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.
Freddie Foeng
Councillor
Freddie (they/them) completed a combined Bachelor (Honours) and Masters in Engineering (Biomedical) at Flinders University. Since graduating, they taught at Flinders University for a short time and contracted for FBE before securing their current role in the Biomedical Engineering department at the Royal Adelaide Hospital in 2022.
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Freddie joined SMBE after they received sponsorship to attend the Engineers Australia Clinical Engineering workshop in 2022 and was elected to sit on the council in 2025. They enjoy a variety of hobbies in their spare time including street dance, reading, and painting.
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.
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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 Darsh Tiwari
Councillor
Darsh studied a Bachelor of Engineering (Biomedical)(Honours) at Flinders University. He currently works at Actis Medical as a Graduate Engineer. The role encompasses research and development within the space of medical devices/instruments, as well as documentation and processing in Regulatory & Operations sectors.
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Darsh joined SMBE as a student member during his honours studies, becoming a council member in 2025. Darsh enjoys the gym, digital art, and reading.
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
Membership Officer
Treasurer
Scott is currently the Manager for the Biomedical Technology Service for the Women’s and Children’s Hospital. 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 starting at Royal Adelaide Hospital. He has held many roles in Biomedical Engineering for the SA government, and 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.
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Mr Luke Riessen
Councillor
Luke is the Managing Director and CEO of Medical Equipment Management - the largest private provider of biomedical engineering services in the NT. He has worked there since he started as the NT's first biomedical engineering apprentice in 2006, and has since achieved his Electronics Communications Trade Certificate, Diploma of Management and Advanced Diploma of Biomedical Engineering.
He has thoroughly enjoyed providing biomed services throughout the NT for nearly 20 years with MEM, and is looking forward to developing the NT biomed community alongside SMBE.