Cillian de Gascun is an Irish consultant virologist who has served as Director of the

National Virus Reference Laboratory The National Virus Reference Laboratory (NVRL) is located in University College Dublin, UCD, Dublin, Ireland and is affiliated to the University College Dublin School of Medicine. The NVRL provides a diagnostic and reference service for clinician ...

in UCD since 2013. He previously served as the Chair of the NPHET Coronavirus Expert Advisory Group from 5 February 2020 to February 2022.

Medical career

De Gascun graduated with a BA MB BCh BAO from

Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...

in 1998. While completing

senior registrar :''This article primarily explains the Senior Registrar doctor grade within the United Kingdom until 1996'' A Senior Registrar was a grade of doctor in the United Kingdom or Ireland before being superseded during reforms in the 1990s. The senior ...

training in

clinical microbiology Medical microbiology, the large subset of microbiology that is applied science, applied to medicine, is a branch of medical science concerned with the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of infection, infectious diseases. In addition, this field ...

and

virology Virology is the Scientific method, scientific study of biological viruses. It is a subfield of microbiology that focuses on their detection, structure, classification and evolution, their methods of infection and exploitation of host (biology), ...

at the

, he completed an MD at

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

and was made a fellow of the

Royal College of Pathologists The Royal College of Pathologists (RCPath) is a professional membership organisation. Its main function is the overseeing of postgraduate training, and its Fellowship Examination (FRCPath) is recognised as the standard assessment of fitness to p ...

. De Gascun spent two years as a consultant virologist with Surrey Pathology Services in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

before he was appointed Laboratory Director of the

in UCD in 2013. From 5 February 2020 to February 2022, de Gascun chaired the Coronavirus Expert Advisory Group, a subgroup of the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET), that monitored national research and developments in relation to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, and provided expert advice to NPHET and the

Health Service Executive The Health Service Executive (HSE) () is the publicly funded healthcare system in Ireland, responsible for the provision of health and personal social services. It came into operation on 1 January 2005. The current director-general is Berna ...

(HSE) in relation the pandemic in Ireland. In April 2022, he was named to the COVID Advisory Group, which replaced NPHET.

References

Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Irish virologists 21st-century Irish medical doctors Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Alumni of University College Dublin Irish pathologists Irish public health doctors Place of birth missing (living people) Scholars and academics from County Dublin Academics of University College Dublin {{Ireland-med-bio-stub