Speakers

Craig Bunn is the Quality Manager for Genial Genetic Solutions Ltd in addition to being the Product Manager for the iPassport quality management product developed by Genial Genetics. He has a degree in Applied Biology from Liverpool University, a specialist certificate in Environmental Management, a certificate in Quality Management as well as being a member of The Institute of Biologists, The Chartered Quality Institute and the Biochemical Society.

He joined Genial Genetics as a product specialist in 2004 following spells in a large multi-national environmental soil and water testing laboratory supplying UKAS and MCERT's accredited analysis, and a large multi-national agro/biotech manufacturer working under CGLP. Following his move from product specialist to product manager he has overseen the development of the quality management tools delivered by Genial Genetics, and continues to oversee development of new quality tools. As Quality Manager he has directed the processes required for the company to be certified by LRQA to ISO 9001 and ISO 9001 & TickIT in consecutive years, he is currently working on the processes required for ISO 13485 medical device standard certification, and ISO 14001 environmental management standard certification.

He has been married 4 months now and when not out walking the in-laws dogs he spends his spare time keeping his and Elizabeth's 15th century cottage in working order.

Luis Correia has a degree in Biochemistry and MSc in Quality Control (both by University of Porto, Portugal).

Initially, he was involved in research activities in molecular genetics at IBMC (Institute for Molecular and Cell Biology, in Porto, Portugal). During 6 years he taught in the biological sciences department, at IPVC (Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo, Portugal), where he participated, as a quality manager, in the development of a microbiology laboratory, as well as in the achievement of its accreditation according to ISO 17025. Since then, he has been directly involved in the accreditation process of public and private laboratories, in the areas of microbiology and chemistry, according to the same ISO standard. In 2007, he joined, as quality manager, the Centre for Predictive and Preventive Genetics (CGPP, IBMC, Porto, Portugal. Director: Professor Jorge Sequeiros). His collaboration in CGPP is currently focused on the preparation of the laboratory for accreditation, according to ISO 15189.

Education:
Ph.D in Biochemistry
Diploma in Business administration

Previous positions:
Research associate at the Weizman Institute of Science and in University of California in Los Angeles, molecular genetics (1983- 1990)
QC manager in Interpharm Laboratories Ltd.(1990- 1992)
General Director of Portmann Pharmaceuticals (1992-1994)
General director of the National Public Health Laboratories, Tel Aviv (1994- 2000)
General Director of Israel Laboratory Accreditation Authority (2000-2008)

Activities:
ILAC Executive (2000-2008)
ILAC Arrangement Committee (2004- 2008)
International speaker on accreditation and metrology for UNIDO and ILAC and PTB
ILAC representative to ISO/TC 212 (in vitro testing)
Consultant to Ministry of Environment and other Ministries on Metrology and environmental issues

Tony Herbert is Assistant Director of the Wessex Regional Genetics laboratory (WRGL) and co-director of the National Genetics Reference Laboratory (NGRL), both located at the District Hospital in Salisbury in the south of England. He has a Degree in Zoology, a PhD in Genetic Toxicology and originally trained as a Clinical Cytogeneticist, gaining a Diploma from the Royal College of Pathologists in 1986.

He joined the WRGL in 1982 as a research scientist when there were just 6 members of staff, compared to 97 today. He transferred to the diagnostic service in 1985 and has run all cytogenetic sections over the years. In 1992 he coordinated the move of laboratory to new premises which made good use of his practical abilities and was appointed as Assistant Director in 1993, to better reflect his changing duties in the laboratory. He took the unprecedented decision to transfer from principal grade scientist to chief technician in 1997, to allow him to further expand this trouble-shooting technical role. In addition to his role as laboratory manager and facilitator he was appointed as quality manager in 2004 where he has formed a committee of 15 people who monitor and maintain quality in the laboratory in accordance with CPA standards. He is currently working with a company in the north of England to develop robots to automate all stages of cytogenetic processing.

In his spare time Tony is a passionate beekeeper, currently working on the selection of a 'hygienic' strain of honeybee in an attempt to redress the ravages of a parasitic mite (varroa) that is devastating UK (and European) honeybee stocks. He has been married to Claire for 30 years and has three grown-up sons.

Ian Mann is a lead assessor at the Swiss Accreditation Service (SAS) since 1999. He is very active in the medical field as he is lead assessor for more than 20 medical laboratories, including genetic laboratories, and 2 EQA providers, with a total of over a hundred days of assessment according to ISO/IEC 17025 or ISO 15189. He also performs assessments in other fields such as environment, food analysis (chemical and microbiology) and forensics. He is also very active in the field of PT/EQA, as he is responsible within the SAS for the accreditation of PT/EQA providers and is a member of a number of working groups in the field of PT/EQA. He is an active member of a number of international (EA, ILAC and ISO) working groups, and is since the beginning of 2009, the ILAC representative to ISO Technical Committee 212.

Associate Professor in human molecular genetics of Wuerzburg university and director of the DNA diagnostic laboratory since 1985 with a focus on neuro-muscular and coagulation disorders. From 1994 to 2007 coordinator of the external quality assessment (EQA) program for clinical molecular genetics of the German Society of Human Genetics. Certified inspector for laboratory ISO-accreditation in human genetics. Deputy chairman of the European Molecular Genetics Quality Network (EMQN). Partner of the EU-funded projects Certified Reference Materials for Genetic Testing (CRMGEN), EuroGentest, TREAT-NMD and NMD-chip. Nominated expert by the German Federal Department of Health to the working party Biotechnology of OECD for the development of guidelines for quality assurance in molecular genetic testing.

Megan Nelson holds a Bachelor of Science degree with majors in Microbiology and Biochemistry from the University of Sydney. Her career in pathology began as a microbiologist in general laboratories. She moved into the specialised area of sexual health microbiology working at the Taylor Square Private Clinic and then as Senior Hospital Scientist at Sydney Hospital's Sexual Health Centre. Megan joined the National Association of Testing Authorities as a Lead Assessor in 1995. She was appointed Manager of the Medical Testing field in 2004. Megan has extensive experience in conducting assessments to ISO 15189 and is a nominated member of ISO TC 212. Her interests lie in the practical delivery of accreditation to medical laboratories and the ways in which accreditation can benefit laboratories to improve both quality management and technical competence.

Physician and specialist in Medical Microbiology and Internal Medicine. Professor, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of British Columbia (UBC). Chair of UBC Clinical Microbiology Proficiency Testing (CMPT) Program, and Chair of UBC Program Office for Laboratory Quality Management (POLQM). Medical Director for Quality, LifeLabs Medical Laboratory Services BC.

Dr. Noble is an active organization participant in the arenas of laboratory quality and proficiency testing, including ISO Technical Committee 212, Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute, Canadian Standards Association, and EQALM.

In my role as an Application Specialist I work specifically with Healthcare and Life Science organisations in the UK and internationally to understand the difficulties they are experiencing with their manual systems and to show them how Q-Pulse would deliver the improvement they desire while meeting their ISO, GxP or Governance requirements.

I also keep existing customers up to date with improvements that are coming down the line with Q-Pulse and make sure that any specific requirements from the Healthcare and Life Science customer base get fed back into the development cycle helping us to keep our customers ahead of the game. A good example of this would the work we have done to make Q-Pulse compliant with the proposed changes to EU Annex 11 for our customers managing GMP compliance prior to the changes being enforced.

When I am not at work I like to cook for family and friends, take weekend trips away to see many of the beautiful parts of Scotland, try my hand at Guitar Hero and more recently I have taken up tennis lesson which has turned out to be a lot harder than it looks.