Dr Robin Smith

Microbiology

FRCPath

Location: TDL, London, The Halo

Dr Robin Smith trained in medicine at The United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy’s and St Thomas’. She was drawn to microbiology as a discipline spanning all medical specialties and affecting the whole population, during a time of emerging antibiotic resistance and increasing recognition of the importance of infection prevention and control.

After specialty training, she joined the Royal Free Hospital as a microbiology consultant in 2005, becoming clinical lead for Microbiology in 2014. She has specialist interests in infection prevention and control, microbiology diagnostics and sexually-transmitted infection.

She is an honorary senior lecturer for UCL Medical School, involved in undergraduate medical student teaching and is module lead for a postgraduate MSc in Healthcare Associated Infection Control.

As a microbiology consultant, she spends a lot of her time liaising between the laboratory and the patient; advising doctors on how best to investigate for infection, as well as treating patients on the basis of laboratory results. As a consequence, she strongly believes that world-class diagnostics are fundamental to the patient experience and outcome.