Neil Bentley

Dr (hc) Neil Bentley OBE is a multidisciplined chartered biomedical scientist with 40 year’s experience in delivering clinical and public health diagnostic laboratory services. Neil commenced his scientific career within the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) as a biomedical scientist and spent 15 years working within the military laboratories around the globe. These ranged from one man field laboratories to large teaching hospital laboratories. He specialised in microbiology and public health and took an interest in providing pathology services in the field. On leaving the RAMC Neil joined the Public Health Laboratory Service, more recently known as Health Protection Agency and Public health England, where he spent the next 25 years working. He had a number of positions from commencing as a senior biomedical scientist through to deputy director. During his 25 years he led the technical and scientific support for a number of public health outbreaks including the Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone and latterly the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. He led the modernisation and transformation agenda for the PHE laboratories, which included automating bacteriology, moving the laboratories into molecular diagnostics, and more recently implementing genomic diagnostic services with PHE and COG UK. Neil stood back from public sector in 2021 after 40 years’ service to have more time for family and to gain experience within the commercial and research environments within biomedical science. He is currently working part time for Pro-Lab Diagnostics and also has a microbiology consultancy and training business. Neil was awarded an Officer of British Empire (OBE) for services to public health by Her Royal Highness in 2016 and was made Honorary Doctor of Health Sciences by Anglia Ruskin University in 2018.