Professor Dianne Webster received her PhD from the University of London (UK, 1981) on aspects of the inborn error of metabolism hereditary orotic aciduria. She has been involved in newborn screening since 1986, and served as the Director of the New Zealand Newborn Metabolic Screening Programme since 1991. She is an honorary Professor at the Liggins Institute of the University of Auckland School of Medicine. She has served in various capacities in several professional societies, notably the ISNS (in which she currently serves as an Asia Pacific representative and Vice President), but also the Human Genetics Society of Australasia and the Clinical and laboratory Standards Institute. She has been involved in the organisation of many meetings, and has been invited as a plenary speaker many times. Her areas of interest in newborn bloodspot screening are programme evaluation (adding and removing disorders), disorder definition and counting, guideline development, and supporting fledgling newborn screening programmes.