My career to date has alternated between service and academic microbiology in the UK, Nigeria and Vietnam. My current post, group leader at the Quadram Institute is focused on translational research on Microbes in the Food Chain.

I have a keen interest in the use of new technology in countries with developing economies.

In the past I have: designed and delivered a teaching programme for public health and clinical microbiology in Nigeria; setup microbiology research in Vietnam; established and run a research group at the Welcome Trust Sanger Institute; and directed for three years the HPA’s Gastrointestinal Reference Laboratory at Colindale (now Public Health England’s GBRU).

My research has described the influence on treatment outcome of reduced susceptibility to fluoroqinolones; linked antibiotic resistance and virulence in Salmonella; paved the way for the first Salmonella to be genome sequenced; produced high throughput genetic techniques for typing Salmonella (MLST); generated genomic methods for screening gene function and regulation in host adapted bacterial pathogens (TraDIS); and defined the parameters for the routine use of whole genome sequencing in public health microbiology.