NovaTox Scientists

1. NovaTox scientists are recognized experts in the areas of human health and environmental risk assessment. Our scientists provide toxicology advice for due diligence purposes and litigation support. All senior staff at NovaTox are designated Qualified Persons for Risk Assessment (QPRA) by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks for conducting risk assessments in support of Records of Site Condition (RSC) under Ontario’s brownfield regulations (O. Reg. 153/04). Our staff are certified and active in professional organizations, publish in peer-reviewed scientific journals, and present the most recent developments in toxicology and risk assessment at professional conferences.
   

Mark Chappel, MSc, DABT
Principal Toxicologist
Tel 1.519.400.4964

1. Mr. Chappel holds a M.Sc. in Biomedical Toxicology from the University of Guelph. Mr. Chappel has over 15 years of experience specialized in performing human health toxicology and safety assessment, dose-response modeling, development of regulatory limits for pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and food contaminants. He has significant experience in probabilistic exposure assessment, multi-media risk assessment, and has been called on to provide safety assessments and peer review services for numerous industrial and pharmaceutical clients. Mr. Chappel has significant experience in supervising and managing comprehensive toxicity studies, including long-term (2-year) carcinogenicity, reproductive and developmental toxicity studies for new chemical entities, in addition to short-term, repeat-dose toxicology studies, and in vitro studies. In 2008 he became a Diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology (DABT), a distinction held by only a handful of professional toxicologists in Canada. Mr. Chappel is a member of several international professional societies, including the American College of Toxicology, and the Society of Toxicology.
   

Mark Hanson, PhD
Associate

1. Dr. Hanson is an Professor at the University of Manitoba and adjunct faculty at the School of Environment at the University of Guelph. His research focuses on the ecological response of freshwater organisms to various types of stressors, with special emphasis on aquatic plants and invertebrates under field conditions, and how this can be incorporated into risk assessment. He has performed and participated in private consulting for a select group of Fortune 500 companies, including numerous crop protection companies and other industrial clients. He has worked with the Ontario MNR, MECP, DFO, U.S. EPA, USGS, Manitoba Water Stewardship, and Environment Canada on research projects. Dr. Hanson’s research on pesticides and halogenated compounds (e.g., PFOS, PFOA, DCA and TCA) and his work in ecotoxicology using mesocosm systems has been recognized internationally, and has been published in over 40 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters.
   

Brendan McConkey, PhD
Associate

1. Dr. McConkey is a computational toxicologist and expert in the use of bioinformatics to address toxicological problems. Dr. McConkey holds a faculty position in the Department of Biology at the University of Waterloo. Research conducted in the McConkey laboratory has been applied to characterizing the toxicity of oil sands process water, and to understanding the toxicity of complex mixtures of chemicals using sophisticated modeling and combinatorial approaches. His research has focused on investigating the biochemical mechanisms and prediction of protein-protein interactions that can be applied to address toxicological interactions. His scientific publications have included papers in the journals Nature Biotechnology, Nature Genetics, Plant Physiology, Genome Biology, and the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.