The Associates
The Directors at IEH Consulting routinely work on projects with a number of Associates, allowing us to expand both our service range and the depth of expertise that we can offer.
All our Associates are highly respected scientists from a range of complementary disciplines, and each possesses considerable relevant experience.
For full details of the Associates please click on their name below:
- Dr Camilla Alexander-White
- Professor Paul Bardos
- Professor Malcolm Bennett
- Dr Geoff Brighty
- Dr Terry Brown
- Dr Sarah Bull
- Alexander C Capleton
- Dr Derrick Crump
- Annette Ewence
- Dr Keven Harlow
- Professor David R Harper
- Professor Paul Harrison
- Philip Holmes
- Kathryn James
- Dr Denyse Julien
- Dr Natalie Kenny
- Professor Mark Kibblewhite
- Professor Len Levy
- Professor Joe Lunec
- Dr Franziska Matthies-Wiesler
- Professor Peter Matthiessen
- Professor Robert L Maynard
- Dr Paul McDermott
- Isabella Myers
- Dr George Prpich
- Dr Mike Roberts
- Dr Paul Rumsby
- Dr Lesley Rushton
- Professor Lewis Smith
- Dr Kate Vassaux
- Dr Susan Zappala
Dr Camilla Alexander-White BSc, PhD, FRSC
Dr Camilla Alexander-White is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, a Eurotox Registered Toxicologist and Chartered Chemist with over 20 years' experience in chemical safety assessment. After obtaining a DPhil in Chemistry at the University of York, Camilla has developed her experience as a toxicologist at Imperial College London (1996-2000), Unilever's Safety & Environmental Assurance Centre (2000-2010), Environment Agency (England & Wales)(2010-2012) and Ramboll Environ (2012-2016).
Camilla is an experienced chemicals risk assessor and strategist, and has been an advocate of using novel approaches in chemical safety assessment, including PBPK modelling data, comparative risk assessment, human exposure metrics and in vitro data. She specialises in preparing and reviewing safety dossiers for consumer goods (foods and cosmetics) and environmental (air, land and water) contaminants. Camilla also has an understanding of quantitative structure activity relationships and their application in regulatory decision-making and is a Director of the not-for-profit organisation LHASA Ltd, who develop predictive tools.
Camilla operates internationally and has led the safety evaluation strategy for global market-critical cosmetics ingredients and performed advocacy work at senior level in the EU. Camilla participates in European task forces, is a toxicologist on UK government scientific committees, and leads and facilitates workshops. In the UK, she was a key player in the Defra Category 4 Screening Level (C4SL) project for the development of a novel framework for assessing land contaminants.
Since 2016, Camilla has had a role as a senior policy advisor at the Royal Society of Chemistry, where she prepares and presents objective scientific evidence for environmental policy development.
Professor Paul Bardos BSc, PhD
Paul Bardos is managing director of r3 Environmental Technology Ltd and visiting professor at the University of Reading. He is a ‘qualified person’ under the CL:AIRE DOW-COP initiative for auditing the re-use of soil and other excavated materials. He works on contaminated land management, sustainable remediation, brownfields rehabilitation and renewables, weed control, circular economy and waste management (biochar, composting, AD, MBT). He has worked on projects in the UK, EU, China, Japan, South America, USA and Australia.
Paul is also a project proposal evaluator for the EC and national governments and the ‘green and sustainable remediation international expert’ for the Ministry of Ecology and Environment in China, the AIST agency in Japan on soil rehabilitation in Fukushima, and the World Bank in Kosovo. His work includes major research initiatives, feasibility studies, technology development, expert consultancy and technical advice, policy support, market entry/brokerage, due diligence, sustainability assessments and information projects.
Professor Malcolm Bennett BVSc PhD MRCVS FRCPath FHEA
Malcolm Bennett is Professor of Zoonotic and Emerging Disease in the School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences, University of Nottingham. His areas of expertise include the ecology and evolution of infectious diseases, zoonotic transmission, emerging infectious diseases, and infectious diseases of wild animals. He is currently involved in projects on TB in badgers on the edge of the cattle epidemic and drivers of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in wildlife populations and the environment, alongside rodent-borne zoonoses. He is also investigating a range of protozoal infections in wildlife and water - including cryptosporidia, Giardia and Acanthamoeba.
Professor Bennett is author or co-author of over 130 peer-reviewed papers, plus several books and book chapters, and is Principal Investigator or co-PI on external grants worth in excess of £20m. He is Chair of the Veterinary Products Committee (VPC) (member since 2012) and a former member (2011-2018) of the Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens (ACDP), TSE Subcommittee and various Working Groups. Malcolm’s interests are in the ecology and transmission of infectious diseases, particularly those that cross species barriers, such as zoonotic infections, and new and emerging infectious diseases. Many of these diseases derive from wildlife and are best studied using ecosystems services/’One Health’ approaches; hence much of his research has been interdisciplinary - including working with behavioural and social scientists, including economists - cross-institutional, and often cross-sectoral, involving close cooperation with stakeholders.
Dr Geoff Brighty BSc, PhD
Geoff Brighty is a highly experienced and passionate environmentalist with career roles that span strategy, policy and operations in environmental regulation and management in the UK. He leads his own independent consultancy specialising in sustainability, environmental risk and emergency planning.
In a 26 year career in the environmental sector he led the Environment Agency’s research programmes on endocrine disruption in the aquatic environment, including groundbreaking discoveries of biologically-active chemicals and their impacts on fish and invertebrates. He has held roles leading ecotoxicology laboratory and pollution investigation teams, as well as conducting technical negotiations for UK in EU Directive development for chemical and water regulation. He developed the UK environmental quality standards (EQS) programme and classification of substances under the Groundwater Directive.
Following his science and research management roles, he led the environmental response to three regional spatial strategies (RSS) in the South and East of England, focusing on waste, climate change, health and flood risk impacts on housing and business growth plans. This led to operational roles within the Environment Agency, including 6 years as Area Manager (Deputy Director), regulating industry and managing flood protection. As Deputy Director for Sustainable Places at the Environment Agency, Geoff led the environmental policy response to the current Government’s economic growth agenda.
As well as managing relations with Members of Parliament, Ministers, and broadcast media, he is a passionate advocate for the public understanding of environmental science through schools and universities, including working with Brunel University as an Associate Fellow on their sustainability programme, and on the Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership.
Dr Terry Brown BSc, MPhil, PhD
Current activities
Dr Terry Brown is based in the Clinical Trials Unit at the University of Warwick. He is involved in the operationalisation and delivery of research projects using the Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA) Outcomes registry data; developing data linkage opportunities with other national and international databases/registries to support delivery of research project outcomes; and analysing and interpreting national routinely collected data in relation to OHCAs.
Other areas of research interests are:
- Human health and air pollution, especially in relation to cardiac arrest;
- Investigation of cardiac arrest in the workplace, and their management;
- Epidemiology and the burden of occupational disease, especially cancer;
- Health effects of exposure to pesticides.
Background
Terry obtained is first degree in Human Biology at Loughborough University, where he also obtained an MPhil. His PhD in occupational epidemiology was gained at Nottingham University. Terry’s previous experience includes being a lecturer in public health and epidemiology at Cranfield University; a period as Senior Occupational and Environmental Epidemiologist at the Health and Safety Laboratory, where he was principal investigator on a study examining pesticide exposure and the health experience of licensed pesticide applicators in the UK, and estimating the burden of occupational cancer in Great Britain. He also took the lead in analysing data for the 1991-2000 Occupational Health Decennial Supplement. Terry has also investigated the human health risks associated with exposure to a range of environmental pollutants, and been principal investigator on several projects, including:
- The possible health effects of aircraft cabin environments;
- A study of a cohort of workers in the UK silica sand industry;
- The development of risk reduction strategies for the prevention of occupational dermatitis;
- A systematic literature to evaluate the effects of pesticides on the development of Parkinson’s disease.
Previous clients
He has worked with scientists in government departments (MoD, DH, Defra) and agencies (HSE, EA), and the Environment Agency and Health and Safety Executive. He has undertaken a number of projects for EFSA. He has also worked with trade unions, industry and trade organisations.
Dr Sarah Bull BSc, PhD
Dr Sarah Bull has a PhD in in vitro toxicology, is a Eurotox Registered Toxicologist, and has over 20 years' experience in in vitro, human, veterinary and regulatory toxicology and human health risk assessment.
Sarah obtained her PhD at the European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM) in Italy, and carried out a postdoc position in the department of Veterinary Pharmacology, Pharmacy and Toxicology at the University of Utrecht. She then returned to the UK where she worked at the Department of Health Toxicology Unit, Health Protection Agency, Ricardo-AEA, ERM and National Centre of Environmental Toxicology where she provided toxicology and risk assessment advice to Government agencies and various other stakeholders on the potential effects of chemicals on human health.
Sarah is an experienced toxicologist and risk assessor, her key areas of expertise lying in the human health risk assessment of chemicals in environmental media such as water, soil and air; food and feed; chemicals and consumer products. Sarah has expertise in toxicological modelling including Benchmark Dose (BMD) modelling and Quantitative Structure Analysis Relationship (QSAR) modelling. Sarah also has a wealth of knowledge and experience of the hazard classification of substances and mixtures according to GSH/CLP, approval and authorisation of biocidal products, registration of chemical under REACH including preparation of REACH dossiers and Chemical Safety Reports. Sarah was a key player in the derivation of Category 4 Screening Levels (C4SLs) for Defra, necessitating the development of a novel framework for assessing contaminants in soil.
Sarah is currently serves on the Royal Society of Chemistry Toxicology Committee, is on the SCHEER working group for rapid risk assessments and participates in international projects and workshops on human health risk assessment and toxicology.
Alexander C Capleton BSc, Dip Med Tox, MSc
Alex began his career with the MRC Institute for Environment and Health where he worked as an Environmental Chemist and developed expertise in human exposure assessment to chemicals in environmental and in relation to occupational scenarios. He subsequently worked for the Health Protection Agency as a Health Protection Scientist, where he took a substantial role in developing a national children's environment and health strategy, and also worked as the technical lead for an EU-funded project developing health risk assessment training materials in support of establishing European regulatory requirements for health risk assessment. Alex has also worked for the National Poisons Information Service where he developed skills in clinical toxicology and gained experience in applied public health. Alex has over 15 years experience in research and public health at both a national and European level and is also a qualified PRINCE2 practitioner.
Dr Derrick Crump BSc, PhD, FRSPH, MIES
Associate Director IEH Consulting and Director at Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Consulting Limited, St Albans, UK
Derrick is an environmental and health scientist with an international reputation for his expertise in the measurement and assessment of indoor air quality. For over 40 years he has been engaged in scientific consultancy, research, teaching and government policy work. In that time he has led scientific teams within the (then) UK Department of Environment, BRE (and the former Building Research Establishment) and was Director of the Institute of Environment and Health (IEH) at Cranfield University (2009-2015). Since the early 1980s the main focus of his work has concerned indoor environments. Major projects include the IAQ survey of England, contaminated land at Weston Village, development of methods for VOC emission testing, air quality in new homes in England, and contaminants in aircraft cabin air. He currently serves on national (BSI) and international standardisation (CEN and ISO) committees concerned with developing methods to measure indoor pollutants and the evaluation of ‘dangerous substances’ used in materials, as well as European expert groups concerned with air quality and assessment of exposure to pollution. His research and consultancy work has been reported in 180 peer reviewed journal, book and conference papers as well as numerous client reports. Currently he works independently with a number of organisations as an expert advisor as well as in association with colleagues at IEH Consulting.
Annette Ewence BSc
Annette Ewence is an independent consultant with over 15 years’ experience in toxicology and clinical science and is UK and EUROTOX Registered. Annette has in-depth working knowledge of regulatory toxicology, and has extensive experience in liaising with governmental and industrial stakeholders on emerging legislation and new issues within the field (such as endocrine disrupters, REACH, and the Rotterdam Convention on Prior Informed Consent).
She previously worked for an environmental consultancy (WRc plc) where she conducted expert toxicological hazard and risk assessments for numerous UK and EU legislative programmes and provided rapid response toxicology for UK-wide pollution incidents. Annette was a key member of the REACH team, providing regulatory and toxicological advice to both industry and authorities. She also taught toxicology principles in relation to water quality on an MSc. course.
Prior to WRc, Annette worked for the Health and Safety Executive’s Chemical Assessment Schemes Unit as a Regulatory Toxicologist, where she was the UK rapporteur on numerous occasions at EU and UN level for chemical legislation. Annette was the UK representative for an EU Stakeholder Expert Group developing new EU toxicology guidance for REACH and was a member of an expert working group developing new OECD testing guidelines for acute inhalation toxicity. She also gave support for various worker-related chemical policy, delivered expert toxicological hazard and risk assessments for EU regulatory bodies and UK proposals for the classification and labelling of existing chemicals.
Dr Keven Harlow BSc, PhD
Keven Harlow has been involved in the metals industry for his entire professional career. A metallurgist and materials scientist graduate, Keven spent over 20 years in the commercial area of the global metals industry where he was able to marry his technical knowledge with sales and marketing experience. Not forgetting his technical roots, Keven became involved with the EU-REACH regulation in 2005, supporting various companies and trade associations with REACH compliance strategies and consortia management.
From 2008, Keven managed the Manganese REACH Consortium at the Paris-based International Manganese Institute (IMnI) – the trade association for the global industry. In 2011 Keven assumed the role of global Regulatory Affairs Manager at the IMnI, including chemical regulations worldwide as well as maritime shipping codes.
In 2016 Dr Harlow formed NEVEK Consulting Limited, a UK firm offering regulatory guidance and compliance support to the global metals industry.
Dr Harlow holds his PhD (metallurgy) with The University of Nottingham, UK.
Professor David R Harper CBE, FRSB, FFPH, Hon FRSPH
Professor David Ross Harper is the Managing Director of Harper Public Health Consulting Limited. He is also Senior Consulting Fellow at the Chatham House Centre on Global Health Security. Previously, David was the Chief Scientist and Director General for Health Improvement and Protection in the UK Department of Health. In addition, he has been Special Advisor to the WHO in Geneva.
A scientist by training, David graduated in microbiology from the University of Dundee and gained his PhD in biochemistry from the University of Birmingham. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology, a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health of the Royal College of Physicians, and an honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Public Health. He was awarded the Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2002. He has honorary Professorships at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the University of Dundee, and an honorary Doctorate of Science from Cranfield University, where he is also a visiting Professor.
Professor Paul Harrison
Paul has worked as an independent consultant since 2008. He is Owner/Director of PTCH Consultancy Limited and was a founder Director of IEH Consulting. He is a Fellow of the British Toxicology Society and was Visiting Professor in Environment and Health at Cranfield University.
Paul’s previous positions have included Senior Toxicologist at BP’s Occupational Health Centre where he was responsible for advising on the toxicity of various chemicals and products and for the unit’s research quality assurance programme. He joined the UK Department of the Environment in 1991 and became Head of the Indoor Air Quality and Major Accidents Branch of the Toxic Substances Division before being seconded to the Medical Research Council in October 1993 to help establish the Institute for Environment and Health (MRC-IEH) at Leicester University. He was appointed Acting Director of MRC-IEH in July 1998, and became Director of the Institute when it moved to Cranfield University in November 2005.
Paul has held positions on various expert groups and committees including the UK Chemicals Stakeholder Forum (Deputy Chair), EC Expert Group on Indoor Air Quality, DH Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants, the Expert Panel on Air Quality Standards, the Advisory Committee on Hazardous Substances, the Food Standard’s Agency Working Party on Chemical Contaminants in Food, and the Interdepartmental Group on Health Risks from Chemicals. He was also the founder Chairman of the UK Indoor Environments Group. He has published many scientific papers and articles on a broad range of environment and health issues, notably indoor air quality, endocrine disruption and fibre toxicology, and is on the editorial board of several distinguished journals. He is also past Chairman of the CranfieId University Health Research Ethics Committee.
Philip Holmes BSc, CBiol, MSB, ERT
Following his retirement as a Director of IEH Consulting Ltd. in June 2018, Phil remains actively engaged with the company as an Associate providing toxicological and chemical risk assessment expertise. During a career extending more than 40 years, he has held a range of posts including: as Technical Director of Chemicals Science at Risk and Policy Analysts Ltd (RPA) from 2009-2013; various positions at the Institute of Environment and Health ranging from Senior Toxicologist to Deputy Director of the Institute, located firstly at the MRC Institute located at University of Leicester and subsequently at IEH at Cranfield University, during 1996-2009; and in regulatory toxicology in the contract sector (1975-1996).
Phil holds a degree in Zoology and was a member of the Institute of Biology (CBiol, MIBiol) from 1979-2009, the Society of Biology (CBiol, MSB), 2009–2015, and of the Royal Society of Biology (CBiol, MRSB) until 2017. He was on the British Toxicology Society Register of Toxicologists from 1995-2016 and a EUROTOX Registered Toxicologist (ERT) from 1997 to 2016. He also held the position of Visiting Fellow at Cranfield University (2009-2017). During his career he has gained considerable expertise in toxicology and risk assessment relating to a wide range of chemical classes (including pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, food additives and industrial and consumer chemicals) and has particular interests in endocrine disrupting chemicals, regulatory toxicology (including study design), and the assessment of risk to humans from occupational and environmental exposures (including via consumer articles, drinking water, food and air).
Kathryn James BSc, MSc
Kathryn is an independent scientific consultant who previously worked as a Health Scientist and Toxicologist in the Toxicology and Risk Assessment Group of the Medical Research Council’s Institute for Environment and Health (IEH) based at Leicester University. Subsequently, she fulfilled this role at the Institute of Environment and Health, part of the Health School at Cranfield University. Kathryn’s expertise and experience lie in toxicology and human health risk assessment in areas connected with environmental and occupational exposure to chemicals. This includes, in particular, provision of expertise in health risk analysis via critical review of published literature, and scientific support for toxicological evaluations and health impact assessment. In addition, Kathryn has research programme project management experience and for three years she provided the Scientific Secretariat to the Interdepartmental Group on Health Risks from Chemicals (IGHRC).
Prior to joining IEH Consulting, Kathryn worked as a Laboratory Research Assistant at Harefield Hospitals’ Heart Science Research Centre and as an Industrial Trainee and subsequently Scientific Officer at Syngenta (formerly Zeneca Agrochemicals) in Bracknell. Her qualifications include BSc (Hons) in Applied Biochemistry from Brunel University and MSc in Environmental Technology: Health Risk Assessment, Policy and Management from Imperial College, London.
Dr Denyse Julien BSc, MBA, PhD, FCILT, FHEA
Dr. Denyse Julien is an Associate Professor in the Cranfield School of Management. She is currently Course Director for the Logistics/Procurement and Supply Chain Management (LSCM & PSCM) MSc programmes at the Cranfield campus and the Logistics and Supply Chain Management MSc run in Oman in partnership with Muscat University. Denyse manages the budget for these programmes, which in the 2018-19 academic year was over £4 million.
Denyse was the PI on the £6 million Step Change in Agri-Food Logistics Eco-Systems (SCALE) research project, funded by Interreg NEW and run in collaboration with DHL, EFFP (food consultancy organisation), Wageningen University and Université d’Artois. Cranfield was the lead partner and Denyse had a key role in setting the direction of the project and ensuring that the various project partners delivered on their work packages. In addition, Denyse led the Cranfield team in the development of a collaboration framework to drive ‘Triple bottom line’ sustainability improvements and also a supply chain risk tool for companies.
Denyse launched the Food@Cranfield Research Club, which operated from September 2013 to December 2017 and had a range of members from across the UK food sector. The Club members met three times/year and discussed challenges and topics they were facing. Denyse continues to work closely with the food and beverage sector to address many of the global challenges that it faces.
Prior to joining Cranfield, Denyse worked at Nestlé. Her initial position was in the Corporate Quality Management Group in the Head Office in Switzerland, and subsequently in the GLOBE team based in Australia. She worked with internal stakeholders to refresh the global approach to supplier management to guarantee the quality of products at the time of use. Part of her mandate was also to re-visit the global approach to managing traceability across the supply chain.
As part of the GLOBE team, Denyse was involved in the implementation of best practice in the area of materials handling and warehouse management throughout Nestlé’s Asia, Africa and Oceania operations. This required travelling to, and working with, the local teams in the different countries and she was personally involved in the implementations in South Africa, Pakistan, India, Indonesia, and Japan. The scope of the projects included the flow and traceability of all materials through the supply chain. This included raw and packaging materials from suppliers to Nestlé, semi-finished and finished goods shipped between Nestlé sites, and finally, finished goods from the factories to the distribution centres and out to customers.
Dr Natalie Kenny
Dr Kenny is Director and Chief Scientific Officer at BioGrad, the leading supplier of clinical and laboratory based training for science students, graduate researchers and teachers. Dr Kenny has many years’ experience in toxicology, in-vitro pharmacology, molecular biology and translational medicine. Dr Kenny has worked at Charles Rivers, and before this was a Research Fellow at the Institute of Environment and Health, winning a number of industrial contracts and government awards for the development of a 3D model of human lungs. She worked for three years in the Translational Medicine Department at Cranfield University and before this as a supervisor at Pfizer Global Research and Development. Dr Kenny has also worked as a parasitologist for St George's Medical School, posted in the Ecuadorian Amazon, as a Graduate researcher in Peru for John Hopkin's Medical School, and as a laboratory technician at the Universidad de Extremadura.
Professor Mark Kibblewhite BA, MBA, PhD, DipM, CSci, CChem, FRSC, CEnv, FIAgrE
Mark is Emeritus Professor at Cranfield University, Director of MK Soil Science Ltd and Emeritus Research Associate at Landcare Research New Zealand.
Mark is an environmental chemist specialising in soil systems and their relationship to other environmental compartments (air and water), ecosystems and human health and well-being. His research focuses on the management of soil resources and the development and implementation of policy measures aimed at dealing with risks arising from soil contamination and other soil degradation. His work has informed policy development at national and global levels and he has completed a range of projects for international clients including the United Nations, the European Commission and the European Environment Agency.
Mark was Professor of Applied Soil Science, Head of the Department of Natural Resources and Director of the National Soil Resources Institute at Cranfield University. Before joining Cranfield in 2002, he was Head of Land Quality at the Environment Agency after being a Director with Hyder Consulting and a Head of Division at Warren Spring Laboratory.
Mark graduated from York in chemistry and completed his PhD at Aberdeen. He has an MBA from Cranfield and is a Chartered Chemist and Chartered Environmentalist.
Professor Len Levy OBE, BSc, MSc, PhD, FFOM, FBTS
Professor Levy is currently Emeritus Professor of Environmental Health at the University of Cranfield. Prior to this he was Head of Toxicology and Risk Assessment at the UK Medical Research Council's Institute for Environment and Health at the University of Leicester. An internationally-known occupational and environmental toxicologist and risk assessor, Professor Levy holds a doctorate in experimental pathology from the Institute of Cancer Research in London and has held academic positions at the University of Aston and the University of Birmingham's Institute of Occupational Health, where he was Reader in Occupational Health, continuing his research into the causes and mechanisms of occupational cancer. He has published more than 300 papers on occupational carcinogenesis, occupational and environmental toxicology, risk assessment and risk management and the regulatory aspects of environmental and occupational air standards. In 2000, he was awarded an OBE for Services to Health and Safety.
Professor Levy was an independent member of the UK's Health and Safety Commission's former Working Group on the Assessment of Toxic Chemicals (WATCH) and the former Advisory Committee on Toxic Substances (ACTS), and is now a member of the HSE’s new Workplace Health Expert Committee (WHEC) and the HSE’s Science, Engineering and Evidence Assurance Committee (SEEAC). He was also, until recently, Chair of the EU Scientific Committee on Occupational Exposure Limits (SCOEL). He was a member of the Veterinary Products Committee (VPC) and Chair of two of its sub-committees, and has been an invited member at 12 IARC Monograph Working Group meetings on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans, chairing two of these meetings. He also currently serves as Chair of the executive committee of the UK Interdepartmental Group on Health Risks from Chemicals (IGHRC).
Professor Levy has conducted occupational and environmental risk assessments on many types of substances, ranging from pesticides to metals and solvents, and has led teams responsible for producing authoritative Criteria Documents used for setting Occupational Exposure Limits in the UK and the EU.
Professor Joe Lunec BSc, PhD, DSc, FRCPath, FSB
Joe is currently Professor Emeritus at Cranfield University specialising in the provision of consultancy services in the areas of medical toxicology, chemical pathology and nutrition research.
He recently retired as Executive Dean and Head of Cranfield Health, one of five Schools at Cranfield University. His academic career spans 40 years in the NHS and research and teaching. He began as a trainee Clinical Biochemist in 1974, working in a routine chemical pathology department at the Whittington Hospital. Since that time, he successfully pursued, in parallel, a research, service and administrative career in chemical pathology. This led to two postgraduate degrees (PhD and DSc), Fellowships of the Royal College of Pathologists (FRC Path) and of the Society for Biology (FSB) and over 250 peer-reviewed publications focused on the fields of free radicals and pathology. Throughout his career he has acted as an external examiner in chemical pathology, toxicology and nutrition courses; these have been appointments both in the UK and overseas. For example, Joe continues to examine in these areas and, as a consequence, have honorary professorial appointments in Hong Kong and China.
Dr Franziska Matthies-Wiesler MSc, PhD
Franziska Matthies-Wiesler holds an MSc in Biology from Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich, Germany, and a PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Basel, Switzerland.
Between 1998 and 2005 she worked at different European University Institutions, where she collaborated in designing, coordinating and running various short courses and training modules in international health as well as a one year Masters Programme in Health Economics (offered in Hanoi, Vietnam).
She started working on global climate change and human health when she joined the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU) as research analyst in 2001 at the Department for Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in Heidelberg. She joined a research team on flooding and human health at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research in 2003 and was seconded to the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) to compile a briefing note on health impacts of climate change in the UK for the British Parliament.
In 2005 she joined the WHO Regional Office for Europe, Centre for Environment and Health in Rome. She coordinated the DG Sanco co-funded project EuroHEAT to improve public health responses to heat-waves. Other projects focused on climate change and extreme weather as well as the interface between global change, security and human health.
Since October 2011, Franziska Matthies-Wiesler has been working as a free-lance consultant in the area of environment and health, based near Munich, Germany. The main focus of her work lies on the development of adaptation, preparedness and response strategies in health policies and health systems to prevent and reduce impacts of environmental change and climate change. Linkages among the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and possible contributions of and benefits for the health sector are an important perspective. Franziska Matthies-Wiesler develops and edits technical and scientific documents (books, book chapters, background documents, fact sheets, scientific articles, meeting reports and information and advocacy materials), contributing to the development of guidance materials and policy advice. She also develops training materials and organizes and contributes to capacity building events, conferences and workshops. Her clients include the World Health Organization, the European Commission and European universities and research institutions.
Professor Peter Matthiessen BSc, PhD
Professor Peter Matthiessen is an independent consultant ecotoxicologist. His expertise covers most aspects of the effects of pollutants in fresh- and marine waters, and he has particular experience in the environmental risk assessment of chemicals, in monitoring waters for pollution effects, in developing environmental quality standards, and in the field of endocrine disruption in aquatic organisms. He has a long research record in these areas, with about 150 publications to date.
Professor Matthiessen has a range of clients in government, government agencies and industry, and also advises several international organisations. He has advised on issues as disparate as the effects of produced water from a gas production field on marine fisheries, the effects of a dispersant spill in a stream on fish and aquatic invertebrates, the effects of road salt additives on aquatic life, and the biological significance of endocrine activity in pesticides and biocides. He is a member of the UK Hazardous Substances Advisory Committee (HSAC), and co-chair of the Validation Management Group for Ecotoxicity Tests at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
Until 2006, Professor Matthiessen managed a large environmental research group at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH), and before that at the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas). More recently, he collaborated with CEH on a research programme which showed that the hormonal stress response of fish in rivers receiving sewage effluent and farm run-off has been compromised. He is currently an advisor on the ERGO project, an EU-funded research programme developing ways of predicting thyroid disruption in mammals using improved fish-based toxicity tests.
Professor Robert L Maynard CBE, BSc, MB BCh, FRCP, FRCPath, FFOM, FBTS, FSB
Professor Maynard retired from the UK’s Health Protection Agency (now Public Health England) in 2011, having led the Department of Health’s and, subsequently, the Health Protection Agency’s work on the effects of air pollution on health since 1990. He holds a BSc in Physiology and an MB BCh from the University of Wales. He became a Member of the Royal College of Pathologists in 1991 and a Fellow in 1999, and has since 1996 been a Member of the Royal College of Physicians, becoming a Fellow in 2002. Other distinctions include Fellowship of the Faculty of Occupational and Environmental Medicine and the British Toxicology Society, and in 2000 he received a CBE. He is also an Honorary Professor at the Institute of Public Health, Birmingham University and an Honorary Principal Fellow in the Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, National Heart and Lung Institute, London.
Much of his work on air pollution has been undertaken in close association with the Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants (COMEAP), where he was Medical Sectretary, and the Expert Panel on Air Quality Standards (EPAQS). He has served on a number of other UK Governmental committees including the UK Advisory Group on the Medical Aspects of Air Pollution Episodes, and was Chairman of the Expert Group on Climate Change and Health, the Chief Medical Officer's Working Group on Montserrat, and the ad hoc Expert Group on the Effects of Environmental Noise on Health. He acted as Secretary to the Expert Group on the Management of Chemical Casualties Caused by Terrorist Activity and was also a Member of the Defence Science Advisory Council (DSAC) Panel of Experts. In addition, he has served as Chair at a number of World Health Organisation (Geneva) committees and meetings, including a Working Group set up to convert the WHO Air Quality Guidelines for Europe into a world-wide edition, the Steering Group for the third edition of WHO Air Quality Guidelines, and a WHO meeting in Bonn on the relevance to health of particulate matter from various sources.
Prof. Maynard’s particular interests now extend to the toxicological properties of nanoparticles, having set up the National Nanotoxicology Research Centre at Public Health England (PHE) before retiring; this is the only public laboratory in the UK that can undertake inhalation studies on nano-particles. More recently, he has pursued his keen interests in air pollution science and nano-toxicology and also the interface between structure and function of the lung.
Dr Paul McDermott BSc, PhD, MISTR, FRSPH, FIHEEM
Paul McDermott has an Honours degree and PhD in microbiology and spent the first 11 years of his career in microbiology research and as a university lecturer. More recently, Paul worked as a Specialist Inspector in the Health and Safety Executive's Biological Agents Unit, regulating laboratory work with biological agents as well as providing advice and support to HSE and OGDs in relation to incidental exposure and biosecurity risks. In his role as a regulator, much of Paul’s time was spent working in the field of occupational Legionella risk control where he developed both a deep understanding of the regulatory framework and an appreciation of the practicalities of effective management of water-associated infection risks.
Paul was an active member of HSE's Legionella Committee and its Legionella Technical Working Group and has facilitated the development and delivery of past and current HSE intervention strategies for the control of Legionella risks in workplaces.
Paul has acted as expert witness in a number of Legionella enforcement cases and has contributed to the production of numerous Legionella-related guidance documents, including:
- BS 8580:2010 - Water quality. Risk assessments for Legionella control. Code of practice;
- CIBSE's TM13 - Minimising the Risk of Legionnaires' disease;
- The HSE’s revised Approved Code of Practice, L8 (4th edition) - Legionnaires' disease: the control of legionella bacteria in water systems;
- The HSE's revised guidance document, HSG274 – Legionnaires' disease: technical guidance.
Paul is also a Technical Assessor for the United Kingdom Accreditation Service, conducting assessments of companies seeking UKAS accreditation for Legionella risk assessment services, and an Assessor for the Legionella Control Association.
Since setting up his biorisk consultancy in July 2014, Paul has undertaken a variety of work including the role of (Water Safety) Authorizing Engineer at a number of NHS Trusts and is currently supporting water risk management arrangements at a number of large academic institutions.
Paul is a member of ISTR and the Water Management Society and is a Fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health and the Institute of Healthcare Engineering and Estate Management.
Isabella Myers BSc, DIC, MSc, MRSB
Isabella Myers is an independent consultant with over 20 years’ experience on the health effects associated with environmental hazards in the indoor and outdoor environment.
Previously, Isabella was a member of the Public Health England (PHE) Toxicology Unit at Imperial College, London, where she supported the Air Pollution and Climate Change Group within PHE. She was responsible for: the development, implementation and support of health-based policies for government departments; leading the scientific work on indoor air pollution, creating and implementing the strategic approach to the protection of public health from the effects of carbon monoxide poisoning; providing scientific Secretariat support to the Government’s Expert Committee on the Medial Effects of Air Pollutants (COMEAP); the provision of advice to other government departments, UK Minsters and stakeholders on air pollution, climate change, extreme events and noise pollution; developing advice relating to the deliberate release of biological and chemical pollutants. She ran prominent scientific and policy orientated conferences, workshops, accredited training days with national and international attendees and speakers. Prior to this, Isabella worked with the pharmaceutical industry on the development and delivery of therapeutics for respiratory and neurological conditions.
A scientist by training, Isabella graduated, with Honours, in Agriculture and Environmental Sciences from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and gained her Diploma and Masters degree in Environmental Technology, specialising in Health, from Imperial College, London. She is a Member of the All Party Parliamentary Carbon Monoxide Group’s Stakeholder Advisory Group and Forum, Chair of its Medical and Healthcare Professionals’ Sub-Group, and Co-Chair of its Science and Technology Sub-Group; Committee Member of the UK Indoor Environments Group and a member of the British Toxicology Society and Royal Society of Biology.
Isabella has been a contributing author to numerous Government and expert committee reports on the health effects of air pollutants and climate change and has published papers and book chapters on the same topics.
Dr George Prpich BSc, PhD
I am an expert in environmental risk management, decision analysis, and environmental engineering. I study problems that span the water, energy, and food sectors and have published more than 35 peer reviewed articles and reports that describe my work in these areas. I am particularly interested in helping organisations to identify and prioritise their strategic risks, manage their uncertainties, and identify their emerging risks. I have advised and consulted for a number of international clients, such as the UK Government, the European Commission, and the United Nations. I hold a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Queen’s University, Canada.
Dr Mike Roberts BSc, MSc, PhD
Mike has Doctoral, Master and Bachelor degrees in environmental biology. He has over 20 years’ experience with the UK government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in the sustainable management of chemicals, specifically with regard to potential endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and metals in the environment (especially mercury, lead and cadmium), chemical mixtures and possible interactions between the environment and human health.
From 2009 to 2016, Mike was one of the two UK National Co-ordinators on the OECD chemicals Test Guidelines programme and a member of the OECD’s Endocrine Disrupters Testing and Assessment Advisory Group (EDTA). He was instrumental in the development of several test guidelines and guidance documents for the detection of EDCs, for example utilising freshwater mollusc species and sticklebacks.
Mike was formerly a Visiting Fellow at Cranfield University and, in 2013, the Chair of the SETAC (Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry) Global Partners Council. He was one of the two co-chairs for the SETAC Pellston Workshop™ Environmental Hazard and Risk Assessment Approaches for Endocrine-Active Substances (EHRA), held in early 2016 at Pensacola Beach, Florida, USA. The Workshop developed consensus-based advice on scientifically-defensible approaches for the environmental assessment of endocrine active substances.
Since leaving Defra and becoming an independent consultant in 2016, Mike has worked with colleagues on the assessment of chemicals as potential endocrine disruptors, utilising the OECD Guidance Document on Standardised Test Guidelines for Evaluating Chemicals for Endocrine Disruption.
Dr Paul Rumsby BSc, PhD
IEH Consulting Associate Director. Paul has been a toxicologist for 35 years and has a Bachelor of Technology degree in Applied Biochemistry and a PhD in biochemical pharmacology. He has been a European Registered Toxicologist since 1997. For 20 years, he was a laboratory scientist conducting cancer and toxicological research before undertaking desk-based toxicology. He has technical expertise on a range of toxicological mechanisms including mutagenesis, carcinogenesis, neurotoxicity and endocrine disruption. He has authored many scientific papers, reviews and client reports and presented at many national and international meetings.
Until recently, Paul was Principal Toxicologist and manager of the National Centre for Environment Toxicology, a group at WRc plc (formerly the Water Research Centre). He has undertaken many chemical risk assessments particularly on chemicals in the environment (air, soil and drinking and environmental waters) including incineration and landfill. This included the technical management of 24/7 advisory services for contamination of both drinking and environmental waters for the UK water industry and the Environment Agency. As such, he has expert knowledge of health-based screening levels (both short and long-term) for chemicals in water.
He has worked on projects for many UK government department and agencies and the EU including cancer risk estimates for ECHA and technical advice on Prior Informed Consent (PIC) as part of the UNEP Rotterdam Convention for the import and export of dangerous chemicals.
Dr Lesley Rushton OBE, BA, MSc, PhD, Hon FFOM, CSTAT
Lesley is a medical statistician and epidemiologist. She holds a PhD in methodological aspects of epidemiological studies gained at the Institute of Cancer Research, London and was awarded an OBE for service to occupational health in 2004. She has worked in several UK academic institutions including the Universities of Greenwich and Nottingham and for the Medical Research Council Institute for Environment and Health in Leicester. She is now a Reader in Occupational Epidemiology at Imperial College London, where she is involved in multidisciplinary research programmes into occupational and environmental causes of ill health.
Lesley has specialised in health studies in various industries carrying out research into mortality and cancer incidence, and case-control studies. These include studies of workers in several industries such as the oil industry, silica sand and printing industries, children’s health and air pollution, estimation of burden of occupationally-related cancer in Britain, and design and application of an occupational module for UK Biobank. Methodological research includes systematic review and meta-analysis in the areas of risk assessment and cross-design synthesis. She has been a member of several UK government committees including the Committee on Toxicity and is currently a member of the UK Committee on Carcinogenicity and the UK HSE Engineering and Environmental Assurance Committee. She has recently been appointed as the Chair of Industrial Injuries Advisory Council.
Professor Lewis Smith BSc, PhD, FRCPath, FBTS
Professor Smith has extensive experience in the study of mechanisms of toxicity and their relevance to risk assessment. He has held positions as Director of the M.R.C. Toxicology Unit, Director of the M.R.C. Institute of Environment and Health and Director of C.T.L. Laboratories, which were part of Zeneca, then subsequently Syngenta. He sits on various Boards of Academic Institutes in both the UK and USA.
Dr Kate Vassaux BSc, MSc, PhD
Kate Vassaux is an independent scientific writer with 20+ years of experience in the biomedical research domain.
Kate has a BSc in Biochemistry & Chemistry from the University of Sheffield, and an MSc in Medical Microbiology and PhD in Medical Genetics from the University of Manchester. Following a postdoctoral fellowship at Imperial Cancer Research Fund in London, Kate worked for several years as a scientific writer within the Department of Health Toxicology Group at Imperial College London, and briefly as a writer within the Wellcome Trust Publishing Group in International Health.
Kate has extensive experience in the provision of work for UK and European expert group scientific advisory committees in the field of chemical toxicology and public health. This work comprises the identification, critical evaluation and synthesis of literature and experimental data for committee discussion papers, presentation at committee meetings, and drafting of statements bringing together group discussions and conclusions, including content for expert and lay audiences. Areas covered range from the evaluation of potential adverse health effects associated with food supplements, consumer products and chemicals in the environment to the provision of position papers on conceptual and methodological developments in research in the field. Some of the main areas in which Kate has worked recently include epidemiological evaluation of alcoholic beverage consumption and risk of cancer, assessment of potential toxicological risks associated with e-cigarette use, and guidance for risk assessment of chemical carcinogens.
In addition to work for expert group scientific committees, Kate has 10+ years of experience as an English-language writer, editor and translator (French-to-English) for academic and corporate clients in the biomedical research sector in France. Kate is a native English speaker, with professional working proficiency in French.
Dr Susan Zappala BSc, PhD, MIEMA, CEnv
Susan Zappala is currently an environmental scientist working in the UK Civil Service advising on air pollution and ecotoxicology. She has over 15 years of experience working on toxic substances and their effects on people, habitats and the wider environment. Susan’s career began as an environmental consultant helping UK industry comply with regulatory obligations for air, water, soil and major accidents and hazards. This included work for gypsum processors, major waste sites, oil and gas, food production, pharmaceutical and agricultural facilities. After a PhD focussed on environmental chemistry and plant responses to nutrients, Susan secured a role advising local government about effects of environmental pressures on UK protected ecosystems. Through this work, Susan has specialised in air pollution and chemical effects. Her work includes contributions to the Inter-agency Air Pollution Group, Air Pollution Information System, the UK Clean Air Strategy 2019 and 25 Year Environment Plan indicators for risk from air pollution and chemicals.