A professor who influenced the world’s pandemic public health responses has been named on Time Magazine‘s ‘100 Most Influential People of 2021’.

QUT’s Distinguished Professor Lidia Morawska’s appears alongside the world-renowned names of Prince Harry and Meghan, Britney Spears and Xi Jinping.

Professor Morawska is among those responsible for alerting the world to the significance of airborne particles in COVID-19 transmission.

She told Gareth Parker while medical professionals understood the role of airborne particles, health authorities did not.

“If you asked scientists, or medical professionals … they all understand that airborne transmission is the most important.

“It is however the public health authorities … had us believe that it is the big particles and the surfaces … we had to convince them to change their view.”

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