To utilize broad-based background and demonstrated adaptability and versatility to provide high quality, intelligent toxicology expertise with scientific integrity, and to seek opportunities to expand and strengthen current repertoire of skills.

 ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS; TERTIARY

1999: Diplomate American Board of Toxicology

1999: Diplomate American Board of Veterinary Toxicology

1992: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Veterinary Pathology, Massey University, New Zealand

Thesis entitled: Biogenesis and Significance of Lipofuscin in the Equine Thyroid Gland

1984: Bachelor of Veterinary Science (BVSc; equivalent to DVM), Massey University, New Zealand

MidAmerica Toxicology Course Kansas City, Missouri, May 1998

Industrial Toxicology and Pathology University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, May 1997

Awarded Society of Toxicology Student Travel Award 1999 

Awarded the Phyllis Irene Grey Fellowship in Veterinary Science

Awarded Veterinary Womens’ Auxiliary of New Zealand Prize

Awarded Veterinary Services Council Prize in Animal Husbandry

American Board of Toxicology; Diplomate 1999

American Board of Veterinary Toxicology; Diplomate 1999

Society of Toxicology; Full Member from 2001, Student Member from 1998.

New Zealand Register of Veterinarians; Practicing Veterinarian 1984 to 1996, Non-practicing Veterinarian 1997 to present

Breeding, training and showing Arabian horses; Endurance riding; Visiting museums; Reading classics.

WORK EXPERIENCE

  2002 to Present: Principal Scientist, Study Direction

Covance Laboratories, Vienna, Virginia, USA

Duties:  

Providing overall responsibility for the conduct of client-sponsored studies.  Documentation, analyses, interpretation and reporting of study findings.  Initiating and maintaining client interactions for study management.  Scientific and business development.  Serving as a Study Director as described in GLPs, representing the single point of study control for multiple concurrent studies. Coordination of the efforts of study teams.  Developing protocols and ensuring that protocols, including any changes, are approved and are in compliance with SOPs, GLPs, and regulatory agency guidelines.  Review of cost estimates, development of prices and communication of these to the client.  Monitoring of financial status of ongoing studies. Monitoring of progress and status of multiple assigned studies.  Ensuring that all experimental data, including observations of unanticipated responses to the test system, are accurately recorded and verified. Direction of  report preparation, ensuring compliance with protocol and regulatory requirements, and submission of reports to the client.  Peer review of reports prepared by other Study Directors.

C S I R O 2000 to 2002: Senior Research Scientist, Toxicology

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Geelong, Australia

Duties:

Establishing a chronic oral No Observed Effect Level (NOEL) for tunicamycins and corynetoxins according to Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) guidelines for chronic toxicity studies. Supervision of all animal experimentation to meet Animal Ethics Committee approval. Ensuring the integrity of all toxicological evaluations.  Determine biochemical, neurological, behavioural, pathological and clinical parameters to be monitored during the study, and assess or direct the assessment of effects of those parameters. Supervision of staff. Adherence to principles of Good Laboratory Practice (GLP), and ensuring that supervised staff also adhere to GLP. Authorship of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) applicable to the studies in accordance with GLP. Liaison with external customers in industry and funding bodies.  Regular review of relevant literature. Adherence to OSHE and EEO requirements. Other toxicological investigations and consulting as required. Veterinary and veterinary pathological support to the Small Animal Facility. Advisory role in the assessment, monitoring and management of toxic hazards in the laboratories.

1999 to 2000: Toxicologic Pathologist

European Centre for Toxicologic Pathology, The Royal Veterinary College, University of London

Duties:

Teaching  Toxicology to veterinary undergraduates and postgraduates. Designed lecture courses, wrote notes and gave courses in veterinary clinical toxicology, environmental toxicology, and regulatory toxicology and toxicologic pathology. Designed and taught review course in veterinary toxicology for final year veterinary students.

Designing a comprehensive, GLP-compliant diagnostic and research toxicology laboratory. Methods included simultaneous ICP-AES, HPLC with DAD and Cromeleon drug library, spectrophotometry, Toxi-Lab drug screen, and various rapid semi-quantitative and qualitative toxicology screens. Test methods for metals and minerals, pharmaceuticals and illicit drugs, anticoagulant rodenticides, methylxanthine alkaloids, cholinesterase inhibitors, glycolic acid, dipyridyl herbicides, phenoxy herbicides, strychnine, metaldehyde, and cyanide.

1996 to 1999: Assistant Instructor

Comparative Toxicology Laboratories, Kansas State University

Director: Professor Frederick Oehme

Duties:

Gained eligibility for American Board of Veterinary Toxicology (ABVT) and American Board of Toxicology (ABT) examinations and gained a strong background in general principles of toxicology, veterinary toxicology and environmental toxicology.

Toxicology Consultant to the Technical Outreach Services to Communities (TOSC) program administered by the Hazardous Substances Research Center (HSRC), Kansas State University. Duties included:

•  independent review of contaminated sites
•  literature searches on hazardous substances
• presenting scientific information on toxic substances and on the risk assessment process to community groups
• writing articles on  hazardous substances and the risk assessment process

Directly involved in HSRC efforts at the following sites

• Neosho, Missouri. Two areas of groundwater contaminated with VOCs, including TCE, semi-volatiles, and metals. The contamination is believed to originate from a former Department of Defense test site which was used to manufacture and test rocket and jet engines during the 1950s and 1960s. Jet engine overhaul and associated engine parts cleaning also took place.
• Wichita, Kansas. Chlorinated and volatile organic compounds have been found in the groundwater.
• Former Lowry Air Force Bombing and Gunnery Range, Colorado. Used by the Department of Defense for bombing and gunnery training during the World War II era. The site was also used for small arms training, chemical warfare treatment training, explosive ordnance disposal (EOD, by detonation), and as a location for Titan missile silos. Problems include unexploded ordnance (UXO) and underground petroleum storage tanks, and there is also concern over chemical weapon residues. 
• Spring Lake Park, Omaha, Nebraska.  Former landfill areas underlie this park. Problems include bare ground where nothing will grow, seepage of murky, foul-smelling liquids, and uneven settlement. Several generations of sewer lines underlie the park area.
• Oglala Lakota Nation/Former Badlands Bombing Range. Consulting and reviewing role, did not visit this site.

Site Coordinator, responsible for ensuring provision of the TOSC program to the Restoration Advisory Board for the former Black Hills Army Depot, Edgemont, South Dakota. This 21,000-acre site housed industrial storage, administrative, housing, and related support facilities and activities for the Department of Defense. The depot was used to store, test, repair, or destroy conventional and chemical warfare munitions. This included small arms and high explosive ammunition, chemical ammunition, ammunition components, toxic chemicals, and general supplies. Chemical ammunition and poisons stored at the depot included white phosphorus, sulphur mustard, cyanogen chloride, phosgene, and nerve agents. Problems include UXO, heavy metal contamination, petroleum hydrocarbon contamination, shrapnel and uncertain whereabouts of chemical weapon dumps. The site is now largely used for ranch land and there is concern over hazards to both humans and animals. As Site Coordinator, duties included explaining issues related to environmental toxicology to the Restoration Advisory Board and the community, and providing independent review of Preliminary Assessment/Site Inspection (PA/SI) reports, Remedial Investigation/ Feasibility Studies (RI/FS) and Engineering Evaluation/ Cost Analysis (EECA) reports prepared by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) or by independent contractors hired by the USACE.

Provided toxicology consulting service by telephone to veterinarians, pet-owners and ranchers.  Supervised the analysis, and interpreted and reported the results for all samples submitted for diagnostic toxicology testing on two weekdays each week.

Taught aspects of veterinary toxicology to senior veterinary students and aspects of environmental toxicology to graduate students enrolled in Environmental Toxicology course, Kansas State University.

Independent research: Completed  research projects included  research on the muscarinic receptors in brains of normal dogs and cats and organophosphate-poisoned dogs, identification and characterization of muscarinic receptors in canine erythrocyte membranes, the detection of a veterinary counterirritant in canine urine, assessment of the stability of nitrates in water, and investigation of the use of glycopyrrolate as an alternative to atropine in organophosphate poisoning in dogs.

From July 1996 to April 1997, performed all diagnostic toxicology testing in the laboratories. These included: Measurement of metals in biological tissues by GF-AA and flame AA, screening for common mycotoxins in grains and feedstuffs by TLC, measurement of nitrates in water and forage by ion-selective electrode, measurement of cholinesterase activity in serum or brain by spectrophotometry (Ellman method), assay of cyanide in animal feeds, testing of the urine of greyhounds for performance-altering drugs for the biannual National Greyhound Championships held in Abilene, Kansas. 

1991 to 1995: Deer Farmer

In partnership with spouse, operating economic units producing venison and velvet antler from Wapiti and Red deer, Manawatu and Canterbury, New Zealand.

1986 to 1990: Research Officer

Department of Veterinary Pathology and Public Health, Veterinary Faculty, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Supervisors: Professor Robert Jolly and Dr David Palmer

Original research comprising a systematic microscopic and biochemical investigation into the biogenesis and significance of lipofuscin in the equine thyroid gland.

Completed the most comprehensive analysis to date of a lipofuscin in tissues of normal animals, and found that lipofuscin granules in this tissue are active lysosomal organelles that show no evidence of the alleged role of free-radical induced peroxidation in lipofuscin.  Gained experience in a wide variety of analytical techniques and in bringing the results of a multidisciplinary study together as a coherent whole.

1985: Tutor in Pathology

Supervisors: Professor Robert Jolly, Associate Professor Dr Maurice Alley, Dr Alastair Johnstone and Professor William Manktelow

Gross necropsy and diagnostic histopathology of animals submitted to the Post-Mortem facility at Massey University; completion of necropsy reports.

Experienced in teaching practical necropsy technique to final year veterinary students, supervising final year students performing diagnostic necropsies and taking samples for histopathology, bacteriology or virology.  Experienced in bringing together and interpreting results of gross necropsy, histopathology, bacteriology, clinical pathology and a variety of other investigative approaches.

1984: Locum Small Animal Veterinarian

Various practices in New Zealand

Supervisors: Various; often sole-charge.

Application of veterinary medicine and surgery, usually sole-charge responsibility, achieving competence in defining and solving problems, client communication and a range of surgery techniques.

Provision of toxicology consulting  services

Staff supervsion

Literature search and information retrieval

Excellent writing ability

Excellent skills in conveying aspects of toxicology and risk assessment to laypeople of diverse backgrounds and educational levels.

Familiarity with OECD Guidelines for Chronic Toxicity Studies and for Good Laboratory Practice.

• Graphite furnace atomic absorption spectroscopy; operation and basic troubleshooting
• Flame atomic absorption spectroscopy; operation and basic troubleshooting
• Radiolabelling and scintillation counting; receptor-ligand analysis
• Histology and histopathology including: Lectin affinity labeling; Histochemistry; Fluorescence microscopy; Immunocytochemistry; Transmission electron microscopy; Cutting and staining thin sections
• Extraction of proteins, proteolipids, lipids and nucleic acids from biological samples
• Protein analysis techniques including: Pollyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE); Amino acid analysis; Electroblotting; Proteolipid isolation
• Lipid analysis techniques including: High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC); 31-P Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (NMR); Thin layer chromatography (TLC)
• Nucleic acid analysis techniques including: Agarose gel electrophoresis; Restriction endonuclease digestion
• Preparation of samples for: Amino acid analysis; Protein sequencing; Elemental analysis; Gas-liquid chromatography
• Mycotoxin extraction and visualization by TLC
• UV-visible spectrophotometry including: Ellman and Caraway cholinesterase assays; Phenol-sulfuric acid assay for sugars; Lowry protein assay; Nucleic acid quantification
• Raising and detecting antibodies in experimental animals
• Small animal surgery
• Veterinary necropsy
• In vitro monocyte culture
• Subcellular fractionation
• Density gradient centrifugation

Deer farming; Dairy farming; Dairy-beef rearing; Intensive pig-farming; Breeding and raising Arabian horses; Sheep and beef husbandry in an agro-forestry operation.

For a list of my publications please contact me.

For a description of my MBTI personality type please contact me.

For an up to date list of references please contact me.

Back to top