event Date: Thursday 30th April 2026
Event Time: 6:00 pm
Event Finish: 9:00 pm
Where: American Australian Association
600 3rd Avenue, Fl 34
New York, NY 10016
To showcase world-leading Australian science, conservation and collaboration that is actively preventing the extinction of koalas, and to connect the American Australian Association community with a powerful, hopeful story unfolding in real time.
The Truth - and the Hope: How Team Queensland Is Saving the Koala
It is a confronting truth: koalas are now listed as endangered in Queensland, New South Wales and the ACT. The key threatening processes driving this decline are habitat loss and disease, particularly chlamydia. While koala populations in Victoria and South Australia are not currently listed as endangered, this is only because the disease has not yet taken hold there, not because they are immune.
But there is real hope. Team Queensland is saving the koala species through an unprecedented, science-led collaboration. A world-first koala chlamydia vaccine, developed by immunologists at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), is working hand-in-hand with advanced research in genetics, reproduction, microbiome science, retrovirus and DNA led by the University of Queensland (UQ). This is matched by the frontline emergency response and koala ecology teams at Currumbin Wildlife Hospital. Together, their five-year applied research program has proven something once thought impossible: that a declining koala population can be stabilised and brought back from the brink of extinction.
This is what guests will discover, that when science, care and collaboration come together, extinction is not inevitable.
What to expect:
After enjoying drinks and canapes with like-minded lovers of wildlife, the event will unfold with a behind-the-scenes experience, connecting guests live to Currumbin Wildlife Hospital in Australia. Hosted via live broadcast with Dr Michael Pyne OAM, Senior Veterinarian and Head of Research with more than 25 years’ experience in koala and wildlife health, guests will be taken directly into the heart of the hospital.
Dr Pyne will guide attendees on a virtual tour through the hospital on a busy morning in Australia, offering a rare opportunity to see veterinarians and nurses at work as they treat injured and sick wildlife in real time.
The broadcast will then transition to an interactive Q&A discussion with Dr Pyne and Dr Lyndal Hulse (pictured right), who will answer questions and share insights into the groundbreaking koala conservation and vaccine program. Together, this format connects guests directly with the science, the people and the impact, turning observation into understanding and understanding into action.
The Q&A session will be led from The Murdoch Center by Georgia Lane, Head of Philanthropy & Development and President of Women of Influence (QLD), who works alongside Dr Pyne & Dr Hulse and has been hosting events in Queensland for more than 20 years.
Bringing Australia to you.