Sayers appointed chief executive of milk payment company IML

TEAGASC Moorepark research officer on herd health, Ríona Sayers, has been appointed chief executive of Independent Milk Laboratories (IML), the newly established milk payment and disease testing company.

A graduate in both biochemistry and veterinary medicine, Ms Sayers brings a distinguished track record in veterinary diagnostics and animal health research to the new position. Originally from a drystock farm outside Tralee, she qualified with an honours degree in biochemistry from UCC in 1993 and took up a position in veterinary diagnostics with Enfer Scientific. One of her achievements with Enfer was her role as joint developer of the world’s first rapid BSE test — the Enfer TSE Assay.

She completed a masters degree on prion biology in UCD in 1998 and shortly afterwards graduated with a diploma in project management. In 2002, she returned again to education and qualified with a degree in veterinary medicine from UCD in 2007.

While combining veterinary studies with her job in Enfer, she was also awarded both the Centenary and Freeman Memorial medals for being the top student over the five years of the veterinary degree programme.

Following a period working in a large animal veterinary practice, she joined Teagasc Moorepark in 2008 and, for the past two years, has conducted leading-edge research on infectious diseases in dairy herds.

Independent milk testing company IML is a joint venture between Progressive Genetics and the UK-based farmer-owned plc, National Milk Records.

In addition to independent milk payment testing, it also provides rapid diagnostic services for mastitis and for a raft of infectious diseases including BVD, Leptospirosis, IBR, Johne’s and Neospora.

IML chairman Prof Patrick Wall said: “This new independent laboratory is a vital piece of infrastructure for the Irish dairy sector as it faces into a period of rapid expansion.”