Prof Margaret Lorraine Britz
B.Sc.(Hons), PhD (Microbiology)

Prof Britz obtained her BSc(Hons) and PhD from the University of Melbourne and worked with several universities (Monash, RMIT, MIT) and CSIRO before returning to senior appointments at Victoria University then the University of Melbourne (Assistant Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research), before joining QUT as Dean of Science in 2006. Over a career in industrial microbiology spanning almost 30 years, she has built a reputation as one of Australia 's leading biotechnologists through collaborative research projects with industry and government organization (research funding received over $6M). Her skills are in food microbiology (food and water safety), fermentation technology (production of industrial chemicals from agricultural feedstocks and wastes, process optimization for fatty acid production by anaerobic bacteria), microbial physiology (lactic acid bacteria, strictly anaerobic bacteria, corynebacteria - which make complex lipids) and genetics (several food-grade bacteria, including LAB), publishing over 80 articles and book chapters, plus 22 consulting reports and 2 patents. More recently her research has focused on stress and survival of environmental and food microbes, particularly understanding cooperative metabolism in complex communities and how this influences process outcomes (dairy products and remediation of contaminated soils), and use of hemicellulose fraction for biofuel production. She has received a number of awards for research (e.g. Advance Australia Award, Fulbright Fellowship) and has held several government appointments (e.g. Chair, Environmental Council, Victoria; Member, Food Safety Council Victoria; Director, RIRDC and Australian Rural Leadership Foundation). Most recently she was appointed to Panel 5 (Agriculture, Veterinary, Food and Environmental Sciences) of the Research Quality Framework. Prof Britz brings to this project experience in research project planning, management and execution, and will coordinate and oversee this project at QUT. Return to Program

Andy de Jager, Manager - Analytical Development, Q-Pharm, Pty Limited

Andy de Jager currently holds the position of Manager - Analytical Development at Q-Pharm. He has 12 years of chromatographic experience, 10 of which have been spent in the field of LC-MS/MS. The focus of his work has been the production of robust, compliant analytical methods with the emphasis on high-throughput analytical methodology in support of large scale pharmacokinetic and bioequivalence studies in a number of matrices.

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Brian Creese, Consultant in Preclinical Drug Development, Brian Creese Consulting

Brian is an independent drug development consultant specialising in preclinical studies.

He has over 30 years experience as a drug development scientist, including 16 years as a preclinical reviewer at the Therapeutic Goods Administration.

He has worked for two biopharmaceutical companies in Brisbane, Progen Pharmaceuticals and Implicit Bioscience, where his responsibilities included management of preclinical studies and early phase clinical trials, implementation of GLP, and regulatory affairs. Go to Program or Go to Abstract

Gilmore, Rowan, Chief Executive Officer, Australian Institute for Commercialisation

Rowan Gilmore has been the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Institute for Commercialisation (AIC) since May 2003, where he is responsible for leading the organisation in its mission to help businesses, research organisations and governments accelerate the commercialisation of their know-how and technology. His work involves providing policy advice on innovation and the knowledge economy to government, and the delivery of services to small businesses and other organisations that assist them to recognise, value, and apply their intellectual property. Prior to this role, he was based in London and Geneva from 1998 as Vice President of Network Services ( Europe ) for the airline IT company SITA, now part of France Telecom.

Rowan's career has spanned a variety of senior product and business management roles, with much of his experience gained abroad. His career began in Asia as a field engineer in the oil industry for Schlumberger Ltd., followed with over fifteen years in the US and Europe in the electronics design and telecommunications industries. He has been at the forefront of innovation, and has extensive experience in design, development, and commercialisation.

He i s an engineering graduate of the University of Queensland with the University Medal, and earned his Doctor of Science degree from Washington University in St. Louis in the US . Go to Program or Go to Abstract

Andrew King, Chairman, Regulated Research Development and Manufacturing Division and

Manager - Quality Assurance, Q-Pharm Pty Limited and Research Adviser to the Centre for Studies in Drug Disposition of The University of Queensland .

After some experience in the analysis of metals, Andrew King began medical research in drug metabolism in 1984 with Professors Ron Dickinson and Wayne Hooper , at The University of Queensland. Andrew later managed this laboratory, which was also undertaking analysis of samples, as part of clinical trials, intended for regulatory submission, until becoming Quality Assurance Coordinator in 1996. He was responsible for the Centre's successful accreditation with the National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA) as a medical testing facility and for application of the OECD Principles of Good Laboratory Practice, in 1997. He is currently managing the centre's project to achieve Australia 's first Research and Development accreditation with NATA.

Long-standing involvement in QA aspects of clinical trials led to full time appointment as Quality Assurance Manager when Q-Pharm Pty Limited, a clinical trials facility, was established as a joint venture of the University and the Queensland Institute of Medical Research in 2002.

He is co-author of more than 20 research papers in refereed journals and a similar number of research abstracts and conference presentations. Andrew is also a Major in The Australian Army and, when family duties allow, he maintains outdoor interests that include climbing, ski mountaineering and bushwalking. Go to Program

Mario Pennisi - Chief Executive Officer , QCTN

Mario Pennisi, Chairman, Australian Organisation for Quality Queensland Inc, and Managing Director, World Conference Systems

Mario Pennisi is the Chairman, Australian Organisation for Quality Queensland Inc (AOQ-QLD). He is a former President of the Australian Organisation for Quality Inc (the National AOQ Body) and former Chairman of AOQ Inc. He is a MJ Ahern medallist, Fellow of AOQ-QLD (FAOQ), a Fellow of the Institute of Metal Finishing (FIMF), a Senior Member of the American Society for Quality (SMASQ) and an Honorary Life Member of the Australasian Institute of Metal Finishing (now the Australian Institute of Finishing). Mario Chairs the Gold Awards committee for AOQ-QLD. He also edits and publishes Progressing Business eZine for AOQ Inc and Coatings and Fabrication, a trade magazine for the coatings and fabrication industries.

Mario has trained and consulted in quality systems for many years, particularly in the Coatings industry. He chairs 7 Standards Australia Committees and sits on a further 7 committees as well as being a member of the Management and Business Standards Sector Board of Standards Australia.

In previous years he managed an electroplating shop, a University Department's laboratory staff, facilities and budget and built up a conference management organisation. Go to Program or Go to Abstract

Ted (Edward Thomas James) Plum, Operations Manager, Alkaloids of Australia Pty Ltd

(Ted), Edward Thomas James Plum spent his primary and secondary years in Queensland but moved to Victoria to study Applied Chemistry part time at RMIT from 1962 to 1967

Ted is a

• Chartered Chemist - Royal Australian Chemical Institute - RACI
• Honorary Fellow and Foundation Member of Australian Organisation for Quality - AOQ (AOQC)
• Member - International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineers - ISPE
• Executive Member - Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Manufacturers Association of Australia (APIMAA)
• Certified Assessor & Implementer OHSAS systems
• Lapsed Assessor for ISO Quality Systems

In the early years worked for:

The Shell Company of Australia in Victoria monitoring quality of Fuels, lubricants, agricultural and industrial chemicals and then on to other Companies in a variety of production roles producing chemical products for the foundry, resin, surface coating polymers and printing industries.

In 1981, returned to Queensland to:

Work in a short lived research group looking at alcohol and other products from Cassava;

Joined Bundaberg Distilling Company in 1983 as the Distillery Chemist and later transferred to Bundaberg Sugar as Quality Superintendent preparing quality systems for the group.

In 1996 was seconded from Bundaberg Sugar to the United Sugar Company in Jeddah , Saudi Arabia with a Tate and Lyle team to participate in the construction, commissioning and operation of a sugar refinery for local industrialists.

On return from overseas in 2001, instead of retiring he joined Alkaloids of Australia in Kingaroy as Quality Assurance Manager and is now Operations Manager for the site. Go to Program or Go to Abstract

Smith, James, Senior Lecturer, Queensland University of Technology, Faculty of Science, School of Life Sciences

James received his BSc in microbiology with minor in analytical chemistry from California State University Long Beach (1988) while working for Cyprus Industrial Minerals Research, and later as a National Science Foundation undergraduate research scholar, publishing his first peer-reviewed paper as an undergraduate on advances HPLC detection of functional groups in polysaccharides.

Following two years of research in biofouling, metal-binding by microbial polysaccharides, and biogeochemistry, including extensive use of GC-MS/FID, HPLC and continuous microbial culture he received his Ph.D. in microbiology from Montana State University (1995) on environmental impacts and microbial physiology of sewage discharges from Antarctic bases. This involved extensive field work on the sea-ice, as well dry valleys in Antarctica . He has subsequently returned to Antarctica twice as a consultant on dispersion of microbial contaminants from the McMurdo station in the marine environment.

For 9 years James was co-owner and quality assurance manager of a US-based, EPA-certified environmental and food microbiology/chemistry analytical, research and consulting laboratory. This laboratory specialised in generation and validation of methods for detection of non-standard microorganisms for monitoring, as well as bioaerosols and microbial fouling of structural materials. During this period Dr. Smith was an OECD research fellow (New Zealand), post-doctoral fellow (Swedish Institute for Infections Disease Control), research fellow and principal pathogen protozoan analyst (Australia) and visiting Professor of environmental microbiology (Brazil) Dr. Smith has published over 24 peer-reviewed papers and books chapters associated with the above work. He currently resides in Brisbane , is a member of academic staff in the microbiology section of the school of life sciences at Queensland Univ. of Technology, the Institute for Sustainable Resources (ISR), International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health (ILAQH), and is a consultant in water, food and air quality/bioaerosols microbiology and measurement uncertainty in biological analyses

He is a member of the Standards Australia FT-020 Water Microbiology committee, the subcommittee on measurement uncertainty as well as a National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA) technical assessor in water, food, air and defined environments microbiology, cytotoxicity/mutagenicity, and toxin bioassay. James is an auditor of ISO14001 (Environmental Management Systems) and Guide 34 (Reference Materials Production) quality systems.

Interests include exploration, SCUBA, music, history, biography and cartography. Go to Program or Go to Abstract

John Styzinski, Deputy Technical Manager, NATA

Following completion of his undergraduate studies, John commenced employment with the Department of Haematology at the Austin Hospital in Melbourne , where he remained for just over six years. During that time, he completed a masters degree in medical science and jointed NATA in early 1996.

During the early years at NATA, John was involved in the joint NATA/RCPA* accreditation program for pathology laboratories. In 2001, he was appointed as the Manager, Medical Imaging to oversee the development of the joint RANZCR** /NATA accreditation program for medical imaging which was launched in 2004.

In early 2007, John was promoted to the position of Deputy Technical Manager.

* Royal College of Pathologists , Australasia
**Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists Go to Program or Go to Abstract

Paul Taylor, Senior Chemist, Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Princess Alexandra Hospital

Paul Taylor currently holds the position of Senior Scientist, Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Princess Alexandra Hospital and is a Director of Australian Bioanalytical Services Pty Ltd. He has 15 years experience in the field of HPLC-mass spectrometry. Paul has published over 60 peer reviewed papers and 100 abstracts. In the last 5 years, he has presented over 30 invited lectures at various national and international meetings. The focus of his research is the application of HPLC-mass spectrometry to the clinical setting with particular emphasis on therapeutic drug monitoring, pharmacodynamic monitoring, biomarkers, assay development, and method validation. Go to Program or Go to Abstract

Heather Worthey, Quality Assurance Manager, Health World Ltd

After a brief exposure in the Pharmaceutical Industry in Sydney in1969, Heather ventured into the world of food in 1970. Working in this industry, Heather was involved in the analysis of vitamins in milk and milk products and the development of techniques for the analysis of mercury in fish products.

After managing the vitamin and mineral laboratory section for a multi-national food company for some years, Heather moved to Brisbane with her family in 1988. Heather then ventured back to her fist experience in the industry of pharmaceuticals as an Analytical Chemist.

Heather has had experience in the analysis of raw materials and finished products for both pharmaceuticals and complimentary medicines and managed the laboratory from 1999 to 2004 where she then moved into Quality Assurance. In 1991 Heather witnessed the first implementation of the Code of Good Manufacturing Practice in Australia and then the issuing of the next version in 2002.

Heather is now Quality Assurance Manager for Health World Ltd, a complimentary medicines manufacturer in Brisbane . Heather's focus is not on Good Manufacturing Practice but on GREAT Manufacturing Practice. Go to Program or Go to Abstract