Biography
I qualified from St Thomas's Hospital in 1989, and began working in Paediatrics in 1991; my first role in Paediatric Intensive Care was in 1992 at GOSH. After a PhD at Imperial College, London and a Paediatric Pulmonology Fellowship in Cincinnati, I returned to St Mary's Hospital as Lecturer in Paediatric Infectious Diseases in 1998. I worked in PICU at Bristol Children's Hospital and started as a consultant paediatrician in PICU and Respiratory Medicine at Addenbrooke's Hospital in 2001. I was an elected member of the national steering group of ATLS UK, Royal College of Surgeons 2013-17, elected to the Council of Paediatric Intensive Care Society 2007-2012 and Honorary Secretary to the Paediatric Intensive Care Society (UK PICS) 2008-2011. I began teaching medical students at Cambridge soon after appointment, became an associate lecturer in medicine and began ethics and law teaching. In 2010 I was appointed Associate Director of Medical Ethics and Law and began a role supervising at Selwyn College in 2011, becoming a fellow and Director of Studies for Pre-Clinical Medicine in 2012. Qualifications: 1989 MB BS, 1992 MRCP, 1997 PhD, 1999 MRCPCH, 2006 MA (Cantab), 2006 FRCPCH, 2011 FFICM, 2022 FHEA.
Research
Respiratory viruses and T cell immunology.
Publications
Thesis and Chapters:
O'Donnell, D.R. The delayed effects of respiratory syncytial virus infections. 1997 University of London. PhD Thesis
O’Donnell, Roddy Child Health Law; in A Medic’s Guide to Essential Legal Matters (editors: Dr J. Sturgess, Dr D. Duane and Mrs R. Ley.) 2018. Roddy O’Donnell, (contributor) ATLS Advanced Trauma Life Support Student Course Manual (10th Edition) 2018
O'Donnell, D.R. Paediatric Ethics and Law; in Oxford Handbook of Paediatrics (editors: Robert C Tasker, Rob McClure, Carlo L Acerini) 2013 Cht 31 p1029-1045 Original Research Articles: Agrawal S, Smith C, Bogli SY, Placek MM, Cabeleira M, White D, Daubney E, Young A, Beqiri E, Kayani R, O'Donnell D, Pathan N, Watson S, Maw A, Ganrett M, Kanthimathianathan HK, Bangalore H, Sundararajan S, Subramanian G, Raffaj D, Sarfatti A, Lampareillo S, Mayer A, Ross O, Czosnyka M, Hutchinson PJ, Smielewski P; STARSHIP study team. Status of cerebrovascular autoregulation relates to outcome in severe paediatric head injury: STARSHIP, a prospective multicentre validation study. EClinicalMedicine. 2025 Feb 5;81:103077.
Kean IRL, Wagner J, Wijeyesekera A, De Goffau M, Thurston S, Clark JA, White DK, Ridout J, Agrawal S, Kayani R, O'Donnell R, Ramnarayan P, Peters MJ, Klein N, Holmes E, Parkhill J, Baker S, Pathan N. Profiling gut microbiota and bile acid metabolism in critically ill children. Sci Rep. 2022 Jun 21;12(1):10432.
Saunderson RB, Gouliouris T, Cartwright EJ, Nickerson EJ, Aliyu SH, O'Donnell DR, Kelsall W, Limmathurotsakul D, Peacock SJ, Török ME Impact of infectious diseases consultation on the management of Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia in children. BMJ Open. 2014 Jul 1;4(7):
McCrea N, O'Donnell R, Brown R. Outpatient respiratory management of the child with severe neurological impairment. Arch Dis Child Educ Pract Ed. 2013 Apr 18.
Roe MF, Bloxham DM, Cowburn AS, O'Donnell DR. Changes in helper lymphocyte chemokine receptor expression and elevation of IP-10 during acute respiratory syncytial virus infection in infants. Pediatr Allergy Immunol. 2011 Mar;22(2):229-34.
O'Donnell DR, Parslow RC, Draper ES. Deprivation, ethnicity and prematurity in infant respiratory failure in PICU in the UK. Acta Paediatr. 2010 Mar 18.
Ercole A, Menon DK, O'Donnell DR. Modelling the impact of pandemic influenza A(H1N1) on UK paediatric intensive care demand. Arch Dis Child. 2009 Dec;94(12):962-4 T
asker RC, Roe MF, Bloxham DM, White DK, Ross-Russell RI, O'Donnell DR. The neuroendocrine stress response and severity of acute respiratory syncytial virus bronchiolitis in infancy. Intensive Care Med 2004 Dec;30(12):2257-62
Roe M.F.E., Bloxham D.M., White D.K., Ross-Russell R.I., Tasker R.C. & O’Donnell D.R. Lymphocyte apoptosis in acute respiratory syncytial virus bronchiolitis Clin Exp Immunol 2004; July; 137(1):139–145
Schwarze J, O'Donnell DR, Rohwedder A, Openshaw PJ. Latency and persistence of respiratory syncytial virus despite T cell immunity. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2004 Apr 1;169(7):801-5.
O'Donnell, D.R.; Carrington,D. Peripheral blood lymphopenia and neutrophilia in children with severe respiratory syncytial virus disease. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2002 Aug;34(2):128-30.
O'Donnell DR, Milligan L, Stark JM Induction of CD95 (Fas) and apoptosis in respiratory epithelial cell cultures following respiratory syncytial virus infection. Virology. 1999 Apr 25;257(1):198-207.
O'Donnell D.R., McGarvey M.J., Tully J.M., Balfour-Lynn I.M. and Openshaw P.J.M. Respiratory syncytial virus RNA in cells from the peripheral blood during acute infection. J Pediatr 1998 Aug;133(2):272-4
O’Donnell, D.R., P.J.M. Openshaw Anaphylactic sensitization to aeroantigen during respiratory virus infection Clin Exp Allergy. 1998 Dec;28(12): 1501-1508
Teaching and Supervisions
Associate Director of Medical Ethics and Law Advanced Trauma and Life Support Instructor Director of Studies for Pre-Clinical Medicine at Selwyn College
Other Professional Activities
Consultant in Paediatric Intensive Care, Cambridge.
