Graduated in 1974 in Biomedical Sciences from São Paulo Federal University /UNIFESP, and got a specialization in Molecular and Cell Biology at/ UNIFESP, in 2004.
Worked with Professor Benjamin José Schmidt (Guthrie Award 2005) at APAE in first laboratory for Screening Program Inborn Errors Metabolism in Latin America. Became the lab’s coordinator from 1986 thru 2000, screening up to 57,000 samples per month, in 1994.
Coordinator of the Technical Advisory Group on Newborn Screening of the Ministry of Health and Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) since 2001, assembling the Newborn Screening National Program (NSNP), implemented in all 27 states. The NSNP offers the screening tests, as a government policy, free of charges to all babies born in Brazil, following the detected positive cases up with a multidisciplinary team and essential medicines for their whole life treatment. Actually NSNP is including six diseases (PKU/CH/SCD/CF/CAH/BD) and more training for professionals. Nowadays I am a responsible for the program.
ISNS member since 1993, founder member of SLAEIMyPN (1996) and founder member of Brazilian Society of Newborn Screening, in 2000, joined the 1st Executive Board and was its president from 2003 to 2006.
Kate is a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists and trained in paediatric biochemistry in Manchester. She became a newborn screener at Birmingham Children's Hospital, UK in 1989 and ISNS Council Member in 2013.
Kate specified and redesigned a new dried bloodspot card for England in 1997 at the invitation of the UK Newborn Screening Laboratories Network, UKNSLN. Her recommendations and the subsequent adoption of a collection paper compliant with CLSI criteria led to significant cost savings and change of paper across all 4 UK countries and beyond. She advised Norway on card design when changing from liquid blood to dried bloodspots. Kate is keenly interested in dried blood collection matrices and their development. She is concluding a paper for the ISNS on the design of dried bloodspot collection devices and also exploring aspects of imperfect bloodspots which have the most effect on analytical results.
Kate organised UK Workshops and Masterclasses on biopterin deficiencies, screening for sickle cell disease and cystic fibrosis. She has contributed presentations on methodologies and automation of newborn sickle screening to ISNS conferences in both Seville and Reykjavik and is a member of the ISNS 2016 Conference Organising Committee.
Issam has a university diploma in inborn errors of metabolism from the faculty of medicine, Paris Descartes, in 2015. He was born in Beirut-Lebanon (1972), graduated initially in chemistry in 1995 from the faculty of Sciences, Lebanese university. Since 1995, he has been working in the newborn screening laboratory at Saint Joseph University in Beirut.
He was among the pioneers in the Middle East and North Africa region to start newborn screening program in the mid 1990’s. He has followed several continuing education diplomas/master in genetics (1997), in community health (2000), in environmental health (2003) health management (2004), the latter from the University Paris-Dauphine. He was among the pioneers to implement G6PD newborn screening in its screening panel. He had done training on many newborn screening platforms around the world and did contribute to the transfer of know-how for many countries in the MENA region.
He is currently also assuring a second opinion sample exchange program with other laboratories in the MENA region. He has several publications related to newborn screening.
Joanne, PhD, Lead Research Chemist, received her BS in Chemistry and Master’s and Ph.D in Entomology from the University of Massachusetts. In 1991 Dr. Mei began her career at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Laboratory Sciences, by conducting radioimmunoassays and nephelometric assays for lipoprotein standardization. She joined the Newborn Screening Quality Assurance Program (NSQAP) in 1994 in the Endocrinopathy laboratory group and as the quality control manager for the program. She has supervisory functions over the manufacture and certification of dried-blood spot (DBS) quality control and proficiency testing materials for newborn screening assays for congenital hypothyroidism, congenital adrenal hyperplasia, hemoglobinopathy and cystic fibrosis phenotypic and molecular methods, HIV antibodies in DBS, Toxoplasma gondii antibodies in DBS, and the quality assurance for domestic serum/plasma-based tests for the estimation of population-based HIV incidence rates. Dr. Mei is the Team Lead of the NSQAP. Dr. Mei oversees all aspects of the program which includes the disorders listed above and administrative activities such as web site database reporting, NSQAP participant logistics, and summary proficiency testing reports, participant evaluations, and quality control reports. Dr. Mei’s personal interests include playing recorders, capped reed instruments, and Renaissance flute with Lauda Musicam of Atlanta, a group dedicated to performing music written before 1750.
to follow
Veronica Wiley, PhD, FHGSA, FFSc(RCPA) started her career as a paediatric biochemist at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney. With an interest in inborn errors of metabolism she was then employed as Laboratory Co-ordinator of the NSW Biochemical Genetics Service. She was awarded a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of New South Wales in 1990. Since 1991 she has been employed in the NSW Newborn Screening Programme, overseeing all scientific aspects and was then appointed as Director in 2002. During her career Veronica has been involved in teaching as a lecturer at several universities in NSW and was appointed Clinical Associate Professor in the Disciplines of Genetic Medicine and Paediatric and Child Health of the University of Sydney. She has been supervisor for 12 MSc students and provided training for over 50 visiting fellowships to the laboratory.
Veronica has been an active member of several professional societies including the AACB, ASIEM, HGSA, ISNS and the RCPA; she has been awarded a fellowship of the HGSA and the Faculty of Science RCPA; is a current member of committees for HGSA, ASIEM and ISNS. After having served as Secretary-Treasurer and President A/Prof Wiley is now the current Past President of the International Society for Neonatal Screening (ISNS).