Professor Mary-Louise McLaws is an epidemiologist at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) with expertise in hospital infection and infectious diseases control.

Her COVID-19 related activities includes membership of the World Health Organization (WHO) Health Emergencies Program Experts Advisory Panel for Infection Prevention and Control Preparedness, Readiness and Response to COVID-19, and of the NSW Clinical Excellence Commission COVID Infection Prevention and Control taskforce. She is the Focal Point for the WHO Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) in the School of Population Health.

She was a short missions World Health Organization Advisor to China and Malaysia during the development of national hospital infection surveillance. Mary-Louise was a member of the WHO Clean Care is Safer Care Challenge program that developed and trial the guideline. She collaborated with Beijing to review the response to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak and healthcare worker safety for the Hong Kong SARS designated hospital.