Expert Panel on Aircraft Air Quality – Panel members

Chair – Dr Michael Bollen, AM

Dr Bollen is a medical graduate with over 25 years experience as a general practitioner. This has included work on the development of the first purpose-built, multi-disciplinary community health centre in South Australia and, subsequently, membership of the South Australian Health Commission. He has also been involved in medical education at both undergraduate and post graduate levels. Dr Bollen became part of the commissioning team of the John Hunter Hospital soon after the Newcastle earthquake in 1989, and was appointed chair of the Department of Primary and Emergency Care. Other appointments have included positions with the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, Director of Medibank Private and his current role as Director of the Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency.

Dr Bollen has had wide-ranging experience in chairing successful committees, often with diverse memberships. This has included work chairing Medibank Private’s Health Innovations Committee, the National Health and Medical Research Council’s Communications Working Group and the Australian Government’s Expert Committee on Complementary Medicines in the Australian Health System. In 2006, Dr Bollen was involved in a clinical review of multiple chemical sensitivity for the National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme. His expertise in chemical sensitivity issues will assist him in exploring issues related to cabin air and appreciating the various perspectives expected to be shared in panel deliberations.

Professor George Braitberg

George Braitberg

George Braitberg graduated in 1981 from the University of Melbourne and became a Fellow of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM) in 1988. After taking on the position of Director of Emergency Medicine at Moorabbin Hospital, a small community hospital he decided to change direction and pursue a career as a medical toxicologist. He was fortunate to be offered a Medical Toxicology Fellowship under Prof Steven Curry inPhoenix Arizona which he undertook between 1993 to 1995. On returning from the US he was appointed as Director of Emergency Medicine at the Austin Hospital in Victoria where he remained until late last year. To advance his qualifications in toxicology he became Board certified in Emergency Medicine (1997) and Medical Toxicology (2000) by the American Board of Emergency Medicine. In 2005 he was elected as a Fellow of the American College of Medical Toxicology. He obtained a Graduate Certificate in Biostatistics and Epidemiology (University of Melbourne) in 2004. In February to April 2004, he was named Visiting Scholar and advisor to the Vietnam Poison Centre, to be established at Bach Mai Hospital Hanoi Vietnam

Professor Braitberg’s current position is Professor of Emergency Medicine, Monash University and Director of Emergency Medicine at Southern Health.

His research interests are in toxicology, pre-hospital care and process mapping.

Graeme Cleary

Graeme Cleary is the Vice President and Safety and Technical Director of the Australian and International Pilots' Association (AIPA). Graeme commenced his career with Qantas Airways in 1974 as an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer and later progressed to the position of Licensed Aircraft Maintenance Engineer with extensive experience in Australia, Asia and the Pacific. In 1984 Graeme was appointed as Flight Engineer on the B747 and has accrued in excess of 15,000 hours operational experience. Graeme is also the International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations (IFALPA) Director for the Australian Airline Pilots’ Association (AusALPA), the Deputy Chairman of the IFALPA International Flight Engineers Committee and a committee member of the Royal Aeronautical Society Sydney Branch. He also represents AusALPA on the IFALPA Aircraft Design and Operations Committee. Since joining AIPA, Graeme has been passionately committed to advancing the professional interests of flight engineers and airline pilots, with a strong focus on safety. Graeme is a former Shooting Sport Manager and Coach for the Australian Commonwealth Games Team (2002), World Championships Teams (1999 and 2003) and was Captain of the Australian Under 25’s Team (2004). He is happily married to Linda and has three grown children, Matthew, Michael and Brittany.

Paul Cousins

Paul Cousins has 23 years experience in the Aviation Industry as a Qualified Technician, Licenced Aircraft Maintenance Engineer and Senior Licenced Aircraft Maintenance Engineer. He has over 5,000 hours of on-type aircraft technical training, and over 20,000 hours of on-type aircraft practical training. He also has experience in research, troubleshooting, and rectification of the modern RPT aircraft fleet. Paul is an executive member of International Federation of Airworthiness (IFA) and member of the IFA Technical Committee. He has provided technical support to the Global Cabin Air Quality Executive (GCAQE). Paul is a member of various Industry, Regulatory, Training, International and Domestic technical committees.

Paul has training and experience in Fatigue Management, DuPont Safety, OH&S and all technical, regulatory, industrial and medical aspects of the work of licenced aircraft engineers - both within this country and internationally.

Rob Loblay

Rob Loblay is a Senior Lecturer in Immunology at the University of Sydney and the Director of the Allergy Unit in the Department of Clinical Immunology at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. He has a particular interest in and has published widely on the issues of food intolerance, chronic fatigue syndrome and multiple chemical sensitivity. Rob has had representative roles for the Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology & Allergy (ASCIA) acting in his role as a spokesperson on Multiple Chemical Sensitivity since 1993.

In addition to the highly relevant specialist skills, Rob has also had extensive previous participation on expert panels and working groups including the RACP Joint Working Party on Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, the RACP Working Group on Clinical Practice Guidelines for the diagnosis and management of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome , the Australasian Faculty of Occupational Medicine (AFOM) Working Party on Environmental Intolerance, the NSW WorkCover Working Party on Multiple Chemical Sensitivity and the Australian Government Department of Health & Ageing, Office of Chemical Safety Clinical Review of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.

Associate Professor Pooshan Navathe

Pooshan Navathe

Pooshan Navathe, MBBS, MD, Dip Aviation Safety Regulation, , FAFOEM (RACP), FRAeS, FAsMA, PhD is the Principal Medical Officer at the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, Australia. Dr Navathe has long experience as an aviation medicine and occupational medicine consultant, having spent over two decades in the military as a flight surgeon, and a decade in the regulatory aviation medicine sphere, initially in New Zealand, and recently in Australia. Dr. Navathe is an acknowledged authority on some aspects of aviation medicine, and has more than 150 articles and scientific presentations to professional societies. He is a Fellow of the Aerospace Medical Association, and a Member of the International Academy of Aviation and Space Medicine. Dr Navathe is also an adjunct Associate Professor at the Australian National University.

Professor Malcolm Sim

Malcolm Sim

Malcolm is an occupational and public health physician, who is Director of the Monash Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health (MonCOEH) in the School of Public Health & Preventive Medicine at Monash University. He spent a postdoctoral year at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in the USA in 1994 and in 2007 was a visiting scientist for six months at the International Agency for Research on Cancer in France. His research interests include studies of the role of workplace and environmental chemical and other hazards in chronic diseases, such as cancer and respiratory disease. He is the Chief Investigator for several occupational cohort studies of workers in the aluminium, petroleum, lead and farming industries. He also has interests in Veteran health and was the chief investigator for the health study of Australian Gulf War Veterans. He has published over 100 scientific papers and is an Associate Editor for the journals Occupational and Environmental Medicine and the Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health. Malcolm is a member of the Advisory Group on Chemical Safety of the Australian Office of Chemical Safety, the Human Research Ethics Committee of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and the Scientific Committee for Occupational Epidemiology of the International Commission on Occupational Health. He was a member of the Scientific Panel established to investigate the cluster of breast cancer in ABC employees at Toowong. He has also had several roles with the Australasian Faculty of Occupational and Environmental Medicine and was awarded a College Medal for outstanding service by the Royal Australasian College of Physicians in 2003.

Associate Professor Bhupi Singh

Assoc. Prof. Bhupi Singh is the Senior Research Officer and Head of Research at the RAAF Institute of Aviation medicine at RAAF Base Edinburgh in South Australia. Dr Singh has post graduate qualifications and 30 years’ experience in the discipline of aerospace medicine, both in the military and in civil aviation. He has worked in various capacities in the military, with various regulatory authorities, and in the airlines, and has been an aviation medical examiner for FAA, CASA, DGCA (India), DGCAM (Oman). Dr Singh is also a fully qualified fighter pilot, having flown a number of different aircraft types. His interests include occupational health and safety of aircrew, particularly in the areas of occupational noise and cockpit/cabin air quality. Dr Singh has a large number of papers, publications and presentations to his credit, and his work has been cited in various aviation medicine text books.

Professor Brian Priestly

Brian Priestly is a Professorial Fellow (now part-time) in the Department of Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine (DEPM) at Monash University and Director of the Australian Centre for Human Health Risk Assessment (ACHHRA). His primary area of expertise is in toxicology. ACHHRA’s core objective is to provide a national focus for human health risk assessment in the area of food and environment pollutants, and to contribute to workforce development by mounting training programs in health risk assessment.

Prior to leading ACHHRA, Brian was Director of the Laboratories Branch in the Therapeutic Goods Administration. He also previously led the chemicals toxicology and chemicals risk management programs of the Commonwealth Health portfolio, with overall responsibility for toxicological assessment of pesticides and other toxic chemicals, including input into various national and international chemicals management programs.

Brian has been active on several NHMRC & Health Dept. technical committees and working groups over the past twenty five years, including the National Drugs & Poisons Scheduling Committee; Advisory Committee for Pesticides & Health; Advisory Group on Chemical Safety; Australian Drug Evaluation Committee; Gene Technology Technical Advisory Committee; and various FSANZ and APVMA Scientific Advisory Panels.