Russell is a senior research associate at LSTM with over  twenty five years experience in biomedical science. Russell originally work in medical microbiology laboratories  the UK Health Service before working in a number of overseas settings, primarily in Africa. Russell has been involved in improving diagnostic services for many infectious diseases of global importance such as tuberculosis, HIV and neglected tropical diseases such as soil transmitted helminths. Russell’s research activities currently focus on improving the quality systems in laboratories, the regulation of diagnostics and governance around antimicrobial policy implementation.