ACMSF
Committee on Microbiological Safety
ACMSF Secretariat
Third Floor, Aviation House
125 Kingsway
London WC2B 6NH
Tel: 020 7276 8947
acmsf@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk
ACMSF members
Members of the ACMSF are drawn from a number of different areas:
ACMSF Chair
Professor Sarah O'Brien
Professor Sarah O'Brien was appointed to the ACMSF in 2001.
A Consultant in Public Health Medicine, she is currently Professor of Health Sciences and Epidemiology at the University of Manchester. Her research interests include foodborne zoonoses.
Previously she was Head of Gastrointestinal Diseases Division at the Health Protection Agency Centre for Infections where she was responsible for assessing data and generating, through surveillance and research, the evidence base for the origins and spread of gastrointestinal infection.
She has published widely on these subjects.
Professor O'Brien held a number of hospital and health authority appointments, and also lectured, in public health medicine, between 1986 and 1995.
She was Consultant in Public Health Medicine at the Scottish Centre for infection and Environmental Health between 1995 and 1998 before joining the Health Protection Agency.
She is a member of the Food Standards Agency's Epidemiology of Foodborne Infections Group.
Members
Mr John Bassett
Mr Bassett is currently a Microbiological risk assessor at the Unilever Safety and Environmental Assurance Centre.
He has a wide experience of developing risk assessments/risk management strategies and managing research having previously worked for the Food Assurance and the Biosecurity Authorities of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in New Zealand.
A qualified veterinarian, Mr Bassett also spent seven years as a practising vet.
Dr David Brown
Dr David Brown was appointed to the ACMSF in 2001. He is currently Director of the Virus Reference Department, HPA Centre for infections.
He is a trained medical virologist with some 20 years experience in diagnostic and public health virology.
He has specific expertise in human gastroenteritis infections, focusing on human epidemiology and the population biology of viruses.
Ms Vivianne Buller
Ms Buller was appointed to the ACMSF in 2005. She operates a Business Improvement Catering Consultancy advising Local Authority Caterers and Schools on issues such as Nutrition Strategies, Food Safety, Sustainable Food Procurement and Customer Service Developments.
She was previously employed by Northumberland County Council as General Manager of Catering Services, Outdoor Education and Business Improvement Teams.
Prior to this she held senior posts with Newcastle City Council and Suffolk County Council. She was elected Regional Chairman (North and Scotland) and National Councillor of the Local Authority Caterers Association (LACA) and served as National Chairman 2003-2004.
Professor John Coia
Professor John Coia was appointed to the ACMSF in 2007. He is a Consultant Clinical Microbiologist with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Director of the Scottish Salmonella reference laboratory and former director of the Scottish E. coliO157 reference laboratory. He is also an Honorary Professor in the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Glasgow. He has over 20 years experience of foodborne infections including his role as a food examiner in an accredited public health microbiology laboratory. He has an active research interest in foodborne infections and has published a large volume of scientific research papers and several book chapters.
Professor Michael Gasson
Professor Michael Gasson was appointed to the ACMSF in 2001. He is a molecular microbiologist and Deputy Director (Science) at the Institute of Food Research (IFR). Professor Gasson held posts at the John Innes Institute and the National Institute for Research in Dairying before joining the IFR in 1986. As Head of Food Safety Sciences at IFR, he had responsibility for the rebuilding of research in the microbiological safety of food following a major rationalisation of the Institute. More recently he assumed a broad responsibility for overall science direction and has led the development of a new area focussed on the GI tract. Professor Gasson has been a member and, latterly, Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes. He has contributed to the work of the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) and was an inaugural member of its Panel on GMOs.
Mrs Rosie Glazebrook
Rosie Glazebrook is the consumer representative on the ACMSF. She has a background in publishing and media and has been involved in developing a number of major consumer campaigns and publications. She previously worked for Dr Foster Ltd, News International, Macmillan and Oxford University Press. She is a Non-Executive Director of Hammersmith and Fulham NHS Primary Care Trust, a member of the London Research Ethics Committee, and a member of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust Research Governance and Tissue Bank Committees. She is also a lay member of the Committees on Carcinogenicity and Mutagenicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer products and the Environment (COC and COM).
Dr Richard Holliman
Dr Richard Holliman was appointed to the ACMSF in 2006. He is a lead Consultant and Reader in clinical microbiology at St George's Hospital, London. His areas of expertise include communicable and tropical diseases, toxoplasmosis, food and environmental microbiology and infection control.
Previously he was a registered food examiner and Head of a UKAS accredited Environmental Microbiology Laboratory. He has published over one hundred scientific research papers on epidemiology, clinical, food and water microbiology.
Dr Holliman is also a recognised teacher at the University of London and has regularly taught medical students, health professionals, environmental health officers and Medical Practitioners since 1989.
Professor Thomas Humphrey
Professor Tom Humphrey was appointed to the ACMSF in 2001. He was appointed Professor of Veterinary Bacterial Zoonoses at the University of Bristol in 2001. Following an early career in the food industry and in related research, he joined the Public Health Laboratory Service in 1981 and from 1990 was Head of the Food Microbiology Research Unit at Exeter Public Health Laboratory. Professor Humphrey is a member of the Food Standards Agency's Epidemiology of Foodborne Infections Group and was a member of the ACMSF's second Working Groups on Salmonella in Eggs and Campylobacter.
Professor Paul Hunter
Professor Paul Hunter was appointed to the ACMSF in 2001. Also in 2001 he was appointed Professor of Health Protection at the University of East Anglia (UEA), School of Medicine Health Policy and Practice.
Prior to his move to UEA he was Director, Consultant in Medical Microbiology and Consultant in Communicable Disease Control at the Cheshire Public Health Laboratory.
Professor Hunter's primary research interest is diarrhoeal disease and especially waterborne disease.
Mr Alec Kyriakides
Alec Kyriakides was appointed to the ACMSF in 2001.
He is Head of Product Safety at Sainsbury's Supermarkets. His responsibilities cover the microbiological safety assessment of a diverse range of foods, auditing food processes world-wide, the management of food product safety assurance programmes for retail foods, the development and implementation of strategic plans for the management of emerging hazards, and the management of serious microbiological incidents.
Before joining Sainsbury's in 1992, he held positions with Grand Metropolitan Brewing, Truman's Brewery, Express Foods Group and Grand Metropolitan Foods
Mr Paul McMullin
Mr McMullin is currently the Senior Veterinarian and Managing Director of Poultry Health Services.
Prior to joining Poultry Health Services as a company veterinarian in 1992, he was the Technical Services Manager at MSD Agvet and before that was the Veterinarian in charge of Diagnostic Lab at MSD Brazil.
Mr McMullin has published research focusing on the areas of poultry disease, pathology and veterinary product development (pigs, poultry and cattle).
Mr McMullin is an RCVS-recognised specialist and Diplomate in Poultry Medicine and Production and holds an MSc in livestock Health and Production (University of London)
Dr Sally Millership
Dr Sally Millership was appointed to the ACMSF in 2006. She is a Consultant in Communicable Disease Control at Essex Health Protection Unit and an Honorary Consultant in Microbiology.
She regularly teaches sessions on public health for general practitioners and she has a long-standing research interest in microbial causes of gastroenteritis. She has published numerous papers on this subject.
Dr Millership previously held a number of hospital and health authority appointments, and also lectured in bacteriology at Hammersmith Hospital between 1986 and 1993.
Mrs Jenny Morris
Mrs Jenny Morris was appointed to the ACMSF in 2006. She is a food safety policy officer at the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health.
She has a wide range of environmental health experience and has worked as an Environmental Health Officer for a number of local authorities.
She also has a background in microbiological research and previously ran her own catering business between 1997 and 2001.
Mr Rob Rees MBE
Mr Rob Rees was appointed to the ACMSF in 2005. He is an International Food Consultant, Chef and former restaurateur.
Formerly a Board Member of the Food Standards Agency, he is currently General Governor and Trustee for the British Nutrition Foundation, Director of Stroud and Mid Gloucestershire Education Business Partnership, Member of the Interim Board of School Food Trust.
He is also a Trustee for Gloucestershire County Association for the blind, a Member of the Cotswold AONB Conservation Board, Chairman of Health4Schools Project, and a Member of the Gloucestershire Food Vision Team with a role as the County Ambassador for Food.
Mr Rees is a passionate advocate for good quality, safe, nutritious and affordable food. With 21 years experience of the catering sector and 10 within the area of food education he has been able to share such knowledge with others in the private and public sector.
He has been part of a number of projects promoting the assets of British Food around the world on behalf of a number of stakeholders and is focused to continually raise the profile of Gloucestershire and The Cotswolds.
Professor Peter Williams
Professor Williams was appointed to the ACMSF in 2004. He is Professor of Microbiology in the Department of Genetics at the University of Leicester.
He has held a number of posts within the University, including Head of the Department of Genetics, Chairman of the School of Biological Sciences, and Head of the Department of Microbiology & Immunology.
The focus of his research throughout his career has been the molecular genetic analysis of the bacterial pathogenicity, particularly in relation to diarrhoeal diseases.
His major interest is in the role that iron plays in the persistence and survival of bacterial pathogens and in the pathogenesis of infection.
He has a number of international collaborations, including researchers in developing countries, and has published extensively in this field.