Invited Speakers

Qualifications: Dr.Seema Bhargava has an MBBS degree from Government Medical College, Srinagar, J&K (Kashmir University), DNB from Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi, and PhD from Sir Ganga Ram Hospital (SGRH) and Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi with a short post-doctoral stint at University of Louisville, Kentucky, USA. Thereafter, she was awarded Fellowships by the Royal College of Pathologists, London (FRCPath) and the Association of Clinical Biochemists of India (FACBI).

Research: She has worked in the Department of Biochemistry at SGRH, New Delhi, since 1992.
Her research on homocysteine has resulted in the implementation of several translational aspects at SGRH in diagnostics and management of vascular disease. Her research continues to focus on identification of clinically relevant biochemical markers and their applications in various areas of medicine like neurology, Alzheimer’s disease, cardiovascular disease, sepsis, immunology, diabetes with special reference to micronutrients deficiency and toxicity, e.g. vitamin B12, lead, etc.

Awards: She is a recipient of several institutional, national and international awards. Most noteworthy are:

• Gold Medal of ‘GRIPMER Best Publication 2012’
• ‘James Willerson Clinical Award’ in 2013
• ‘Dharam Vira Award For Excellence 2014’
• Fellowship of Association of Clinical Biochemists of India, 2018 [FACBI]
• Fellowship of Royal College of Pathologists, London, UK, 2019 [FRCPath]
• IMA NDB Award of Excellence in November, 2021.
• Long Service Awards of 20 years, 25 years and 30 years at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital
• Dr. T. N. Pattabhiraman Oration Award by ACBI.

Publications: She has over 50 publications in national and international indexed journals and several chapters in various books (Biochemistry, Cardiology, National Digital Library). She has also authored a book titled “Clinical Applications of Homocysteine” published by Springer International in 2018.[h-index 14; i10index 21]

Academic: She has guided several PhD and DNB scholars. She is also on the editorial board of IJCB [Indian Journal of Clinical Biochemistry], CMRP [Current Medicine Research and Practice] and JNNSc [Journal of Nature and Natural Sciences] and a reviewer for several other international indexed journals.

Posts held in Societies/Organizations: She has held and still holds executive posts in several national and international academic associations, including ACBI (currently President, previously Vice-President, before that North Zone Executive), IABS, IFCC-EBLM (Member and Visiting Lecturer), InSLAR, ISIEM, ISAR-DC (previously Vice President, Secretary). Currently she is the Chairperson of the Diagnostic Division of CAHO (Consortium of Accredited Healthcare Organizations).
As member of the EBLM Committee of the IFCC, she is involved in various international programmes for the promotion of EBLM and has been invited to several international conferences and Universities to deliver lectures or participate in symposia and workshops.

Quality Assurance: She is a lead assessor and technical assessor for NABL [National Accreditation Board for testing and calibrating Laboratories] and also a member of its Technical as well as Core Committees for Accreditation. She is the Course Director for a one-month course on “Total Laboratory Quality Management and Internal Auditor-ISO 15189:2012” conducted by GRIPMER.

Andreas Bietenbeck is Medical Director of “Labor Poing”, a small medical laboratory close to Munich, Germany. Moreover, he serves as the Chair of the division Medical Informatics of the German Society for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine e.V. (DGKL). His research interests include quality control of laboratory tests and especially computationally intensive methods such as patient-based real-time quality control.

Prof Brennecke is the University of Melbourne Dunbar Hooper Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

He is also a member of the hospital’s Senior Medical Staff and Head of its Pregnancy Research Centre.

In 2020, he was appointed Officer (AO) of the Order of Australia (General Division) within the Australian Honours system for distinguished service to medical education and research in the field of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, and to professional societies.

Prof Brennecke’s research interests focus on human pregnancy and its complications.

A/Prof Chiang is a dually qualified endocrinologist and chemical pathologist. She is the Head of Chemical Pathology at Melbourne Health, the Head of Bone at Austin Health, ANZBMS Councillor and RACP Council Member (Endocrinology and Chemical Pathology representative).

I am a chemical pathologist at Northern Health in Epping, Victoria, Australia. My interests include clinical decision support in laboratory medicine and assisting clinicians in pathology test requesting and result interpretation.

Louise Cullen is a Pre-Eminent Staff Specialist in Emergency Medicine, a clinical trialist and outcomes researcher in acute diseases and biomarkers. She is enthusiastically involved in the translation of research by clinical redesign and innovation.

As an accomplished acute disease researcher, Prof Cullen has focused on the diagnosis and management of patients presenting with possible Acute Coronary Syndromes (ACS) in the Emergency Department (ED). She has been engaged in many international collaborations and has authored over 160 publications in peer-reviewed journals including The New England Journal of Medicine and the Lancet, focussed on strategies to improve efficiency, whilst maintaining safety for patients with possible ACS, syncope, heart failure, shortness of breath and atrial fibrillation.

Professor Cullen’s mantra is that “you do not do research for research’s sake” and as such, clinical redesign and translational research is a key part of her endeavours. She has led widespread implementation of research and established clinical redesign initiatives in Emergency Departments (EDs) across Queensland Health (QH).

Pre-Eminent Staff Specialist, Department of Emergency Medicine
Prof, Queensland University of Technology
Prof, University of Queensland
Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital
Brisbane, Queensland 4029, AUSTRALIA.
Tel: (+ 61 7) 3636 7901. Fax: (+ 61 7) 3636 1643.
Email: louise.cullen@health.qld.gov.au
Twitter: @louiseacullen
Qualifications: MBBS (Hon) FACEM FESC PhD

Dr. Barnali is recipient of three oration awards and seven international and eight national awards from NABH (2023 NABH Best Practices Award of Excellence) College of American Pathologist (CAP Inspector Excellence Honour), American Association of Clinical Chemistry (Outstanding Speaker Award), Univants of Healthcare excellence Global Achievement Award by IFCC, AACC; 2022, International Federation of Clinical Chemistry & Laboratory Medicine (IFCC Development of Quality Competence in Medical Laboratories- DQMCL Award), Asia Pacific Federation of Clinical Biochemistry (Young Scientist Scholarship), Reliance Group Corporate Social Responsibility (The Woman of Substance Award), Seth G.S. Medical College & K.E.M. Hospital Oration Award 2021, Dr. T. N. Pattabhiraman Oration Award, Pitabus Jamuna Burma Memorial Award and Dr. C. Sita Devi Award and Dr. Ajit Singh Saini Oration Award and also Brig. Ramesh Sinha Memorial Certificate & Gold Medal, “Diagnostic Leadership Award in Achiever Category” from Indian Express Group, Zee Business National Healthcare Leadership Award in ‘Woman Leadership Category’. Recently she has received ‘Global Investigator Award’ in LMCE KSLM Laboratory Medicine Congress & Exhibition 2021 & 62nd Annual Meeting, October, 2021. She is recipient of ‘2021 The White Knight Award, Healthcare Heroes of India’ by Metropolis Healthcare and ‘Custodians of Humanity Award 2021’ by IGHM for COVID task force work. She has been honored as “ Best Docs Mumbai 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021 & 2020” in the Laboratory Medicine/ General Pathology field in the magazine ‘Outlook’ and “ Top Doctors Mumbai 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020” in the ‘India Today’. She is collaborating projects with IIT Bombay and other institutes.

She has many research publications in international & national journals (recent one like Clinical Chemistry, European Thyroid Journal, Clinical Biochemistry, Indian Heart Journal, IJCB and IJMB etc.). Her work featured in many news articles in Times of India first page, Hindustan Times, Dainik Jagran, Express Healthcare, CLN News, IFCC enews and cover story of many other magazines. She has delivered more than 100 invited talks & plenary lectures; 3 orations and chaired more than 50 sessions in conferences in different countries. Delivered lectures, short courses and webinars in conferences in US, Europe, Srilanka, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Singapore, Phillipines, Indonesia, Bangladesh and other countries. Her AACC University short course was recognized as “Best of AACC”.

Dr. Fernandez-Sesma is currently a professor with tenure and the Chair of the Department of Microbiology at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS) in New York, NY, USA. Her research focuses on the modulation of innate immunity by viruses of human health interests, such as dengue (DENV), influenza (IAV), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), Zika (ZIKV), and SARS-CoV-2. Her group uses mainly primary human systems, such as dendritic cells (DCs) and macrophages as well as primary lung epithelial cells and human tonsils for these studies combining molecular and immunological techniques. Her studies aim to understand the mechanisms of immune evasion used by these viruses to establish infection in humans. She currently participates in several multi-investigator projects on DENV, IAV and SARS-CoV-2 that use OMICS technologies to study immune responses to infection and vaccination. She has also participated in several study sections for the National Institutes of Health (NIH/NIAD), the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Centers of Disease Control (CDC) and served in the Scientific Council of the Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (DMID) at NIH/NIAID from 2018-2022. Dr. Fernandez-Sesma chaired the NIAID Human Immunology Project Consortium (HIPC) Steering Committee from 2018-2022. She is strongly committed to graduate education and mentoring. She co-directed the Microbiology Main Training Area of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at ISMMS from 2010 to 2020. She has co-authored numerous publications in Virology and Immunology journals and served on the editorial board of Journal of Virology, mSphere and PLoS Pathogens. Dr. Fernandez-Sesma is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, a recipient of the Jacobi Medallion from ISMMS and Honorary Alumni of the University of Salamanca, in Spain among other notable recognitions. Dr. Fernandez-Sesma has co-organized the 2023 and 2025 Gordon Research Conference: Viruses and Cells and delivered the Keynote lecture at the 2023 Annual Meeting for the American Society of Virology.

Chris is a consultant in chemical pathology at Canterbury Health Laboratories in Christchurch, New Zealand. He has served for many years on the AACB Working Party on Porphyria and with a particular focus on the Cases for Comment series.

Consultant Chemical Pathologist Teaching Hospital Anuradhapura Sri Lanka since November 2014 up to now. During this period I worked as the supervisor of the Renal Research Laboratory, Teaching Hospital Anuradhapura Sri Lanka.

Visiting lecture Rajarata University, Mihinthale. Sri Lanka from 2015 up to now.

President- College of Chemical pathologists Sri Lanka.

Dr Leslie Lai is a Consultant in Chemical Pathology & Metabolic Medicine at Gleneagles Hospital Kuala Lumpur where he is also the Laboratory Director. He was Professor of Clinical Biochemistry and Metabolic Medicine as well as Deputy Dean for Academic Affairs at University Putra Malaysia from January 1997 till August 2001 and Dean of the Postgraduate Medical School at the International Medical University in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from August 2001 till March 2004. Dr Leslie Lai was Chair of the Asia-Pacific Federation for Clinical Biochemistry and Laboratory Medicine (APFCB) Education Committee from October 1998 till October 2004, Vice President from October 2004 till October 2010, President from October 2010 till December 2016 and Immediate Past President from January 2017 till December 2022. He was a member of the Education and Management Division of the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine from 2004 till 2008, Vice Chair from 2009 till 2014 and Chair from 2015 till 2020. He was Associate Editor of Clinical Biochemistry from 2008 till 2018 and has been Associate Editor of Malaysian Journal of Pathology since 2008. He also serves on the Editorial Board of the Indian Journal of Clinical Biochemistry, Pathology, The Clinical Biochemist Reviews, Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine and Practical Laboratory Medicine. He has published widely, particularly in the field of endocrine-related tumours and endocrinology. For his services to the APFCB, Dr Leslie Lai was awarded the APFCB Distinguished Service Award in 2019. His clinical interests are in diabetes, thyroid and adrenal disorders.

Brett McWhinney is the Supervising Chief Scientist of the Analytical Chemistry Unit (ACU) at the Central laboratory (RBWH), Pathology Queensland and is a Founding Fellow Faculty of Science (RCPA).

The ACU is a reference centre for biogenic amine analysis, immunosuppressant monitoring, metabolic screening, steroid analysis and therapeutic drug monitoring. The unit is also responsible for the provision of the newborn screening service for Queensland. He has over 30 years of experience in method development and validation in these areas. He has co-authored over 125 peer reviewed papers and regularly presents lectures on the introduction and application of Mass Spectrometry in a clinical laboratory.

Avis McWhinney is the Supervising Scientist of the Chemical Pathology Specialist Testing Unit at Mater Health, South Brisbane. The testing performed within the Unit includes, diagnosing and monitoring inborn errors of metabolism, Mass Spectrometry analysis of steroids and protein electrophoresis. Avis has been a NATA assessor for over 15 years and is a member of the RCPA QAP Inborn Errors advisory committee.

Professor, Department of Clinical Bioanalysis and Molecular Biology, Institute of Science Tokyo.

Board members of JCLS, JSCC and JCCLS.

MBBS, Post Graduate Diploma in Chemical Pathology, MD in Chemical Pathology, Board Certified Consultant Chemical Pathologist and the Head of the Department of Pathology, Teaching Hospital Badulla, Sri Lanka.

Post MD overseas training at Liverpool and Royal Prince Alfred Hospitals, New South Wales, Australia.

Lecturer in Chemical Pathology at Post Graduate Institute of Medicine, Sri Lanka.

Visiting lecturer at faculty of Medicine, University of Uva Wellassa, Sri Lanka.

Reviewer BMJ Case Reports.

Co – editor of the College of Chemical Pathologist of Sri Lanka in 2022 and 2023.

Principal supervisor of many research conducted by the students following Medical Laboratory Science degree.

Research interests are in the field of Oncology and Endocrinology.

Dr Nilika Wijeratne is a Chemical Pathologist at Eastern Health Pathology, Victoria, Australia. She is also an Adjunct Lecturer in the Department of Medicine, Monash University.

Dr Wijeratne is a member of the RCPAQAP Advisory Committee on Patient Report Comments and Multidisciplinary Working Party on Monoclonal Gammopathy. She is a RCPA- Chemical Pathology Examiner and NATA assessor.

MBBS, Post Graduate Diploma in Chemical Pathology, MD in Chemical Pathology

Board certified consultant in Chemical Pathology

Post MD overseas training as an honorary fellow at Fiona Stanly Hospital, Perth, Australia

Joint secretary of the College of Chemical Pathologist of Sri Lanka (CCPSL) in 2019 -2020 and 2020 – 2021

Co – editor of the College of Chemical Pathologist of Sri Lanka (CCPSL) in 2022 - 2023

Technical assessor in Sri Lanka Accreditation Board

Secretary of Ruhunu Clinical Society in 2019 – 2020 and 2023 - 2024

Examiner in screening examination leading to MD part I in Pathology, CBLS and MD Chemical pathology

Visiting lecturer in Post Graduate Institute of Medicine, Sri Lanka

Dr Felix Wong is currently a Consultant Chemical Pathologist in Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong SAR, China. He obtained his RCPA Fellowship in 2019 and Fellowship of The Hong Kong College of Pathologists (HKCPath) in 2020. He obtained his postgraduate HKCPath Genetics and Genomics Fellowship in 2022. He is practicing in the teaching hospital of The University of Hong Kong (HKU) and is a Clinical Associate Professor (honorary) of HKU.

Dr Rosita Zakaria is a Medical Scientist and Lecturer in the Discipline of Laboratory Medicine at RMIT University. She is currently the program manager of the Laboratory Medicine undergraduate degrees at RMIT and, serves as Education Representative and Committee Member of AACB Victoria Branch, Member of the IFCC Working Group on Method Evaluation Protocols, and an Honorary Research position holder at MCRI.

Zhen Zhao is a Professor of Clinical Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine. She is the Director of Central Laboratory and Clinical Chemistry Service at the New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Centre. She received her BS in biology from Xiamen University and PhD from Northwestern University. She fulfilled clinical chemistry postdoctoral fellowship training at Washington University in St. Louis. She is board certified by the American Board of Clinical Chemistry. Prior to joining the faculty at Weill Cornell, she served as the Director of General Chemistry and Immunoassay and the Associated Director of the clinical chemistry fellowship postdoctoral training program in the Department of Laboratory Medicine of the National Institutes of Health. She has written 4 book chapters, given over 40 invited lectures/symposia locally, nationally, and internationally and published over 90 peer reviewed papers. She serves/served on several committees including Chair of IFCC Task Force on Outcome Studies in Laboratory Medicine (TF-OSLM), Member of ADLM Academy Council, Chair of ADLM Academy Scientific Shorts, Co-Chair of AACC COVID-19 Community Study and President of the North American Chinese Clinical Chemists Association (NACCCA). She has received several awards including NIH Clinical Centre Director’s Award, AACC Capital Local Section Roe Award, NACB’s Distinguished Abstract Award, AACC Endocrinology Division Outstanding Abstract Award and NACCCA Outstanding Research Award.