Committees | Ioha2024

Dr Alison Connolly

Dr Alison Connolly, the Chair of the Scientific Committee for IOHA 2024, is an Assistant Professor in the School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sports Science at the University College Dublin (UCD). Alison teaches in the area of occupational hygiene, chemical safety, and human biomonitoring. Dr Connolly’s research is motivated by the protection of human health by evaluating and understanding exposures from new and emerging pollutants. Alison conducts exposure assessments studies to investigate human exposures to pollutants for both environmental and occupational exposures, predominantly utilising human biomonitoring strategies to determine internal body burden. Alison is on the board of the European Chapter of the International Society of Exposure Science as a Councillor of Exposure Science Capacity Building, Training and Education and is a council member for the Occupational Hygiene Society of Ireland (OHSI).

Find out more: https://people.ucd.ie/alison.connolly

Vincent Perret

Toxicologist

Occupational Hygienist Switzerland, France

co-founder of the Geneva (Switzerland) company TOXpro, specialized in industrial toxicology services. Active in a small country, he has to know how to do everything, from the perfume and aroma industry to the watch industry, including the remediation of polluted sites and air quality in offices.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/vincentperret/

Dr Victoria Hogan

Dr. Victoria Hogan is a lecturer in Occupational Health and Wellbeing in the School of Health Sciences, University of Galway and is a member of the Health Promotion Research Centre. She has worked in the occupational health and safety field for over 20 years. She has extensive experience in mixed method social science research. She has been co-investigator on a number of occupational and environmental health research projects funded by external agencies such as the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health, the Health and Safety Authority and the Equality Authority. She has authored 59 journal, report and conference outputs. Her work has been cited 328 times.

Dr Sharyn Gaskin

Dr Sharyn Gaskin is an Associate Professor and Director of Adelaide Exposure Science and Health, in the School of Public Health at The University of Adelaide, Australia. Her research program explores the pathways and impacts of environmental and occupational hazards on human health and society and leads to the development of effective interventions to control and prevent exposure to hazards. She has a particular interest in dermal exposure risk assessment and management.

Dr Urs Schlüter

Dr. Urs Schlüter is head of the unit Exposure Scenarios at the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA) which is the German Competent Authority for the REACH and Biocides regulations. He leads a unit of 20 scientists and engineers who perform the regulatory exposure assessments for workplaces in the framework of REACH and Biocides. Urs Schlüter is a chemist who studied at the universities of Dortmund, Münster and Raleigh (NC).

During his work for BAuA he participated in a number of national and European working committees including the Technical and the Competent Authority Meeting on Biocides. Since 2011 he has been a member of the ECHA’s Committee for Risk Assessment (RAC). He has managed research studies that were aimed at the evaluation of workplace situations (exposure assessment, risk management measures) for chemicals and biocidal products. Additionally, he serves as a member of the board of the European Chapter of the International Society of Exposure Science (ISES).

Steven Verpaele

Steven Verpaele, Master of science in environmental chemistry – Industrial Hygiene an CIH. He did a lot of research work on sampling and analysis for dust and elemental compositions in workplace atmospheres, especially silica. Currently he is the industrial hygiene manager at the Nickel Institute (global association of leading primary nickel producers).

He is also founder and president of the Belgian Centre for Occupational Hygiene, a non-profit organization focused on research and laboratory services to industry regarding occupational hygiene exposure assessment. BeCOH has an MOU with Workplace Health Without Borders (WHWB) and provides free of charge analysis for OH projects. He has more than 15 years’ experience as Industrial Hygienist and as an expert in different ISO and CEN workgroups mainly focused on workplace atmosphere. He is also co-chair of the Occupational Hygiene Training Association (OHTA) and vice chair of the International Affairs Committee (IAC) of the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA). Steven is the 2020 AIHA Yant Award recipient and received also the 2020 ASTM D22 Award of Appreciation for the work he did for organizing the conference on metals and metalloids

Dr Ryan LeBouf

Dr. Ryan LeBouf is a BGC Certified Industrial Hygienist and is a Supervisory Research Industrial Hygienist with the Respiratory Health Division at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in Morgantown, WV. He completed his doctorate in Environmental Science and Engineering from Clarkson University in 2008. He holds an MSE in Mechanical Engineering focusing on Nuclear and Radiation Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin (2001). He received a BS in Industrial Hygiene Environmental Toxicology from Clarkson University in 1999. His current research is concentrated on VOC monitoring and analysis, emissions from electronic nicotine delivery systems, and exposures during cured in-place pipe installations.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ryan-Lebouf

Ruari Ward

Ruairi Ward is a Principal Occupational Hygiene Consultant with RED OHMS Group. Ruairi holds an undergraduate degree in Mathematical and Computational science along with postgraduate qualifications in OH&S and a MSc in Occupational hygiene. Ruairi is a Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH®) with the Board for Global EHS Credentialing, a Certified Occupational Hygienist (COH®) with the AIOH and a Chartered Member of the Faculty of Occupational Hygiene (CMFOH) with the BOHS. Ruairi is a co-founder and Operations Director with RED OHMS Group, which provides consultancy services in Occupational Hygiene, Training and Environmental in the APAC region.

Dr Radu Duca

Dr Radu Corneliu DUCA is a European Register Toxicologist with primary focus on human biomonitoring and the evolution of environmental and occupational exposure. He is currently heading the Unit Environmental Hygiene and Human Biological Monitoring, Laboratoire National de Santé (LNS) Luxembourg. He is Secretary of ICOH Scientific Committee of Occupational Toxicology. He is also actively involved in various expert groups like the Occupational Biomonitoring activity and the Effect-biomarker/AOP activity of the OECD - Working Parties of Hazard and Exposure Assessment; ISES European Chapter - Expert Working Group ‘Exposure Data Production: Human data’; and ISES -International Human Biomonitoring Values Working Group (i-HBM). His main scientific interests are related to: the evaluation of the respiratory exposure (e.g. dust (PM2.5/PM10), ultrafine and nano particles, VOCs, PAHs, flame retardants, bisphenols, pesticides), the characterization of dermal exposure (assessment of surface contamination and on skin), and the use of novel analytical methodologies for the development of better biomarkers of effect (such as epigenetic and oxidative stress marks) and biomarkers of exposure using various biological media (e.g. blood, serum, urine, hair). All these developments are intended to investigate the impact of occupational and indoor environment on human health by unravelling the underlying mechanism.

Dr Marie Coggins

Dr Marie Coggins is an Exposure Scientist and Senior Lecturer at the University of Galway (UoG). Following her PhD she worked in the Pharmaceutical sector as an Occupational Hygiene Professional, before commencing a lecturing post at UoG in 2003. She is Programme Director of the BOHS accredited MSc Occupational and Environmental Health & Safety programmes. She leads the UoG Exposure Science research team, her research focuses on characterizing the magnitude of human exposure and exposure pathways for a range of pollutants across multiple microenvironments as well as evaluating the impact of human exposure or exposure interventions on health. She is an Irish representative and board member on the International Energy Agencies, Technology collaboration Programme - Annex 5, Air Infiltration and Ventilation Centre (AIVC).

Dr Penpatra Sripaiboonkij

Programme Director in Higher Diploma in Safety, Health and Wellbeing at Work, University College Dublin, Ireland. She has comprehensive knowledge in the area of occupational health and safety. Her areas of experience include occupational health and safety, work physiology, human factor, industrial hygiene, and also experience in disciplines such as respiratory health and epidemiology in occupational health.

Nicolaas Claassen

I am a Senior Lecturer in the School of Health Systems and Public Health (SHSPH), Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Pretoria. I am responsible to present occupational hygiene-related courses and managing the Air Quality Laboratory in the SHSPH. Other responsibilities include contract research and presenting continuing education programmes through Enterprises UP.

Dr Linda Apthorpe

Linda Apthorpe has more than 25 years of experience providing consulting and laboratory services to a wide variety of workplaces. She has a strong background in the analysis and control of workplace hazards such as asbestos, dust and silica. Linda has authored papers and textbook chapters on occupational hygiene and facilitated professional development seminars and training courses on asbestos, silica and other occupational hazards. She facilitates OHTA training courses and as an academic at the University of Wollongong, Linda inspires undergraduate and postgraduate occupational hygiene students with her passion for protecting worker health. She is a Fellow Member of AIOH, a Certified Occupational Hygienist and a Full Member of Risk Management of FAMANZ.

Find out more at the scholars page from the University of Wollongong https://scholars.uow.edu.au/linda-apthorpe

Laurence Svirchev

Laurence Svirchev, MA, BSc, CIH, has a 40 year career an Occupational Hygiene and Safety. He spent a decade in Occupational Epidemiology at the BC Cancer Agency (Canada) and fifteen years at WorkSafeBC as an Occupational Hygiene Officer and Fatalities Investigator. During SARS-1, he was a member of the Vancouver SARS Scientific Committee. From 2010 to 2020, he worked as Hygiene-Safety-Environment-Social Manager for Chinese international infrastructure construction companies in China, Indonesia, Fiji, Pakistan, and Niger. In the time of COVID-19, has been a COVID Compliance Officer in the Film industry. Mr. Svirchev has authored and co-authored 17 peer-reviewed articles in the industrial hygiene, disaster management, and geology literature. He currently holds the Chair of the AIHA its International Affairs Committee, is a member of Scientific Advisory Board of The Integrated Bioscience and Built Environment Consortium, and the Canadian Aerosol Transmission Coalition.

Kerry Cheung

Kerry Cheung is a Certified Occupational Hygienist (COH)® and Principal Specialist in Exposure Risk Management at WorkSafe New Zealand. He has 15 years of experience and expertise in occupational health research, occupational hygiene, advisory, consulting, and government. His past research interests include measuring determinants of airborne exposures in the wood processing industry and using real-time video exposure monitoring to assess the effectiveness of various interventions. Currently, his focus is working on a three-year programme to help businesses and organisations identify and eliminate or control carcinogens and airborne risks.

Kate Jones

Biological Monitoring Team Lead

Health and Safety Executive, Great Britain

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-jones-b96189a/

Kate Jones is the Biological Monitoring Team Lead for Great Britain’s health and safety regulator (HSE). She has extensive experience of occupational biomonitoring, both in day-to-day practice and in research. She leads a team of scientists with expertise in isocyanates, metals, pesticides, silica and solvent exposures. Kate participates in a number of national and international committees including the ACGIH Biological Exposure Indices committee, the DFG Analyses in Biological Methods group and is UK national secretary in ICOH.

Karen S. Galea

Research Team Lead, Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM), UK

Human exposure researcher with over 20 years’ experience of working on multidisciplinary research and consultancy projects. Her workplace based research has included inhalation, dermal and biomonitoring exposure assessment in a range of industrial sectors, exposure model validation and evaluation, historical hygiene assessment etc.

Dr Ivan Niranjan

Dr Ivan Niranjan is a Senior Lecturer, at the Durban University of Technology, Department of Community Health Studies, Programme Environmental Health. Vice Chair Professional Certification Committee: South African Institute of Occupational Hygienist (SAIOH). Previously worked for the government regulator in administering Occupational Health and Safety legislation. Lectures in Occupational Health and Safety and Environmental Law.

Dr Holger M. Koch

Dr. Holger M. Koch has actively been involved in performing exposure and risk assessments by means of both ambient and biological monitoring over the last 20 years. Since 2006, Dr. Koch is Head of the Human-Biomonitoring Laboratories at the Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine (IPA) - Institute of the University Bochum, Germany. Together with his active working group (including 10 past and current doctoral students) and with numerous national/international collaborations he has already (co-)authored around 200 peer-reviewed publications on exposure and risk assessment of occupational and environmental chemicals. Since 2010 Dr. Koch is member of the Human Biomonitoring Commission of the German Environment Agency (UBA). Since 2017, Dr. Koch is co-Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health and in the Editorial Board of Environment International. In 2018 Dr. Koch was named a Highly Cited Researcher by Web of Science/Clarivate Analytics. In Google Scholar he is currently (Dec. 2022) has an h-index of 63 and an i10-index of 166.

Dr Emanuele Cauda

Dr. Emanuele Cauda is a Research Engineer at National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Dr. Cauda’s research focuses on characterizing, monitoring, and controlling aerosols present in occupational environments and specifically respirable dust, silica, and diesel particulate matter. Dr. Cauda is also the Director of the NIOSH Center for Direct Reading and Sensor Technologies. In the frame of the Center, he coordinates several activities on the selection and use of advanced monitoring techniques for aerosols, gas and vapors, fatigue, and other hazards. One of the current initiatives of the Center is called “Right Sensors Used Right”. Dr. Cauda is interested in several aspects related to direct reading methodologies and sensors including human-technology interaction, data processing and modeling, and ethical considerations.

Conor Buggy

Conor Buggy PhD (He / Him / His) is Director of the UCD Centre for Safety and Health at Work and is an Associate Professor in Occupational and Environmental Studies at University College Dublin (UCD) School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sports Science where he is Programme Director for the MSc in Occupational Safety and Health as well as being an Adjunct Lecturer at Trinity College Dublin (TCD).

His UCD profile can be found here: https://people.ucd.ie/conor.buggy

Darren Arkins

Darren is the manager of the Occupational Health and Hygiene Team within the occupational Health Division of the Health and Safety Authority. Darren is also currently co-chair of the EU Commission’s SLIC CHEMEX Working Group which provides guidance and advice on EU Chemicals OSH legislation to Member State labour inspectorates.

Darpan Das

Dr. Darpan Das is a lecturer at Department of Environment and Geography at University of York. His area of expertise includes physical and chemical characterization of aerosols generated in indoor environments with particular focus on low- and middle-income countries. He has also been part of several projects assessing the impact of ventilation as an intervention on indoor air quality. His current research interests lie in the use of a combination of low-cost sensors and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model for spatio-temporal mapping of pollutants in complex micro-environments.

https://www.york.ac.uk/environment/our-staff/darpan-das/

Ana Maria Salazar

Ana María Salazar, Eng, PhD, MSc, has a 40 year career an Occupational Hygiene and Health. She is a Professor at the School of Public Health of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Chile and holds the position of Head of the Occupational Health Program. She worked for 22 years at the Chilean Safety Association as Head of the Physical Risk Unit and 15 years at the Chilean Public Health Institute as Head of the Noise and Vibration Section. She is currently the Technical Manager of Salazar y Martínez SpA. Professor Salazar is the author and co-author of more than 15 articles on the epidemiology of sensorineural hearing loss attributable to noise (HSNL), hearing protection and exposure to occupational vibration. She is a founding member of the Pan-American Occupational Hygiene Network and a founding member of the Chilean Association of Occupational Hygiene and Health.

More information about Professor Salazar can be found at https://saludpublica.uchile.cl/academicos/programas-academicos/academicos-programa-de-salud-ocupacional/ana-maria-salazar-bugueno.html

Dr Abbas Virji

Dr. M. Abbas Virji is a research industrial hygienist with the Respiratory Health Division at NIOSH in Morgantown. His research interests and experience include developing biologically relevant exposure metrics for epidemiologic studies; tools to calculate lung dose using pharmacokinetic models; historical exposure reconstruction; statistical methods for real-time exposures to identify exposure determinants; and evaluating mixed exposure-response relationships using multipollutant models. He is currently working on evaluating the health effects of exposure to alpha diketones during coffee production.