John Cunniffe recently retired from Wirral University Teaching Hospital, where he was a Consultant in Medical Microbiology. At various points in post he held the positions of Head of Department, Joint Laboratory Service Lead, Director of Infection Prevention and Control (DIPC), Antimicrobial Stewardship Lead, and Clinical Lead for the Wirral Outpatient Antimicrobial Therapy (OPAT) Service. In addition, he was the Clinical Microbiology Lead and Infection Control Doctor for Clatterbridge Cancer Centre until the service relocated to Liverpool in 2020.  He was a long-standing Drug and Therapeutics panel member for both Trusts.

John has a keen interest in medical education, and until retirement was facilitator for the annual British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC) regional workshops. He also co-chaired the Northwest Infection Control (NORWIC) annual meeting. He sat on the BSAC OPAT National Steering Group until 2020.

Since ‘retirement’ John has been fully engaged with locum work. His current attachment is at the Countess of Chester Hospital, where he is enjoying a regular supply of coffee and biscuits.