Professor Locarnini is a past director of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Reference Laboratory for Hepatitis B and D for the Western Pacific Region (WPRO). His current research interests include viral hepatitis, hepatitis vaccines and antiviral chemotherapy with an emphasis on the basic virology of the various agents of hepatitis, the molecular pathogenesis of hepatitis, as well as prevention and public health control measures. He worked at the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory (VIDRL, originally Fairfield Hospital Virus Laboratory) from 1989, as Director of Laboratory Services from 1990 to 1998 and, in 1993, he oversaw the amalgamation of all the Fairfield Laboratories into the one service of the VIDRL.
