OUR TEAM
MEET THE PEOPLE DELIVERING THE VISION
Leading the way with innovative technology, launching a new era of wound repair in Australia
Mr. Stewart Hemsley
Chief Executive Officer
Stewart has been self-employed across a number of industry sectors for most of his working life and a few years ago established what is today, Surgical BioFix Ltd. He has a long history of involvement in health and education related facilities having served in an honorary capacity on a number of boards of management and advisory committees in those disciplines, as well as commercial involvement in property development.
He has been responsible for the design and construction of the Surgical BioFix Ltd facility in Brisbane after having negotiated the IP Licence Agreement regarding the production and distribution of the Surgical BioFix Ltd produced human tissue allograft products into the Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific markets.
He was also responsible for the sourcing and training of staff for the facility. Stewart has many years of experience in commercial and community group liaison with local, state and federal government and is a Justice of the Peace in Queensland and New South Wales.
A/Prof. Tony Parker, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer
Associate Professor Parker has over 15 years of experience in tissue injury, wounds and tissue engineering research. He holds a PhD in cell biology from Queensland University of Technology (QUT). Prior to joining Surgical BioFix he was the program leader (now deputy) of the Tissue Repair and Translational Physiology (TRTP) Program at the Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation (IHBI) at QUT.
He also maintains a position as Associate Professor within the School of Biomedical Sciences at QUT where he teaches anatomy, physiology, cell and molecular biology and wound science. A/Prof Parker’s research focuses on musculoskeletal and skin tissue injury and recovery processes. He has published 42 peer reviewed journal articles in the international scientific literature in areas including wound and tissue injury and has trained over 29 research and higher degree students.
He also played a leading role in the establishment of the world class wound fluid analysis capability at QUT. In particular, his team specialises in the utilisation of 3D experimental skin wound models and has developed the workflows required for the biochemical characterisation of wound and tissue fluids.
Dr. Kylie Alcorn, MBBS, FRACP
Medical Director
Dr Kylie Alcorn is an Infectious Disease physician working in South East Queensland Hospitals. Her professional interests include general Infectious Disease, orthopaedic infections and the professional development of doctors. She has held positions including Acting Director of Infectious Disease and Immunology and served on several medical advisory committees in several hospitals in South East Queensland.
After completing undergraduate studies at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), she completed her medical degree training at the University of Melbourne before returning to the glorious warm weather in Brisbane. She completed her Fellowship in Medicine with specialty training in Infectious Diseases in South East Queensland, and postgraduate observerships in Berlin and Oxford.
She is an active researcher with current projects investigating vaccine development for malaria and antibiotics for diabetic foot infections. Dr Alcorn is committed to life-long learning and is soon to complete a Masters in Tropical Medicine and Public Health from James Cook University.
Dr. Platon Choptiany
Medical Director Designee
Dr Choptiany is originally from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada but moved to Brisbane in 2006 where he completed his MBBS at the University of Queensland. Following this he completed his Fellowship in General and Acute Care Medicine and is currently undertaking Advanced Training in Infectious Diseases.
He has worked throughout Queensland over the last 10 years including Gold Coast, Rockhampton, Caboolture, Murgon, Cherbourg and Brisbane.
He is currently undertaking a Masters of Public Health through the University of Queensland and has previously completed a Bachelor of Science and Masters of Science in Physiology at the University of Manitoba.
Mrs. Kruthi Mogulla
Quality Manager
Kruthi has 5 years of Quality and risk management experience in highly regulated environments. In her previous roles as a Quality professional, she was responsible for maintaining compliance with ISO 9001 standard and Food Safety standards, risk management (HACCP-based), conducting internal audits, and for training personnel in GMP.
Kruthi holds a Masters degree in Biochemical Engineering and Biotechnology, from Osmania University, the leading university of Telangana, India. Her scientific expertise informs her critical analysis and decision making in her role.
As our Quality Manager, Kruthi ensures that the Surgical Biofix activities and products are compliant with the regulatory requirements of the code of Good Manufacturing Practice and the Therapeutic Goods Administration of Australia. In doing so, she rigorously maintains the quality, reproducibility and safety of our product, and champions the continuous improvement of our quality management system to ensure Surgical Biofix remains agile and efficient.
Dr. Yee Chng
Regulatory Affairs Manager
Dr Yee Chng was initially employed as a production staff of Surgical BioFix. However, her attention to detail and the ability to complete tasks to a high level of efficiency and effectiveness have led her into the Quality role. Yee spent a month visiting StimLabs LLC in Atlanta USA, the developers of Revita, to learn the quality management systems associated with the production of Revita and played a key role in establishing these systems at Surgical BioFix. She has also been heavily involved in the start-up phase of Surgical BioFix, ensuring the required validations were carried out. Yee continues this important work as the Surgical BioFix Regulatory Affairs Manager, liaising with the TGA on regulatory matters.
Yee has 9 years of experience working in research laboratory environments and operating specialised laboratory equipment. Prior to joining Surgical BioFix, Yee was completing her PhD study at the Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation. Her research focused on the identification and characterisation of urinary proteins following anterior cruciate ligament injury and recovery. She also has over 8 years of teaching experience as a sessional academic for Anatomy and Physiology units within the School of Biomedical Sciences at QUT. Her role was to supervise students during laboratory practical classes and facilitate student understanding of anatomy and physiology.
As the Regulatory Affairs Manager of Surgical BioFix, Yee manages regulatory applications for submission to TGA and maintains working relationships with regulatory authorities. She works closely with other Surgical BioFix departments to ensure documentation complies with regulations. In doing so, she keeps up to date with knowledge of applicable regulatory affairs including regulatory guidelines and changes to regulatory processes which may impact the company.
Dr. Lucas Wager
Production Manager
Dr. Lucas Wager has over 10 years of laboratory experience in various fields including tissue repair and regeneration, microbiology, cell biology, infectious disease models, and molecular biology. Dr. Wager completed his PhD as a part of the Tissue Repair and Regeneration group in the Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation at the Queensland University of Technology.
His PhD focused on the molecular and cellular biology of wound healing. Specifically, his research contributed to the scientific community's understanding of how non-translated RNA species called microRNAs regulate the transition undertaken by cells in the outermost layers of our skin (keratinocytes) as they change their function after injury, allowing them to migrate over damaged tissue and affect wound closure. This required the development of a novel method of capturing cells at the wound margin for biochemical analyses, the results of which he published in several peer-reviewed journals.
Dr. Wager is currently the Production Manager at Surgical Biofix where he oversees all day-to-day operational processes.
Mr Jarrod Parker
Quality Supervisor
Jarrod has been employed at Surgical BioFix since completing his Bachelor of Biomedical Science at Queensland University of Technology in 2020. He completed an internship at Surgical BioFix at the end of his degree, where he gained firsthand experience operating in the cleanroom, learning our manufacturing processes, GMP requirements and documentation practices. He excelled in the quality aspects of his role and was employed soon after his internship in the Quality department where he has continued his quality training and taken on higher level tasks necessary in complying with our rigorous regulatory requirements.
As Quality Supervisor at Surgical BioFix, Jarrod performs risk assessments, contributes to internal and external audits, inspects and releases incoming goods, issues batches to the production department and assists with the review of batch related documentation.
He has also been heavily involved in the development of product labels, receipt and review of batch related test results and liaising with service providers to ensure the facility is running smoothly.