SafeBridge Staff Biographies

• John P. Farris, CIH
• Allan W. Ader, Ph.D., DABT
• Robert G. Sussman, Ph.D., DABT
• Teresa M. Bryning, M.S.
• Robert H. Ku, Ph.D., DABT, CIH
• Justin Mason
• Martin Axon, MFOH, MIOSH
• Edward J. Haggerty, CIH
• Tracy A. Kimmel, Ph. D., DABT
• Michael C. Perry, MFOH
• Mark S. McCarthy, M.S., CIH, CSP
• Natalia A. Tsekhanovskaya, Ph.D.
• Jeff R. Scott, M.P.H.
• Todd Davidson, Ph.D., DABT
• Elizabeth M. Vancza, Ph.D.
• Vanessa A. Brady, M.S.

John P. Farris, CIH
President and Managing Principal
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Mr. John Farris is the leader of a professional technical firm of scientific and engineering consultants providing environmental health and safety services to pharmaceutical, chemical, biotechnology and other industries. He is a recognized expert in the safe handling of potent compounds, and he frequently lectures on the subject.

Formerly, Mr. Farris was responsible for managing and leading the Syntex EH&S Center. He was vice president of Syntex (U.S.A.) Inc. and President of Agribusiness Technologies Inc., a Syntex subsidiary involved in environmental remediation. The EH&S Center was a group of senior safety, health and environmental professionals that provided specialized consultative services to selected Syntex and Roche clients and other parties.

Prior to that, he was the vice president of the Corporate Environmental Health and Safety Division of Syntex with worldwide responsibility for EH&S services to Syntex chemical, pharmaceutical and research units. He holds a B.S. degree in Occupational Health Sciences and Biological Science from California State University at Hayward and he has done graduate work in industrial hygiene at the University of Southern California and the University of Utah. His special capabilities include executive management, industrial hygiene, laboratory safety, control of potent pharmaceutical compounds, environmental protection and environmental remediation.

He has over twenty-seven years of experience including eighteen years with Syntex/Roche. He is certified by the American Board of Industrial Hygiene in the Comprehensive Practice of Industrial Hygiene. He is a member of the American Industrial Hygiene Association, the International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineers, and the Occupational Hygiene Society of Ireland.

Allan W. Ader, Ph.D., DABT
Principal Toxicologist
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Dr. Allan Ader has over 20 years experience in toxicology, risk assessment and industrial hygiene. He has an extensive background in evaluating complex environmental, health and safety issues and in developing solutions and programs. Dr. Ader has experience in:

• Developing Occupational Exposure Limits and assessing compounds for toxicity and potency for compound categorization / banding and recommending handling practices and controls based on the toxicity/potency characteristics;
• Assisting companies in testing of chemicals for their toxic effects and interpreting data from these tests,
• Performing risk assessments including evaluating toxicological and exposure information to determine potential health effects of chemicals, and
• Responding to crises caused by occupational health illnesses from chemicals by assessing and evaluating risks and communicating them to employees and management.

His pharmaceutical and chemical industry experience includes working for Syntex, Inc. in Palo Alto, CA and Olin Corporation, New Haven, CT. He received a Ph.D. in Industrial Health (Toxicology) from the University of Michigan and an M.S. in Industrial Hygiene from Temple University. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology.

Robert G. Sussman, Ph.D., DABT
Principal Toxicologist and Managing Principal, Eastern Operations
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Dr. Sussman is currently Managing Principal, Eastern Operations for SafeBridge Consultants, Inc. He has over 20 years experience in the pharmaceutical industry where he worked in various capacities in corporate occupational toxicology groups culminating as a Director of Occupational Toxicology in Pfizer’s Corporate Environmental Health and Safety Department. His group was responsible for evaluating the toxicity of pharmaceutical products, their intermediates and other chemicals handled in research facilities and providing hazard communication information to all research facilities worldwide. Bob is a Diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology. He is a past member and chair of the AIHA’s WEEL Committee, is a founding member of the Occupational Toxicology Roundtable and serves on that organization’s steering committee. He has had an adjunct appointment at the NYU Medical Center where he gives several lectures each year on regulatory toxicology, risk assessment, and industrial hygiene aspects of the pharmaceutical industry.

Teresa M. Bryning, M.S.
Principal Chemist
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Ms. Bryning has over twenty-five years of analytical chemistry experience, eleven years of which were with Syntex. Primarily responsibilities included developing and validating analytical methods associated with industrial hygiene sample analysis. Ms. Bryning is familiar with many types of analytical instrumentation and has supervised all aspects of running an analytical laboratory.

Robert H. Ku, Ph.D., DABT, CIH
Principal Toxicologist
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Dr. Robert Ku has over 22 years of experience in risk assessment, toxicology, and industrial hygiene. He has worked in government, consulting, and for private industry. His experience includes working on toxic tort litigation cases, superfund remediation efforts (notably Times Beach, Missouri), Proposition 65 issues, product safety risk assessments, preparing scientifically-based comments to governmental agencies, and setting occupational exposure limits (OELs). Over the past seven years, Dr. Ku has determined over 60 OELs for about two dozen clients. With his varied background and experience in industrial hygiene and toxicology, Dr. Ku is uniquely qualified to address and resolve complex environmental, health, and safety issues.

Justin Mason
Managing Director, European Operations
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Mr. Mason has extensive experience with regard to all environmental matters and across all sectors of industry. With a background in organic synthetic chemistry and having been involved in environmental regulatory matters at the corporate level, Mr. Mason specializes in technical and strategic projects. Mr. Mason has undertaken innovative work in issues of exposure to highly potent molecules, in particular the use of bioassays for trace material analysis. He has many, large multi-site environmental due diligence auditing projects, including single deal values in excess of £5 billion. Mr. Mason is based in the UK.

Martin Axon, MFOH, MIOSH Principal Occupational Hygienist, European Operations Email Martin Axon Mr. Axon started his career as a site occupational hygienist for Syntex Pharmaceutical where he developed systems and methods to assess and reduce exposure to active pharmaceutical materials. His role included support of facilities in Europe and North America where he gained further experience in chemical production, formulation facilities and state of the art pilot plant and research settings. Following his move into consultancy he undertook a project to assess the effectiveness of respiratory protective equipment to control exposure to potent pharmaceutical actives. Mr. Axon then worked on a contract basis for clients in a range of industries including foodstuffs, battery production and light engineering assessing exposure to a range of materials. In 1997 he took up a post at a London University to develop and run a Masters level course in occupational hygiene and occupational health and safety. This course was still running successfully when Martin left to join SafeBridge.

Edward J. Haggerty, CIH
Manager, Industrial Hygiene & Safety Services
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Mr. Haggerty has over 23 years of experience in comprehensive industrial hygiene, safety and environmental compliance. He has managed environmental health and safety programs in the electronic and semiconductor industry and has many years of consulting experience across industry sectors. He has provided technical direction and oversight of environmental remediation projects, and he has been responsible for technical and administrative management of a professional industrial consulting staff and laboratory analytical services.

Tracy A. Kimmel, Ph. D., DABT Manager of Toxicology, Eastern Operations Email Tracy Kimmel Dr. Kimmel is currently Manager of Toxicology, Eastern Operations for SafeBridge Consultants, Inc. She has over 12 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical industry, where she worked in various capacities in corporate occupational toxicology groups, culminating as a Manager of Hazard Assessment and Characterization at Pfizer, Inc. Her primary responsibilities have included: Management of programs for setting of Occupational Exposure Limits, along with Occupational Exposure Bands for commercial compounds; Communication of health hazard information to company facilities worldwide; Development and maintenance of Material Safety Data Sheets; and monitoring of toxicology studies for worker safety. Dr. Kimmel is a Diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology and serves on the American Industrial Hygiene Association’s Workplace Environmental Exposure Level (WEEL) Committee. She is a member of the AIHA as well as of the Society of Toxicology, Mid-Atlantic Chapter, and she is an associate member of the Society of Toxicology, National Chapter. Dr. Kimmel is a guest lecturer on toxicity testing methods at New York University Medical Center/Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Michael C. Perry, MFOH Senior Occupational Hygienist, European Operations Email Mike Perry Mr. Perry began his professional career working as an occupational hygiene consultant for Sypol Environmental Management Limited. Here he gained considerable experience within a wide range of workplace settings including; hospitals, food production, toothpaste manufacture, construction, tunneling operations, airports, local council offices and, unusually, Westminster Abbey. His work involved undertaking and managing occupational hygiene surveys, including; personal exposure monitoring for hazardous substances, noise monitoring, heat stress assessment, LEV testing and VDU assessments. He also performed environmental noise surveys, including prediction of noise levels arising from planned construction activities. Mr. Perry started his own company in 1999, successfully providing occupational and environmental hygiene services to his clients over a seven year period. Wishing to broaden his experience, Mr. Perry joined the SafeBridge Europe team in 2007, where he continues to both apply and further his skills within the pharmaceutical sector.

Mark S. McCarthy, M.S., CIH, CSP
EH&S Manager, Eastern Operations
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Mr. McCarthy has over 22 years of experience in comprehensive industrial hygiene practice safety management and environmental compliance. He has both directed and contributed technically to environmental health and safety programs in the pharmaceutical, chemical, tire & rubber, and the computer manufacturing industries. Mr. McCarthy has extensive experience in assessing occupational exposures to chemical, physical and biological hazards in the workplace, developing solutions for effective exposure controls, and implementing training programs tailored to the unique needs of each customer, facility and company.

Natalia A. Tsekhanovskaya, Ph.D.
Senior Chemist
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Ms. Tsekhanovskaya has over 20 years of biochemistry research experience. She has been responsible for development and validation of bioanalytical methods including immunoassays (radioimmunoassays - RIA - and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays - ELISA) and development of protein purification techniques and vaccines. Ms. Tsekhanovskaya has also participated in numerous research and development projects including coordination and execution of clinical assays. She has authored and co-authored numerous technical publications in her areas of expertise.

Jeff R. Scott, M.P.H.
Industrial Hygiene & Safety Specialist
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Jeff Scott has participated in risk assessment, toxicology, and industrial hygiene projects over the past five years, serving as a consultant to the biotech, pharmaceutical, and semiconductor industries. Additionally, Mr. Scott has over ten years of experience as an industrial hygiene analytical chemist, obtained at the primary contract laboratory of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Mr. Scott has a Masters Degree in Public Health (MPH) from the University of California at Berkeley, with an emphasis on pharmacology, toxicology and risk assessment, as well as an Executive Masters Degree in Public Administration (EMPA), from Golden Gate University in San Francisco, California.

Todd Davidson, Ph.D., DABT Toxicologist Email Todd Davidson Dr. Davidson is currently a toxicologist for SafeBridge Consultants, Inc., Eastern Operations. He has four years of experience in occupational toxicology and risk assessment. In addition, he has over six years of experience in environmental toxicology, where he has worked on various EPA superfund, EPA STAR, and NIEHS projects. His primary responsibilities have included: setting occupational exposure limits, establishing control categories (control banding), developing acceptable surface limits and acceptable daily intakes, as well as classifying chemicals under the global harmonization system (GHS) and developing and maintaining safety data sheets. Todd is a Diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology. He is a member of the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the Society of Toxicology (MASOT), the National Chapter of the Society of Toxicology and Society for Chemical and Hazard Communication. Additionally, he serves on the program and education/outreach committees for MASOT. Dr. Davidson has an adjunct appointment at New York University Medical Center/Graduate School of Arts and lectures each year on chemical carcinogenesis.

Elizabeth M. Vancza, Ph.D Associate Toxicologist Email Elizabeth M. Vancza Dr. Elizabeth Vancza is currently an Associate Toxicologist for SafeBridge Consultants, Inc., Eastern Operations. She has over five years experience in environmental toxicology, specializing in genetic susceptibility and inhalation toxicology. She has worked on various EPA superfund, EPA STAR, and NIEHS projects. She is a member of the American Thoracic Society, the Society of Toxicology, Mid-Atlantic Chapter, and the Society of Toxicology, National Chapter. Dr. Vancza is a guest lecturer at New York University Medical Center/Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Vanessa A. Brady, M.S. Industrial Hygienist Email Vanessa Brady Vanessa Brady is an industrial hygienist for SafeBridge® Consultants Eastern Operations. She has participated in containment verification testing, and other quantitative and qualitative risk assessments in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. She also has experience providing environmental and safety services for engineering and environmental consulting companies. Ms. Brady has a Masters Degree(MS) in Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences from Hunter College Institute of Health Sciences, which is an ABET accredited Industrial Hygiene Program.