Director of Infection Services, Public Health Wales Microbiology

Dr Robin Howe (MBE) is the Director of Infection Services for Public Health Wales Microbiology. He is medically trained (Cambridge and Newcastle Universities) and trained in Clinical Microbiology in Sheffield and Bristol. Having been a Consultant Senior Lecturer at Bristol University and North Bristol NHS Trust, he moved over to Wales in 2005 to work as a consultant microbiologist and lead the Welsh Antimicrobial Resistance Programme.

While maintaining a clinical base in the Public Health Wales Cardiff laboratory, Robin works with a team of 12 consultant colleagues to manage the diagnostic service (processing 1.2 million samples per year) and provide clinical advice on the investigation and management of patients with infection across Cardiff & Vale University Health Board.

Robin’s particular work interests include all aspects of antibiotics such as methods of testing sensitivity/resistance in the lab, mechanisms of bacterial resistance, epidemiology of resistance, and surveillance of antibiotic usage. He is Chair of the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC) Standing Committee for Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing, and a member of the EUCAST (European Committee for Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST) Steering Committee