I am Senior Principal Scientist and Head of Virology at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) Porton Down, an agency of the UK Ministry of Defence. I am a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology.
I am responsible for a programme of research work which covers the broad disciplines of aerobiology, hazard assessment and medical countermeasures. The work of the team is focussed around understanding the characteristics of a range of viral pathogens, such as the alphaviruses, filoviruses and henipaviruses and conducted under high containment conditions including containment level 4. This work enables Dstl to provide the UK MoD with technical advice and knowledge.
I am a committee member of the UK Health and Safety Executives (HSE) Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens (ACDP) and between 2010 and 2014 I was deployed on three separate tours as the Scientific Advisor (SCIAD) to the Commander UK forces, based in Afghanistan. More recently I deployed to Sierra Leone during the 2014 Ebola epidemic.
