Annual Scientific Meeting 2024

Medical Physician, 1987 Specialist in hygiene and environmental medicine,1988 -1994 Managing Director at the Hygiene Institute of the Ruhr region, From 1994 to 2020: Full Professor (C4) at the Chair of Hygiene and Public Health at the University of Bonn and Managing Director of the Institute, WHO Collaborating Centre for Drinking Water Hygiene, Managing Director of the Centre for lnfectiology and Infection Prevention, Since 2020: Prof. emeritus

Membership: Member of the German Commission for Hospital Hygiene and Infection Prevention (KRINKO) at the Robert Koch Institute since 1989, Member of the Federal Drinking Water Commission of the Federal Ministry of Health since 1990, President of the German Society for Hospital Hygiene (DGKH) , Member of the disinfectant commission of the German Association for Applied Hygiene since 1988 (chairman of this commission for more than 15 years until now)

Honours: -2004 -Awarded the Johann Peter Frank Medal (highest honour of the German Association of Public Health Service Physicians for services to public health),

2007 -Appointed Honorary Fellow of the Indian Public Health Association,

2012 – Awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Lorraine (Metz, Nancy),

2023 – Awarded the German Federal Cross of Merit 1st Class

Paul has a military background and then qualified as a Management Accountant before working as a Management Consultant for Capita delivering a transformation of Sport England’s Lottery and Grant Management, including the design and implementation of a Shared Service Centre, with positive NAO audit reports. Paul has 13 years independent consultancy experience, ranging from setting up the first Health and Wellbeing Hub in the Sir Ludwig Guttmann centre, to IT Programme Management of BUPA’s £63 flagship office in Salford Quays. 

Following this Paul was the Head pf PPE Reuse, Innovation and Sustainability in DHSC and NHS Supply Chain for 3 years through the pandemic.  During his tenure Paul managed the development and publication of the Transparent Face Mask Specification, as well as supporting 9 companies to offer a compliant, fully tested transparent mask for use where a Type IIR would normally be worn. The team trialled a reusable Type IIR mask, lasting 30 washes and replacing some of the 1.4bn single use masks being used in the pandemic, (700m in BAU). Paul’s team also designed, developed and launched the Glove MOOC to replicate previous work by GOSH,  and available across the world. This is a one hour education and information package informing glove users about appropriate use of gloves and reducing inappropriate use. The vision was for as many to complete the one hour course and ultimately reduce the 6bn-7bn gloves used in health and care annually, as well as the waste and CO2(e).

Since leaving the NHS Supply Chain, Paul has moved back to being an independent consultant focussing on innovation and sustainability in heath and care settings. He has supported Bolle on putting an eye protection prototype in to a number of organisations for final feedback, to ensure the product launching in Sep 24 is excellent for health and care staff. Paul is also currently undertaking a study with Northampton General Hospital and Mackwell Health Ltd to reduce water -43m litres, power -86%, waste 100Tonnes and -97% CO2(e) generated from reprocessing reusable anaesthetic masks in Washer Disinfectors and autoclave units. Alongside this there is also ongoing work to demonstrate improved environmental cleaning to reduce HCAIs, C-Diff and improve staff health and wellbeing through reducing harmful cleaning chemicals.

As Senior Medical Affairs Manager for EMEA for Nanosonics, Ellie Wishart is responsible for
engaging with thought leaders and key organisations on infection prevention &
decontamination and speaks at national & international conferences on such topics. Ellie
works closely with the sales & marketing teams to empower education, practical knowledge
and best practices in Infection Prevention and decontamination.
Ellie has a degree in Microbiology from University College Dublin, Ireland and has been
involved in the provision of Infection Prevention solutions to Healthcare facilities for over 20
years.
Nanosonics is an Australian infection prevention company that has successfully developed
and commercialised a unique automated disinfection technology, the trophon® device,
representing the first major innovation in high level disinfection for ultrasound probes in more
than 20 years. The trophon device is fast becoming the global standard of care for
ultrasound probe disinfection

Mr Fraser Sutherland is a Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon at Circle Health Group’s Ross Hall Hospital, Glasgow and the Golden Jubilee University National Hospital. He practices a range of cardiac surgical procedures including coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR), mitral valve repair (MVR) and aortic root replacement (ARR).

Mr Sutherland studied medicine at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. He obtained an honours degree from Cambridge University in 1988 and his medical degree from Cambridge University School of Clinical Medicine in 1990. Thereafter, he began his early postgraduate training at Addenbrooke’s Hospital where he worked under several famous names in medicine and surgery before rotating through hospitals in Oxford, Cambridge and London.

In 2000, Mr Sutherland was awarded an International Travelling Fellowship from the British Cardiac Society to study at Harvard Medical School. During this time, he developed the world’s first stem cell engineered artificial heart valve and was awarded an MD from Cambridge University in 2006. Mr Sutherland undertook training in robot assisted mitral valve surgery in North Carolina USA with Professor Randolph Chitwood. This unique experience sparked an interest in all things minimally invasive. More recently Mr Sutherland has been instrumental in developing the new AVATAR procedure (Advanced Videoscopic, Aortic-valve-surgery, Transcervical Approach, Robot-assisted) using a Robot Enabling Technology from NHS spin out company, CardioPrecision Ltd.  Robotic cardiac surgery is still in its infancy in the UK but Mr Sutherland is committed to bringing the benefits of robotics to cardiac surgical patients.

With over 25 years of decontamination experience in both the public and private sectors, Stuart has managed 24/7 365 days SSD processing in excess of 5m instruments plus flexible endoscopes in both the UK and overseas.

Stuart has been credited to have successfully established & managed new, recovering failing and established Sterile Services. 

Stuart has managed Reprocessing, Biocompatibility plus Decontamination for CMR Surgical for over 4 years where he has utilised his experience and expertise to contribute to the company’s medical device manufacturing, ensuring its robotic products can be safely and easily reprocessed. Stuart has now started his own Validation and Decontamination consultancy company. Offering advice and solutions on medical device validations and decontamination issues in reprocessing facilities.

Isabella is a postdoctoral research assistant at Cardiff University working on a European funded project combatting antimicrobial resistance in drain biofilms. Issy is originally from Manchester but completed her BSc at Newcastle University in Marine Biology, then went on to do a Masters of Research in Biosciences at Cardiff University. Following this, she started her PhD in the School of Pharmacy investigating the resistance of dry surface biofilms to surface cleaning and disinfection, a relatively new topic in the field of infection prevention and control. Issy finished her PhD in August 2022 and has been doing her postdoc since.

Issy is also a Microbiology Society champion and STEM ambassador, regularly doing science outreach work.

Jimmy worked for Public Health England as a scientific leader in water microbiology and decontamination and managed a range of research projects on pathogens such as Legionella spp., Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Mycobacteria spp. He collaborated closely with the Department of Health (DH England) and the Health and Safety Executive in writing and developing national and international guidance on the microbiology of water and decontamination in healthcare. He has an extensive publication record including his recently authored book “Safe Water in Healthcare”. Jimmy is very proud to be the current Chair of CSC and is looking forward to handing the CSC Chair’s  bell over to the new Chair at the AGM.

Doros is the Managing Director of STERIS Instrument Processing, responsible for the delivery of decontamination services from a network of over 35 sterile services facilities across EMEA. Prior to his current role, Doros held a number of senior operations roles within the information technology sector before commencing his career in decontamination at Northwick Park Hospital, London in 2008 and has since worked for Synergy Health, then STERIS.

Doros is passionate about patient care outcomes, resulting from the quality of services provided to STERIS’ Customers, with a clear focus on development and investment in people and innovation/emerging technology in the decontamination sector.  In addition, Doros has embedded a sustainability and social value business ethos, including a commitment to achieve carbon neutrality in line with the NHS Green Plan and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Doros is both an active member of the Institute of Decontamination Sciences, the Central Sterilising Club and various Circular Economy and sustainability working groups.

Graham is a military trained ODP, who spent 9 years in the Army, serving in the UK, Germany and Northern Ireland. After leaving the military, he worked within the NHS and private sectors as an ODP across the North West of England.

In 2006, Graham was recruited into his first sales role for Eschmann Equipment, as a territory manager in the North West UK region, selling surgical capital equipment into the NHS and private sectors. In 2011 he was promoted to National Sales Manager, where he was able to build his own Team, who are still in post today, albeit under the STERIS banner.

Graham was promoted to UK and IE Sales Director in July 2022 and is responsible for 4 business units; Surgical Capital, IPT Capital, Endoscopy Consumables and IPT Consumables. He is married to Cara and they have 2 grown up boys, Liam (28) and Daniel (25). Graham’s interests include sport (football and squash), cooking and general socialising.

Patrick is a Project & Partnership Manager for Ufi VocTech Trust.

Patrick has been involved in digital technology and learning for 35 years. Originally a school teacher, Patrick became fascinated by how learning technology could accelerate learning and result in higher quality and more meaningful results.

Patrick has worked in a very wide range of commercial and state sectors, and has consulted on, designed and delivered projects using a broad range of technology, from laser disks to mobile VR. His specialisms are cultivating innovation in learning technology and connecting learning to organisational strategy. Patrick holds an MBA from Warwick Business School, an MSc in Networked Learning from Lancaster University and a music degree from Oxford.

Lena Cordie-Bancroft is the Sector Lead for Medical Devices on BSI’s Knowledge Solutions division, where she is responsible for working with industry and government stakeholders to address challenges surrounding the development and designation of medical devices standards; providing subject matter expertise and thought leadership to strengthen and promote the use of standards to support regulation; and influencing the strategy of healthcare standards through innovation and collaboration with other sectors. Her areas of focus include reprocessing of medical devices, sustainability and circular economy, and artificial intelligence and software as medical devices.

Lena was previously president and principal consultant at Qualitas Professional Service, where she worked with medical device companies to implement quality management systems, international regulatory requirements related to quality systems, risk management, labelling and Unique Device Identification (UDI) requirements. She has been involved in AAMI Sterilization Standards, ISO/TC 145, ISO/TC 198 and ISO/TC 210 work groups, and is the convener of ISO/TC 210 WG3. She is also involved in Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society (RAPS), and serves as a leader of the UK Local Networking Group, and chair of the RAPS Awards Committee. Lena is involved in a number of ABHI groups and is the chair of the ABHI Decontamination Group. She is a member of the Kilmer Regulatory Innovation Team, chairs the AAMI Awards Committee and serves on AAMI’s Editorial Board.

Val initially trained as a teacher before moving into the NHS, where she spent 23 years in Sterile Services and General Management whilst also gaining an MSc.

She worked at NHS Estates as Principal Technical Lead (Decontamination) participating in the development of the National Decontamination Strategy. She worked on revisions of various Health Technical Memoranda, Health Building Note 13 for SSDs and in the development of a National E-Learning Decontamination Training program before moving into the private sector where she worked globally.

She started her own consultancy business in 2017 and has been chairperson of both the Institute of Decontamination Sciences and the Central Sterilising Club. Up until recently Val was a long-standing active member of BSI Standards Committee CH198 Sterilization and Associated Equipment and Processes representing CSC and is currently leading a multidisciplinary professional group developing decontamination guidance. She is currently working on retiring!

Jincy Jerry is the Assistant Director of Nursing in Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) at the Mater University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland. She has expertise in clinical disinfection, decontamination, surveillance, outbreak management, and healthcare ventilation. Jincy was awarded the “Hospital Manager of the Year 2020” by Irish Healthcare Awards for her outstanding leadership and inspirational vision. Jincy is a pioneer in the application of robotic process automation (RPA) in clinical settings in Irish healthcare. Jincy is a driving force in innovation and so far has gathered three ICPIC Innovation Academy Awards in 2021 and 2023, Bright Spark Award in 2022. Out of more than 52,000 candidates from around the world, Jincy was chosen as a Top 10 Finalist for the Aster Guardians Global Nursing Award in 2023.

Paul is director at Quiqsolutions Ltd who have been supplying Quality Assurance Systems across the entire spectrum of Health & Social Care since 2012.

He has had a long and varied career as an advisor to business and the health sector on digital supply chain and compliance solutions.

In 2021 Quiqsolutions in conjunction with the NHS developed iQAAPS, an auditing and data solution used by over 160 Trusts and Health Boards with Aseptic Pharmacies in England and Wales.

A founder of Quiqsolutions he led their growth to an industry leader in compliance software and remains involved in a leadership role for the organisation since their acquisition by Citation Group in 2023.

He has been working with IHEEM over the last 12 months developing tools for digitising the audit process for decontamination.

Sam Murray is a qualified nurse of over 26 years, an infection prevention nurse of 22 years and decontamination manager of over 12 years.

She is also very proud to report she is the founder and coordinator of Usk New Start Cat Rescue established in 2011, with its ethos as ‘small but mighty’. Minimal resource with big intent and gain.

Her current role as decontamination manager in Aneurin Bevan University Health Board is ensuring safe decontamination across all specialities in a variety of settings, where decontamination occurs in both local and central locations, across community and acute care settings.

Throughout the years, Sam has seen improvements in decontamination in all Directorates within her organisation, by identifying areas of concern, risk assessing, standardising practice and raising the decontamination agenda.

She has an understanding of and a passion for decontamination and is known for her commitment to those principles, including new technologies, and sharing knowledge. She takes pride as the first clinical decontamination manager in Wales and possibly one of the first in the UK.

As a clinician she has been instrumental in lessening the gap of the ‘perceived’ silo working of decontamination units to those in clinical areas. Sam believes that once individuals in both areas have understanding of each other’s practice, and recognise the impact of their actions on each other, then prudent healthcare principles can be appreciated.

Mike Simmons is a consultant medical microbiologist.  His training in microbiology was interrupted by active service in the Falklands War but he managed to qualify as a consultant with the Royal Navy before moving to the late departed Public Health Laboratory Service. 

He joined the NHS in 1990 before working for the CMO in Wales in 2000.  From 2010 he returned to Carmarthen as the clinical lead for microbiology for the Hywel Dda University Health Board Microbiology Service provided by Public Health Wales, covering Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire.  He continues to work for Public Health Wales on a part-time basis.

While working for the Welsh Government he chaired the decontamination project that led to all HSDU’s in Wales achieving Medical Device Directive accreditation and since that time has chaired the all Wales sterilisation and decontamination group.

Mahmood is the inaugural Chair in ENT Surgery and Professor of Sustainable Healthcare at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, and Honorary Consultant and Clinical Green Lead for University Hospitals Sussex. He has a longstanding interest in environmental and labour rights harms caused by medical supply chains.