Curriculum Vitae

Bob McDowall's CV

Qualifications

  • B.Sc. University of Newcastle upon Tyne, 1972
  • Ph.D. University of London, 1977
  • Chartered Chemist
  • Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry

Academic

  • Visiting Senior Fellow, Department of Chemistry, University of Surrey 1992-2001
  • External Examiner, Department of Chemistry M.Sc Course, University of Teeside 2001 to date

Job History

Dates Job History
1993 to date Principal, McDowall Consulting
  • Providing consultancy in LIMS, chromatography data systems, computerised system validation, corporate validation policies, process simplification and redesign, laboratory automation strategies, auditing laboratories and vendors, and equipment qualification.
  • Management consultancy for the pharmaceutical, agrochemical and chemical industries.
1998 to date Director, R.D.McDowall Limited
  • Provision of services for the testing and compliance of computerised systems in pharmaceutical, agrochemical and chemical industries.
1996-1998 Director, BJM Limited
  • Qualification of analytical equipment and computerised systems.
1993 to date Advisor the following Consultancy Companies:
  • Coopers & Lybrand Management Consultancy Services and PriceWaterhouseCoopers Management Consultancy Services.
  • Cap Gemini Consulting.
  • Digital Consulting.
1993 - 1989 Bioanalytical Unit Head, Department of Bioanalytical Sciences Wellcome Research Laboratories
  • Line management responsibility for up to 40 staff, responsible for the development of assays to support development, analysis of samples from research, non-clinical and clinical studies and reporting of this work.
  • Responsible for improvement of effectiveness of the laboratory and liaison with customer Departments.
  • Implementation of a LIMS and a chromatography data system to GXP regulations.
1978 - 1988 Senior Analyst Department of Drug Analysis Smith Kline and French Research
  • Managerial responsibility for a team of up to 9 staff in the Department of Drug Analysis with the remit to develop, validate and apply methods for the measurement of drugs in biological fluids.
  • Project manager responsible for the purchase, implementation of a LIMS and automation that resulted in productivity increases of up to 10 fold.
1972 - 1978 Research Assistant Department of Forensic Medicine, London Hospital Medical College
  • Responsible for the development of analytical methods for analysing drugs in necropsy samples.
  • Successfully completed research for a Ph.D. degree.

Professional Activities

Publications and Presentations

  • Author of over 300 scientific papers, presentations and posters on analytical method validation, sample preparation, computerised system validation (including 21 CFR 11 electronic records and electronic signatures), laboratory automation, chromatography data systems and Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS).
  • Organiser and presenter of workshops at scientific symposia and public meetings since 1988.
  • Editor of the first book on LIMS: Laboratory Information Management Systems: Concepts, Integration and Implementation, Sigma Press, 1987.

Award

  • 1997 LIMS Award

Scientific Writing

Regular writer of the following columns in magazines and journals since 1993, copies of most of these articles can be downloaded as PDF’s from the Library on this web site.

  • Questions of Quality and Pharmaceutical File columns for LC-GC and LC-GC International (1993 - date).
  • Computer (In)Security articles for the Quality Assurance Journal (2000 – date).
  • Validation and Verification (V&V) column in Scientific Data Management 1996-1999.

Journal Editorial Advisory Boards

Member of the Editorial Advisory Boards of the following journals:

  • Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis (1987 to 1999)
  • Laboratory Robotics and Automation (1990 - 1997)
  • Laboratory Automation and Information Management (1991 to 1998)
  • Intelligent Instruments and Computers (1991 - 1994)
  • LC-GC and LC-GC International Magazines (1996 - to date)
  • Scientific Data Management (1997 to 1999)
  • American Pharmaceutical Review (2000 – to date)
  • Quality Assurance Journal (2002 to date)