Leonid Turczynowicz
School of Public Health
Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences
Len has worked in the field of public health, toxicology, and human health risk assessment for over 35 years, with 20 years in the SA Department of Health (Environmental Health Branch) and the balance in international environmental consulting firms and more recently at the University of Adelaide.
He has worked across a diverse range of public health areas including asthma and risk factors; site contamination including development of national Health-based Investigation Levels (HILs) (1990-2003); assessment and mitigation of environmental and occupational exposures associated with industrial facilities, processes and mining operations and toxicological assessments for policy development and regulatory review. As part of the assessments, he has been extensively involved in large scale community exposures, assessments, and risk communication, including Streaky Bay Area School (Aldrin, 1987-1997); Port Pirie Lead Program (1986-2006); site contamination at Hindmarsh (1987-1994); cadmium contamination at West Lakes and site contamination at Birkenhead (2003-2004).
He completed the health risk assessment for the new Royal Adelaide Hospital site (2010-2015) which was part of a multi-billion-dollar development. In collaboration with Dr Neville Robinson (CSIRO, Flinders University) Len developed an Australian non-steady state vapour intrusion model, originally published in 2001 and has extended this work with continuing research. In recent years he has been an expert witness in cases involving human exposures to hazardous substances and contributed to peer-review of large scale PFAS and vapour intrusion investigations. In 2018 Len was part of the Adelaide University team that commenced the review of the Workplace Exposure Standards (WES) for Safe Work Australia.
Len is a Member of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) (Chartered Chemist); the Australasian College of Toxicology and Risk Assessment (ACTRA) and the Clean Air Society of Australia and New Zealand (CASANZ) and has been involved on various committees and training exercises with these associations. He has also contributed to training and presentations on toxicology and risk assessment to meetings of the Australian Contaminated Land Consultants’ Association (ACLCA) and the Australian Land and Groundwater Association (ALGA) and CASANZ.
He has provided technical public health and policy advice across government, research sectors and industry, nationally and internationally with extensive contacts throughout these sectors. Len currently undertakes research and teaching as a part-time Senior Research Fellow and at Adelaide Exposure Science and Health, School of Public Health, University of Adelaide. He is also Founder and Director of HealthRisk Services Pty Ltd, a consulting service across exposure science, public health toxicology and human health risk assessment and a Founder and Director of SwabFirst Pty Ltd, a technology start-up company that has developed a surface screening approach to illicit drug residues and nicotine.
Specialties:
Public Health Toxicology
Human health risk assessment,
Vapour intrusion and air quality assessment
Hazardous substances regulation
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Appointments
Date Position Institution name 2021 - ongoing Senior Research Fellow University of Adelaide 2018 - 2021 Senior Research Fellow University of Adelaide 2015 - 2022 Senior Exposure Scientist and Risk Assessor University of Adelaide 2015 - 2023 Principal Risk Assessor FMG Engineering Pty Ltd - Adelaide 2015 - 2022 Technical Advice Co-ordinator for State Emergency Response University of Adelaide 2009 - 2015 Principal Risk Assessor Golder Associates – Adelaide 2006 - 2009 Principal Risk Assessor Coffey Environments Pty Ltd - Adelaide -
Education
Date Institution name Country Title 2018 University of Adelaide Australia PhD (Med, Public Health) 2001 University of Adelaide Australia Master of Public Health 1986 South Australian Institute of Technology Australia Bachelor of Applied Science Chemistry and Microbiology -
Certifications
Date Title Institution name Country 1990 Occupational Hygiene, National Institute of Occupational Health and Safety University of Sydney Australia 1990 Chartered Chemist (CChem) Royal Australian Chemical Institute Australia 1981 Science Technician’s Certificate South Australian Institute of Technology Australia
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Journals
Year Citation 2020 Gaskin, S., Mehta, S., Pisaniello, D., Turczynowicz, L., Bruschi, S., & Mitchell, K. (2020). Hazardous materials emergency incidents: public health considerations and implications. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 44(4), 320-323.
Scopus5 WoS3 Europe PMC22012 Turczynowicz, L., Pisaniello, D., & Williamson, T. (2012). Health risk assessment and vapor intrusion: a review and Australian perspective. Human and Ecological Risk Assessment, 18(5), 984-1013.
Scopus10 WoS102007 Turczynowicz, L., & Robinson, N. (2007). Exposure assessment modeling for volatiles - Towards an Australian indoor vapor intrusion model. Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health-Part A, 70(19), 1619-1634.
Scopus18 WoS13 Europe PMC42007 Turczynowicz, L., Fitzgerald, D. J., Nitschke, M., Mangas, S., & McLean, A. (2007). Site contamination health risk assessment case study involving tenant relocation from a former gasworks site. Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health - Part A: Current Issues, 70(19), 1638-1653.
Scopus5 WoS5 Europe PMC22005 Robinson, N. I., & Turczynowicz, L. (2005). One- and three-dimensional soil transportation models for volatiles migrating from soils to house interiors. Transport in Porous Media, 59(3), 301-323.
Scopus10 WoS82001 Turczynowicz, L., & Robinson, N. (2001). A model to derive soil criteria for benzene migrating from soil to dwelling interior in homes with crawl spaces. Human and Ecological Risk Assessment (HERA), 7(2), 387-415.
Scopus291993 Calder, I. C., Maynard, E. J., & Turczynowicz, L. (1993). Aldrin contamination at a school in South Australia. Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 51(2), 185-192.
Scopus2 Europe PMC1 -
Conference Papers
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Theses
Year Citation - Turczynowicz, L. (n.d.). PhD thesis: Spatio-temporal Indoor Human Exposures in Homes Affected by Chemical-contaminated Soil and Groundwater.
DOI
(2022) $14415 Yonatal Tefera, Sharyn Gaskin, Leonid Turczynowicz
Assessing and controlling worker exposure to hazardous nanoparticles: purchase of a hand-held sensor for real-time measurement of atmospheric nanoparticles (number and size distribution) in industry settings.
Research and teachingMaster of Public Health - epidemiology – Thesis, "Asthma risk factors in South Australian children: An Ecologic Analysis". PhD (Med., Public Health), University of Adelaide, Thesis, "Spatio-temporal indoor human exposures in homes affected by chemical-contaminated soil and groundwater" Len has been a reviewer for Science of the Total Environment; Human and Ecological Risk Assessment; and the Health Research Council of New Zealand. Len has lectured and tutored students on environmental contamination, chemical regulation and health risk assessment at the South Australian Institute of Technology (now University of South Australia), University of Adelaide and Flinders University and presented and published papers relevant to his field at a national and international level. Recent Teaching
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Current Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)
Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name 2024 External Supervisor Health Based Targets for Cyanobacteria Toxins in Recycled Water Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Erin Barrera
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Memberships
Date Role Membership Country 2014 - ongoing Member International Society of Exposure Science (ISES) Australia 2006 - ongoing Member Australasian College of Toxicology and Risk Assessment (ACTRA) Australia 2004 - ongoing Member Clean Air Society of Australia and New Zealand (CASANZ) Australia 1986 - ongoing Member Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) Australia
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