Rapid Diagnosis and Biomedical Research

Mark studied medicine at King’s College, London. He started a pathology training rotation in Cardiff in 1987 and completed his virology training as a Senior Registrar at St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington in 1991. He then spent 4 years in research in the Virology Department at the Royal Free Hospital. Under the supervision of Professor Paul Griffiths and Professor Vince Emery, he investigated the evolution and distribution of anti-viral resistance mutations in post-mortem tissues from patients with HIV infection. This was at a time when combination treatment studies were in their infancy and the first protease inhibitors were just becoming available for clinical use.

In 1997 he started work for Glaxo-Wellcome as a research physician on the development program for the use of lamivudine in the treatment of hepatitis B infection. He participated in the successful phase II and phase III studies for lamivudine in Europe and the Far East. Although lamivudine has been largely super-ceded by more effective treatments for HBV now, much ground breaking work was done in this extensive program of trials including combination treatment trials and studies to prevent vertical transmission. After 5 years at Glaxo-Wellcome, Mark returned to the NHS, working as a Consultant Virologist at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in London for 12 years. This busy clinical job also included teaching on undergraduate and postgraduate courses. He also found time to participate in the local Research Ethics Committee and work as an examiner for the FRCPath exams. In August 2013, Mark took up a Consultant Virologist post at Frimley Park Hospital in Surrey, working as the Specialty Lead for Microbiology for Berkshire and Surrey Pathology Services. He remained in this post until taking up his current role with Micropathology Ltd in April of 2019.