Irina Piatkov, PhD, is a Senior Hospital Scientist in Charge of the Blacktown Molecular Research Laboratory at the University of Western Sydney Clinical School and Research Centre, Blacktown Hospital, Western Sydney Local Health District. The laboratory supports research and provides tests in the area of personalised medicine, mostly in pharmacogenetics. As an interdisciplinary centre for scientific research and teaching, it is involved in projects for different hospital departments. Irina has received her PhD in1986 and started her scientific career in the former USSR. Since that time, Irina has been working in diagnostic, teaching and research projects in clinical biochemistry and molecular genetics in USSR, Canada and Australia.