CONFERENCE SPEAKERS

Advisors
Rocio T. Martinez Nunez
Rocio T. Martinez Nunez
Senior Lecturer, Dept. Infectious Diseases, School of Immunology & Microbial Sciences,
King College London

Rocio’s group investigates post-transcriptional RNA regulation in inflammation and inflammatory diseases, particularly severe asthma. They focus on investigating how mRNA translation and decay modulate cellular pathways that are “traditionally” transcriptional. Keen on bioinformatics, open source everything. SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics.


Elfatih Mustafa Awadel-Kariem
Elfatih Mustafa Awadel-Kariem
Consultant Microbiologist & Director for Infection Prevention & Control (DIPC), Basildon and Thurrock NHS University Hospital,
Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust

After graduating from medical school Dr Awad-El-Kariem completed MSc and PhD degrees at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and was then employed there as a post-doc to study molecular typing of Cryptosporidium.  He was then offered the prestigious Wellcome Research Career Development Fellowship in 1995 to study opportunistic infections in AIDS patients at Imperial College, London.  He later accepted a post as a Consultant Microbiologist in 2006, with special interest in Infection Prevention and Control.  He is currently the Director of Infection Prevention and Control (DIPC) in a large teaching hospital just outside London.  His research interests include drug resistance in protozoan parasites, population genetics in medical protozoa, antibiotic multi-drug resistance in Gram Negative Bacteria and Molecular diagnostics of Clostridioides difficile.


Peter Munthali
Peter Munthali
Consultant- Bacteriology · Microbiology,
University Hospital Coventry

Peter is a Clinical Lead, Microbiologist in University Hospitals of Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust and Trust Clinical Lead for antimicrobial stewardship with a great track history of continuous clinical service mprovements in tertiary healthcare. He is skilled in formation and leading highly functional and agile clinical teams. He is an accomplished and GMC certified medical educator, coach and mentor and enjoys teaching.


Tina Joshi
Tina Joshi
Chair of the Federation of Infection Societies (FIS) for the Microbiology Society | Deputy Editor-in-Chief: Journal of Medical Microbiology (Microbiology Society) | Council & Trustee- Microbiolo,
Antibiotic Research UK (ANTRUK)


Speakers
Preetha Shibu
Preetha Shibu
Senior Biomedical Scientist and Quality Lead,
Frimley NHS Trust


David Nicolau
David Nicolau
Chief,
Preclinical Development and Commercial Strategies Center for Anti-Infective Research & Development H


Dipti Patel
Dipti Patel
Infection and Immunity Lead | Scientist/Manager,
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust

Senior biomedical scientist working at Imperial college healthcare NHS Trust for 20 years initially as Immunologist and later on moved to virology. Currently working as lead scientist for infection and immunity in multidisciplinary lab.


Stephen Bustin
Stephen Bustin
Professor of Molecular Medicine,
Medical Technology Research Centre, Anglia Ruskin University, UK

Stephen Bustin obtained his PhD in Molecular Genetics from Trinity College, University of Dublin, Ireland. He was Professor of Molecular Science at Queen Mary, University of London before moving to Anglia Ruskin University in 2012, where he is currently Professor of Molecular Medicine. His research interests centre around developing novel approaches for the early diagnosis of infectious diseases. Professor Bustin was an expert witness advising the UK High Court and the US Department of Justice on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology in the Measles Mumps Rubella (MMR) vaccine - Autism class action. He has authored numerous papers, review articles and book chapters aimed at improving the reproducibility and robustness of molecular methods, especially those based on the use of the PCR and has presented hundreds of talks and workshops worldwide on this subject. He has published three books, the “A-Z of quantitative PCR” (2004), universally known as the “qPCR Bible”,“The PCR Revolution” (2011) and “PCR Technology” (2013). He led an international consortium developing the MIQE guidelines for the use and reporting of real-time (2009) and digital PCR (2013). Professor Bustin is Editor-in Chief (Gene Expression), International Journal of Molecular Sciences and is a member of the editorial boards of several peer-reviewed journals. During the COVID-19 pandemic he published several papers highlighting the importance of correct testing for SARS-CoV-2 and developed a novel five-plex assay targeting the virus. He is currently developing a sub five-minute combined extraction, RT and PCR test for point-of-care diagnosis. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology (FRSB) and a Member of the Academia Europaea (MAE).


Thomas Blanchard
Thomas Blanchard
Consultant in Infectious Disease,
Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust


Jennifer Heaney
Jennifer Heaney
Researcher,
University of Birmingham

Dr Jennifer Heaney is a Researcher within the Clinical Immunology Service in the Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy. Jennifer’s main theme of research is immunoassay development for clinical applications, focusing on multiple myeloma, measurement of immunocompetence, and non-invasive testing. She collaborates with industry partners to develop and validate novel immunoassays.  She has received funding from Cancer Research UK, the MRC and NIHR.


Dushyanthie Athukorala
Dushyanthie Athukorala
Consultant in Microbiology,
UHCW NHS Trust


Helen Dent
Helen Dent
Chief Operating Officer,
BIVDA

Helen comes from a procurement background and has held roles at NHS PASA in pharmaceutical purchasing and childhood vaccines, as well as pharmacy and diagnostics procurement for Surrey and Sussex Confederation, and National Contracts Manager for laboratory goods at NHSBT.

Helen worked for 11 years in a number of roles across UK and Europe at Abbott, leading supplier management and contract provision for managed services.

She is a member of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply, has an MSC in Strategic Procurement from the University of Glamorgan Business School, and an LLM in Public Procurement Law and Policy from the University of Nottingham, School of Law.


Parisa Nakhostin Mortazavi
Parisa Nakhostin Mortazavi
Research Assistant,
Birkbeck College


TBA, Senior Representative, Eurobio Scientific
TBA, Senior Representative, Eurobio Scientific
,


TBA, Senior Representative, Randox Laboratories
TBA, Senior Representative, Randox Laboratories
,


TBA, Senior Representative, AusDiagnostics
TBA, Senior Representative, AusDiagnostics
,


TBA, Senior Representative, OLM Diagnostics
TBA, Senior Representative, OLM Diagnostics
,


Stuart Whitmore
Stuart Whitmore
Molecular Laboratory Manager,
East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust

Stuart is a Biomedical Scientist and Molecular Laboratory Manager at Ipswich Hospital, East Suffolk North Essex Foundation Trust (ESNEFT). He has an MSc in Virology and has worked within NHS diagnostic virology laboratories since 2002. He joined ESNEFT in 2021 to develop the molecular diagnostic service for the Trust and guest lecturers at the University of Essex on their BSc Biomedical Science course.


Dwight Egan
Dwight Egan
Chief Executive Officer,
Co-Diagnostics, Inc

Mr. Egan has been engaged in private investment business from February 1999 to the present. He was a senior executive at Data Broadcasting Corporation, a leading provider of wireless, real-time financial market data from 1995 to 1999 after co-founding and serving as CEO and Chairman of the Board of Broadcast International, Inc. from 1984 to 1995, when Data Broadcasting Corporation acquired Broadcast International and created CBS MarketWatch. Mr. Egan is a co-founder of Co-Dx and its President and CEO since its inception, actively involved in the day-to-day operations and guiding the vision for the company and its future.


Peter Munthali
Peter Munthali
Consultant- Bacteriology · Microbiology,
University Hospital Coventry

Peter is a Clinical Lead, Microbiologist in University Hospitals of Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust and Trust Clinical Lead for antimicrobial stewardship with a great track history of continuous clinical service mprovements in tertiary healthcare. He is skilled in formation and leading highly functional and agile clinical teams. He is an accomplished and GMC certified medical educator, coach and mentor and enjoys teaching.


Elfatih Mustafa Awadel-Kariem
Elfatih Mustafa Awadel-Kariem
Consultant Microbiologist & Director for Infection Prevention & Control (DIPC), Basildon and Thurrock NHS University Hospital,
Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust

After graduating from medical school Dr Awad-El-Kariem completed MSc and PhD degrees at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and was then employed there as a post-doc to study molecular typing of Cryptosporidium.  He was then offered the prestigious Wellcome Research Career Development Fellowship in 1995 to study opportunistic infections in AIDS patients at Imperial College, London.  He later accepted a post as a Consultant Microbiologist in 2006, with special interest in Infection Prevention and Control.  He is currently the Director of Infection Prevention and Control (DIPC) in a large teaching hospital just outside London.  His research interests include drug resistance in protozoan parasites, population genetics in medical protozoa, antibiotic multi-drug resistance in Gram Negative Bacteria and Molecular diagnostics of Clostridioides difficile.