Staff Profiles
Robbie Geyer (Laboratory Manager)
Robbie is the Manager of the laboratory and has been with the unit since 1984. He has been working in the analytical chemistry area since 1977 and holds a Bachelor of Science degree with Honours, majoring in Inorganic Chemistry. He also has Graduate Diplomas in Clinical Biochemistry and Occupational Hygiene.
A Chartered Chemist with the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, Robbie is also a member of the Australian Institute of Occupational Hygienists, a Certified Occupational Hygienist and a member of the American Congress of Governmental Industrial Hygienists. He is at present the chairman of NATA's Occupational Hygiene Technical Group and is a member of their Chemical Testing Accreditation Advisory Committee. He is also the chairperson of the Standards Australia committee CH-031 on Workplace Atmospheres.
Robbie has published over 30 papers in the scientific literature. He is a signatory for all accredited NATA tests at this laboratory except for asbestos and is also a NATA assessor.
Jimmy Hu (Analytical Chemist)
Jimmy holds a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Newcastle and has been working in the analytical and materials chemistry areas since 1988.
Prior to joining this laboratory in 2004 Jimmy recently completed two postdoctoral projects. One was on organic geochemistry at Lehigh University in the United States and the other was on environmental monitoring at Monash University in Victoria. His specialty areas are GC, GC/MS, HPLC, FTIR, TEM and XRD, etc. He also has many years of experience with method development and measurement uncertainty.
Jimmy has published over ten papers in peer reviewed scientific journals. He is a NATA signatory for the GC and GC/MS tests for which this laboratory holds accreditation.
James Hurst (Senior Analytical Chemist - X-Ray analytical techniques)
Jim has been with the laboratory since 1987 and has been working in the analytical chemistry area since 1977. He has a Bachelor of Applied Science degree majoring in environmental science and has worked in pathology, university research and state government testing laboratories.
Jim has been working with X-Ray analytical techniques since 1987 and has published several scientific papers using this technique in the OH&S area.
A Chartered Chemist with the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, Jim is also a member of the Australian X-Ray Analytical Association and the Australian and New Zealand Forensic Science Society. He is an approved NATA signatory for all XRD, XRF, AAS and asbestos identification in the laboratory. He is also a NATA assessor and reviewer for Analytica Chimica Acta.
Sue Northover (LIMS specialist)
Sue has been with this laboratory since 1993 and is our laboratory information management system (LIMS) specialist. She has brought a great deal of experience in the data handling area to this laboratory from the computer programming industry where she worked for over 9 years. Sue also has substantial experience with administrative procedures and assists with this function wherever possible.
Sue is highly skilled with Microsoft Word and has taken care of the maintenance of many of the laboratory's documents over the years. Much of the original layout of this Laboratory Handbook document was prepared by Sue back in the mid 1990's and has proved successful to this day.
Greg O'Donnell (Quality Assurance & Technical Manager)
Greg is the Quality Assurance and Technical Manager at this laboratory and has been with WorkCover since 1991. He has been working in the analytical chemistry since 1977 and holds a Bachelor of Applied Science degree majoring in Chemistry. He is a Chartered Chemist with the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, a provisional member of the Australian Institute of Occupational Hygienists and a member of the Metrology Society of Australia.
Greg has worked as an analytical chemist in the plastics, fermentation, soils, plants and tobacco industries. He has extensive experience with chromatographic methods of analysis and has published over 20 scientific papers in the OH&S area. In recent times Greg has been specialising in the area of measurement uncertainty and has published several papers in this area. He is at present writing his PhD on measurement uncertainty.
Greg is a member of the Standards Australia Committee CH-023 on General Methods of Chemical Analysis. With the exception of asbestos, he is an approved NATA signatory for all accredited tests at this laboratory and is also a NATA assessor.
Ted Perdrisat (Senior Analytical Chemist - Spectroscopy techniques)
Ted holds a Bachelor of Science degree majoring in Organic Chemistry and has been working in the analytical chemistry area since 1981.
Ted worked for many years at the Defence Department's Materials Testing Laboratories at Alexandria where he was a laboratory supervisor and acquired many years of experience testing lubricating and fuel oils by spectroscopic techniques such as AAS and ICP. Ted is a member of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute. He is also a reserve diver with the Royal Australian Navy.
Ted is a NATA signatory for all AAS, HPLC, GC and some XRF tests for which this laboratory holds accreditation.
Mylene Sarmiento (Senior Analytical Chemist - Chromatography techniques)
Mylene has a Science degree majoring in chemistry and also has a graduate diploma in Civil and Environmental Engineering. She is a member of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute.
Mylene has been working in the analytical chemistry area since the mid 1980s. She has worked for the US Department of Defence in the Philippines where she gained much experience in the occupational hygiene and environmental chemistry areas.
Mylene's specialty area is the analysis of trace levels of organic compounds by GC and HPLC techniques. Mylene is a NATA signatory for all GC, GC/MS, HPLC and spectrophotometry tests for which this laboratory holds accreditation.
Nick Serbin (Senior Analytical Chemist - Chromatography techniques)
Nick has been with the laboratory since 1991 and has been working in the analytical chemistry area since 1984. He has a Bachelor of Applied Science degree majoring in applied chemistry. He has worked in state government laboratories and in the aluminium industry. The government laboratories included research, water chemistry, forensic toxicology, pesticide residues and meat.
Nick has extensive experience in analytical chemistry particularly in the chromatography and spectroscopy areas and has several publications in the OH&S area. He has developed and modified numerous analytical methods at this laboratory.
Nick is a member of the Standards Australia Committee CH-036-02 on Analysis of Body Fluids for Metal Content. With the exception of asbestos, he is an approved NATA signatory for all accredited tests at this laboratory.
Kiran Shankar (Analytical Chemist)
Kiran has been with this laboratory since 1997 since graduating from the University of Western Sydney with a Bachelor of Applied Science degree. She majored in chemistry and microbiology.
Kiran has become very competent in a number of instrumental areas such as HPLC, GC, AAS and kinetic spectrophotometry. She is a NATA signatory for all HPLC and GC tests for which this laboratory holds accreditation.
Bernie Simpson (Laboratory Clerk)
Bernie has been with this laboratory since 1990 and is our laboratory clerk. He is involved with all stages of sample processing, registration and job tracking.
Bernie also helps the analytical staff with sample preparation and general support duties. He has a wide general knowledge in the OH&S area having had some experience with WorkCover's licensing and information areas. He has a Graduate Diploma in Applied Science (OH&S) from the University of Western Sydney and he also has an Advanced Certificate in Biomedical Techniques from Granville TAFE.
John Tan (Analytical Chemist)
John has been with this laboratory since 1998. He has a Chemistry degree from Shanghai, China where he used to teach Physical Chemistry. He also has an Australian Bachelor of Applied Science degree from the University of Technology, Sydney.
John's specialty with our laboratory is in the HPLC and LCMSMS area where he has also performed some method development work. John is a NATA signatory for all HPLC tests.
John Volpato (Senior Technical Officer - X-Ray analytical techniques)
John has been with this laboratory since 1993 and came to us from the glass industry where he acquired more than 15 years industrial experience with general inorganic and XRF analysis. He has a Chemistry Certificate and a Chemical Instrumentation Post Certificate. He specialises in the X-Ray area of analysis having had many years of experience with both the XRD and XRF techniques.
John also has extensive experience in the AAS area of analysis. He is a NATA signatory for all AAS, XRD and XRF tests for which this laboratory holds accreditation. John is also a NATA signatory for asbestos identification testing.
Jeanine Wells (Administrative Officer)
Jeanine has been with the laboratory since 1998 and has come to us with over 18 years of secretarial, administrative and commercial experience from industry.
Jeanine is the laboratory's administrative officer and her extensive client service skills have greatly benefited the unit's operation. Her skills in this area have led to many clients finding out about our services and hence increasing the work coming into the laboratory . Jeanine is also familiar with the LIMS system and assists with this function wherever possible.
