Christine McCartney obituary

My friend and former colleague Christine McCartney, who has died aged 79, was a distinguished medical microbiologist and a tireless champion of public health microbiology.

As executive director of the Health Protection Agency’s Regional Microbiology Network, Christine played a central role in strengthening the links between laboratory microbiology and epidemiology, recognising that effective public health responses depended on the two disciplines working closely together. She championed the early adoption of whole-genome sequencing, collaborating with scientists at the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Leeds and Birmingham, as well as at the Wellcome Sanger Institute in Cambridgeshire.