Prof Linnane is a Paediatric Respiratory Consultant in University Hospital Limerick, where he takes the clinical lead in the provision of care to children with cystic fibrosis (CF). He was a member of the National Steering Group for the Introduction of CF Newborn Screening in Ireland in 2011 and sits on the National Bloodspot Screening Programme Governance Group. In addition, he is a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the CF Registry of Ireland, and the Medical and Scientific Council of Cystic Fibrosis Ireland. He currently sits on the National Clinical Programme – CF Working Group. He is a member of the European CF Society Screening, and Diagnosis, Working Groups, and is a member of European Respiratory Society Infant and Pre-school Working Group.

Dr Emer Fitzpatrick, Consultant Paediatric Gastroenterologist, Children’s Health Ireland.

Ann began her career as a research assistant in the Metabolic Disease Unit at the University of London Institute of Child Health where she first developed her interest in inherited metabolic disease. She moved to the Clinical Biochemistry Department of Bristol Royal Infirmary to train to be a Clinical Scientist and after completion of training was appointed to a post, specialising in paediatric and metabolic biochemistry. She obtained her PhD at Bristol University whilst working with the NHS Specialist Service for Barth Syndrome at Bristol Children’s Hospital.  Ann is now a Consultant Clinical Scientist in Blood Sciences, Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals, specialising in inherited metabolic diseases as well as contributing to the routine work of the department.

Dr. Peadar McGing is a retired Principal Clinical Biochemist who worked in the Mater Hospital for almost four decades. Peadar is a co-editor of Clinical Biochemistry News, the ACBI/LabMed RoI newsletter, and is the current Chair of the Board of Directors of IEQAS.

Peadar’s special interests are in education, fluid biochemistry, tumour markers, and history of laboratory medicine. In 2022 he was awarded Fellowship of the ACB [now LabMed], an award ‘created to recognize individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the practice of clinical biochemistry and laboratory medicine’.  

Dr. McGing is an editor and co-author of the widely used ACBI guideline booklets. The latest update of the Biochemistry of Body Fluids is being launched at this meeting. He has recently co-authored a chapter on that topic for the new edition of Tietz Textbook of Laboratory Medicine.

Outside of academic interests Peadar is a keen track and field athlete and is the current holder of a number of Irish Masters titles and Irish Masters records in his age-group. He is also writing a biography of Prof. Edmond McWeeney (1864-1925), the first whole-time Professor of Pathology in Ireland and founder of the Mater Hospital laboratory.

Dr Shorten is a Consultant Clinical Scientist at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals. He has broad experience in clinical microbiology and is the departmental lead for research, and the pathology lead for clinical audit. He is an honorary senior lecturer at the University of Manchester, and his research interests have included tuberculosis, including completing a PhD in the field of molecular epidemiology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, as well as other papers in the areas of laboratory diagnostics, and viral haemorrhagic fevers. His current interests include diagnostic stewardship and environmental sustainability. He is also the current Chair of the Microbiology Professional Committee of the ACB.

Siobhán Power is a National HSCP Innovation Fellow with the HSE Spark Innovation Programme and a Clinical Specialist Dietitian with nearly twenty years of experience in the acute hospital setting. Through her role at Spark, she has championed frontline innovation and developed valuable insights into the complex challenges of modern healthcare delivery.

Siobhán is currently undertaking a Professional Diploma in Leadership in Digital Health Transformation, further strengthening her expertise at the intersection of healthcare, innovation, and digital transformation.

Professor Colin Hawkes is a Consultant Paediatric Endocrinologist and Associate Professor of Paediatrics at University College Cork, and an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Pennsylvania. He is also the Clinical Director for Paediatrics at Cork University Hospital. He received his medical degree and PhD from University College Cork and completed his paediatric residency and endocrinology fellowship at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). He has published over 100 manuscripts on topics spanning the spectrum of paediatric endocrinology, including disorders of growth and the GH/IGF-I axis, hypoglycaemia, type 1 diabetes, and disorders of bone metabolism.

David Taylor has worked in and around the urine steroid profiling laboratory at King’s College Hospital as a Clinical Scientist since 2010. He has led the laboratory since 2018 after being promoted to Consultant status, being appointed Director of this Supraregional Assay Service (one of two in the U.K) the following year. Urine steroid profiling by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry remains the gold standard for biochemical diagnosis of steroidogenic disorders and the service at King’s provides profiling and advice for more than 160 hospitals across the UK and Ireland. More recently, David has led on the development and implementation of a number of serum steroid tests using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, complementing the existing urine steroid profiling service. David holds a BSc, MSc and PhD in Clinical Biochemistry and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists. He publishes regularly in the fields of endocrinology and steroid analysis.

Prof Deirdre Murray is a Professor of Paediatrics and Consultant Paediatrician in the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Cork University Hospital. In 2023 she took up the role of Chair of Early Brain Injury and Cerebral Palsy, University College Cork. Prof Murray completed her PhD in the area of neonatal hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy, supported by the Denis O’Sullivan Research Fellowship award. Prof Murray has a strong research background in newborn brain injury and developmental assessment. She is a founding member and a principal investigator of the INFANT (Irish Centre for Maternal and Child Health Research centre (www.infantcentre.ie). She is the principal investigator of the Cork BASELINE Birth Cohort Study and the BiHiVE study. Through large international studies she has been working to develop new ways to predict newborn brain injury using blood-based biomarkers and early neurological assessment. In 2012 she was awarded a Health Research Board Clinician Scientist Award to study early blood-based biomarkers in hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE), the BiHiVE2 study. Her group were the first to report the metabolomic profile of newborns with HIE, through the use of semi-targeted, untargeted and targeted techniques: finally quantifying the Amino Acid profiles of infants with HIE to predict MRI abnormalities and outcome. She has completed work on miRNA profiled in HIE and validated these findings in multiple cohorts in both Sweden and Ireland. In 2024 she was co-lead on a 10 million Euro strategic programme award funded by Research Ireland and the CP Foundation to improve prediction and detection of Cerebral Palsy following perinatal brain injury.

Tim is a Consultant Clinical Scientist at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle Upon Tyne, a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists and Chartered Scientist. He trained as a clinical biochemist in Nottingham before moving to senior posts in Oxford, Belfast and Durham where he developed his interest in paediatric biochemistry including hypoglycaemia and demand management solutions for primary and secondary care. He is the lead for the UK National Minimum Re-testing Interval in Pathology project which has developed recommendations for their use in clinical practice. He was the Chair of the IFCC Committee for Emerging Technologies in Paediatric Laboratory Medicine from 2018-2023.

Dr Siobhán Neville is a Consultant Paediatrician at University Hospital Limerick and Associate Professor of Paediatrics at University of Limerick School of Medicine, Ireland. She has a Masters in Quality and Safety in Healthcare Management from the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland and completed a clinical fellowship in Paediatric Hospital Medicine at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada. She spent six months working in rural Tanzania as part of her postgraduate training in Paediatrics, delivering clinical care and training for neonatal and child health. Her clinical and research interests are in Inclusion Health and the impact of the social determinants of health on child health and well-being. She is currently leading the implementation of a pilot Inclusion Health service at University of Limerick Hospitals Group.

Dr. Karen Perkins has had a diverse career to date, which includes: post-doctoral research associate at the National Heart and Lung Institute, London; team leader at Unilever R&D working on a project focused on what it takes to be a healthy octogenarian – living healthy for longer. She is a Principal Clinical Scientist at Morecambe Bay Hospitals NHS Trust, since 2020. She has a special interest in patient centric sampling and enabling access to blood tests for under-served populations.