Christine McCartney obituary | Microbiology

My friend and former colleague Christine McCartney, who has died aged 79, was a distinguished medical microbiologist and 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 links between laboratory microbiology and epidemiology, recognizing that effective public health responses depended on the two disciplines working closely together. She championed the early adoption of whole genome sequencing, working with scientists at the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Leeds and Birmingham, as well as the Wellcome Sanger Institute in Cambridgeshire.

Her leadership was particularly visible after the polonium-210 poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko in 2006. As a member of the expert advisory group supporting the government’s Crisis Response Committee (Cobra), Christine interpreted technical results and advised on public health risks. In 2007 she was appointed OBE.

Born and raised in Glasgow, Christine was the eldest daughter of Margaret (née Keiller) and Donald McNiven, a publican. Although neither of her parents had a university education, she was determined to pursue higher education, and after Victoria Drive Secondary School she gained a degree in microbiology from the University of Glasgow in 1967. She remained there as a research assistant and then lecturer, during which time she met Bill McCartney, a fellow lecturer, whom she married in 1974.

For her doctorate, she studied the properties of staphylococcal delta toxin and published numerous scientific articles. In 1978 she was elected a fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists. She later co-authored the textbook Notes on Medical Microbiology (2002).

I first met Christine in 1994, when she accepted a position as deputy director at the Central Public Health Laboratory, under the Public Health Laboratory Service, in Colindale, north-west London, where I also worked. Following the incorporation of the PHLS into the HPA in 2003, Christine became Executive Director of the Regional Microbiology Network.

Although she officially retired from the HPA in 2012, her expertise remained in demand. She returned first as senior adviser to Duncan Selbie, then chief executive of Public Health England, and later served as PHE’s professional lead for scientists.

Christine was an inspiring leader who always made time for her colleagues and made sure people felt valued. She combined a common sense approach with a determination to find solutions, and her feedback was direct but constructive. Those who worked with her will also remember that her advice sometimes went beyond the scientific framework; always impeccable, she believed that professionalism should be reflected in appearance as well as work.

Christine was warm, caring and great fun and we remained close friends. Living in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, she and Bill shared a penchant for luxury cars, lavish holidays and fine dining. Christine liked to joke that maybe it was her Triumph Spitfire that first caught Bill’s eye.

Diagnosed with cancer in 2020, she continued to work until 2021, until the Covid-19 pandemic made it difficult for her to continue the ambassadorial role she had taken on in recent years.

She is survived by Bill.