Councillors
Mr Adrian Richards
President
Adrian has a career long history within Biomedical Engineering, most recently as Manager of the BME service at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital, a position that he held for over 15 years. He has also worked in a range of other roles within the field including at the Royal Adelaide and The Queen Elizabeth Hospitals. Strongly committed to the profession Adrian has had long involvement with not only the SMBE but also Engineers Australia, within which he holds Chartered Status, having held the positions of Chair of both the College of Biomedical Engineering and the National Committee on Clinical Engineering.
Internationally he is also a collaborator with the Clinical Engineering Division of the International Federation of Medical and Biological Engineering and sits on the International Credentialing Board within that Division. Whilst now retired from the paid workforce Adrian spends much of his time enjoying his classic cars, boating and scuba and cave diving.
Ms Ferah Kalkan
Vice-President
Ferah (aka Hatice) is currently a Territory Manager based in Adelaide with Medtronic for just over 10 years now, where half of that time was being employed as a Clinical Educator. The prior 8 years involved her working as a Biomedical Engineer with Chemtronics Biomedical Engineering at Ashford Community and Modbury Hospitals as well as Hawkes Bay and Wellington District Health Boards, New Zealand. Ferah has completed the Bachelor of Biomedical Engineering and Science degrees at Flinders University.
Initially signing up as a student member of SMBE SA in 2001, Ferah was elected on the council in 2012 before becoming the Membership Officer, Secretary, and President elected in 2017 for a full term. Her current position as of AGM 2023 is Vice President.
Her main outside interest is social netball ongoing for well over 10 years. She encourages all Biomed’s to get involved with SMBE and set themselves up for fun networking with a future of unknowns.
Mr Daniel Fletcher
Treasurer
Daniel is currently the Technical Manager of the Biomedical Engineering service at the Women’s and Children’s Health Network. He has been primarily employed in hospital based Biomedical Engineering roles since 1990. He also enjoyed a year of employment at Flinders University.
Daniel has been actively involved with SMBE for many years, holding the position of Treasurer since 2005.
Outside of work Daniel can usually be found riding bikes or pursuing other outdoor activities.
Mr Lachlan Eberhard
Secretary
Lachlan has been working for the Biomedical Engineering department of the Royal Adelaide Hospital since 1999. He has completed the Biomedical and Electronics Engineering degree part time at Flinders University in 2011 and also holds an Associate Diploma in Electronics from Regency TAFE.
Lachlan has been a member of the SMBE since 2004 after being the recipient of the Dräger / SMBE encouragement award that year. He enjoys socialising, playing cricket, guitar and his music collection.
Mr Maged Shenouda
Councillor
My career in the Biomedical Engineering field started at the I.M.V.S, Engineering services. After 6 months, I moved to the Royal Adelaide Hospital working for the Biomedical Engineering Department. For 6 years I represented Clinical Engineering where I worked and maintained the commercial business for the RAH at the Wakefield and St Andrews Hospitals.
Throughout my career I was involved in major projects such as building two new theatres, major hospital redevelopment (Cardiac Unit), upgrading power articulation feed to the hospital as well as upgrading hospital wide patient monitoring systems and hybrid theatres. I am now heading the Biomedical Engineering Department at St. Andrew’s hospital.
My Mission is to provide the best biomedical and clinical engineering services to all south Australians.
Mr Shahin Dashti
Membership Officer
Shahin is a biomedical engineer and MBA-Health graduate with more than 20 years of experience in healthcare and Medtech industries. He is working as the Manager , Procurement and Contract Management at the South Australia Women's and Children's Health Network.
He is the Deputy Chair at the Biomedical College of the Engineers Australia , Chair at the D&I committee of the South Australia branch of the Engineers Australia and Director Business Development at Shador . he is a Registered Biomedical Engineer (NER) with Engineers Australia, Member of the surgical Implant Committee of the Standard Australia and a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors .
Miss Georgie Murgatroyd
WebMaster
Georgie studied a Bachelor of Engineering (Biomedical)(Honours)(First Class) at Flinders University and graduated with first class honours. She is currently working at Actis Medical, as a Biomedical Engineer. Her role includes research, CAD design, testing, systems engineering, verification and validation of both medical devices and instruments.
Georgie joined SMBE as a student member during university studies, and in late 2020 became a council member. In her spare time, she enjoys heading outdoors for some camping, hiking, and running.
Mrs. Vera Lawless
Councillor
Vera completed her Biomedical Engineering degree between Flinders University and The University of Newcastle. She has worked as a clinical biomed and later transitioned into R&D where she co-invented a sleep therapy device using cognitive behavioural therapy techniques to help insomnia sufferers fall asleep faster. She is currently consulting within the electronic components industry to achieve industry standard certifications.
Vera joined SMBE in 2011 and was voted in as a council member a year later, she has served as the societies Secretary and President. In her spare time Vera enjoys cooking up a storm for family and friends, her dog and 4WD’ing adventures.
Mr Scott McGarry
Councillor
Scott is currently the Operations Manager for SA BME, the Biomedical Technology Service for SA Health. Scott’s background is in the design and build of automated electronic test systems for RF products until 2009 where he sought a more meaningful career in Biomedical Engineering at Royal Adelaide Hospital. He is proud to be supporting the public health system to provide the best health outcomes in South Australia.
Scott has been a member of SMBE since 2017, and is joining the committee as a councilor in 2023 to be more proactive in the community.
Mr Thomas Beltrame
Councillor
Thomas is currently pursuing a Doctoral degree at Flinders University, investigating the intersection between stroke rehabilitation, music, and virtual reality, after graduating in 2020 with an Honours and Master’s combined degree in Biomedical Engineering (First Class).
He is also a Data Scientist at Aurizn, exploring machine learning and software engineering solutions across a variety of industries.
Thomas was the recipient of the Australian Biomedical Engineering Conference (ABEC) Travel Scholarship, supported by SMBE and Medtronic, to present his Master’s project at ABEC2019 in Melbourne.
He has been an SMBE member since 2019, was elected as an SMBE Councillor in 2022, and is committed to working with the SMBE to support professional development opportunities for biomedical students and graduates.
Outside of work, you’ll often find Thomas playing the piano or guitar, climbing in a bouldering gym, or out for a hit of squash.
Mr Michael Przibilla
Councillor
Michael currently works for Advanced Technical Support which is a service based company that offers exceptional Tech support for the maintenance of Medical Devices, Dental and Oncology equipment