Panel Topic: Chemical Engineering Safety as a Career Differentiator
We invite all CBE students and alumni to join us for the 2019 CBE Spring Panel Event. This year’s event will focus on Chemical Engineering Safety through the lens of our alumni panelists’ industrial experience, giving students the opportunity to learn about what to expect after graduation. The event will also provide an opportunity to network over a leisurely lunch following the panel discussion.
Location: Bossone Atrium
Date: Saturday, April 27th
Start Time: 10 a.m.
End Time: 2 p.m.
Registration is closed.
MODERATOR:
Dr. Patricia McHugh Giordano
Executive Director, Clinical Safety and Risk Management, Medical Lead for Manufacturing at Merck
Doctor Giordano is an Alumnus of Drexel University, earning a B.S. in Chemical Engineering in 1988, as well as an alumnus of the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, where she earned a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.) degree in 1996.
Patricia demonstrated an early affinity for the healthcare field while working through most of high school in the laboratory at Paoli Hospital. The Drexel co-operative education experience then led her to the pharmaceutical industry, with two assignments completed at ICI Americas (now Astra Zeneca) in product formulation and processing technology. Upon graduation from Drexel, she joined Merck where, during her 4-year tenure, she held positions in Quality Control, Process Validation and Global Pharmaceutical Engineering & Technical Services.
Patricia left Merck to pursue a degree in Osteopathic Medicine and Board Certification in Family Medicine. Following residency, she worked in private family practice for more than five years with responsibility for the care of more than 16,000 patients in the rural communities of Chester County, Pennsylvania, practicing in hospital, nursing home and outpatient settings.
In 2004, Patricia left medical practice to join Johnson & Johnson, where she worked in all three sectors of the company: Pharmaceuticals, Consumer Products and Medical Devices. While she was responsible for the establishment and management of safety profiles for products in clinical development and following market approval, Patricia became a leader in initiatives to incorporate supply chain quality surveillance into medical safety surveillance.
Patricia re-joined Merck in 2018, establishing the Product Quality and Medical Device/Combination Product Vigilance group within Clinical Safety and Risk Management. In this role, Patricia leads a group providing end-to-end cross-enterprise product safety and life-cycle risk management, establishing best practices in pharmacovigilance support for manufacturing of drug, device, drug-device and biologic-device combination products.
Patricia has been an elected Director of the Drexel University Alumni Association Board of Governors since July 2015 and a member of the BIOMED Executive Advisory Council since November 2017. She resides in Glenmoore, Pennsylvania with her husband and twin sons. Her office is based in North Wales, Pennsylvania where she enjoys collaborating with many other Drexel Alumni.
PANELISTS
Charles Barksdale
Director of Environmental Planning, Philadelphia Energy Solutions Refining and Marketing LLC (PES)
Chuck Barksdale is the Director of Environmental Planning for Philadelphia Energy Solutions Refining and Marketing LLC (PES). PES operates two domestic refineries – Girard Point and Point Breeze – in South Philadelphia. Chuck has thirty-nine years of refinery environmental experience having previously worked for BP and Sunoco in various refinery and corporate support roles. Chuck graduated from Drexel with a BSChE in 1980 and obtained an Masters in Engineering from Widener University in 1991. Chuck is a PA registered professional engineer.
Timothy Cunningham
Director of Process Engineering, Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES)
Tim Cunningham is the Director of Process Engineering at Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES). Prior to this role he was the Director of Continuous Improvement at PES, responsible for corporate strategy deployment, continuous improvement projects, and implementation of Lean Six Sigma throughout the company. During his 20 years in refining, Tim has held various leadership roles at PES and Sunoco, including Area Manager of the Girard Point Refinery, Business Process Improvement Manager, Operations Superintendent, and Lead Process Engineer. He began his career as a Process Safety Engineer for Sunoco. Tim holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from Drexel University. He is also a certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt.
Tim resides in Delaware County with his wife Krista and two children. He coaches travel soccer teams for Rose Tree Soccer Club and enjoys playing ice hockey following a career playing for Drexel. Tim and his family are actively involved with the Challenged Athletes Foundation. Challenged Athletes Foundation provides individuals with physical challenges access to sports and an active lifestyle through adaptive sport grants, camps, clinics, and mentorship.
Dave Hagan
Project Manager, KBR
Dave received his BSChE from Drexel University in '02 and MEng from Widener University in '05. He is the current Chair of the AIChE Delaware Valley Section. He is an engineering design Project Manager at KBR in Newark, DE with focus on Client relationship development. At KBR, he has also held positions of Site Team Engineering Leader at DuPont/Chemours Chambers Works, Project Engineer for a significant Chemours project and a Senior Process Engineer for large DuPont and refinery projects. He has professional chemical engineering licenses in New Jersey and Delaware.
Dave was born and raised in the Kensington and Juniata areas of Philadelphia and later attended high school in South Jersey. He currently resides in north Wilmington with his family. He enjoys volunteering as an assistant wrestling coach for his sons' team at BYC in Garnett Valley, PA.
Caitlin Mullen
Process Safety Engineer, Ashland
Cait Mullan joined Ashland in 2017 as a Process Safety Engineer. In this role, she supports plants on a global scale with various process safety-related initiatives. She performs hazard assessments, consequence modeling, audits, relief calculations and leads incident reduction efforts as well as ensuring PSM compliance. Her favorite location she has traveled to in order to support a plant was Porvoo, Finland. Prior to joining Ashland, Cait worked in Process Engineering and Operations for FMC Corporation, Chemours and DuPont. Cait earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Drexel University in 2013. Outside of work, Cait enjoys traveling and running. She also loves spending time with her newborn little boy and her husband, who is also an engineer.
Richard Santo
Senior Principal Engineer, AcuTech Consulting Group
Rich received his BSChE from Drexel University in 1986 and has thirty-four total years of industry experience in high-hazard manufacturing plant
Matthew Snyder
Project Manager, CRB Engineers
Matthew Snyder is a Project Manager focusing on Engineering Design for biopharmaceutical, advanced technology and sustainability projects at CRB Engineers. He also has a business development role and leads client engagement functions.
Matt joined CRB in 2017 after 14 years in GlaxoSmithKline’s Biopharmaceutical R&D operations where he managed capital expenditure budgets, led the engineering Project Management Office, directed environmental sustainability initiatives and provided technical expertise for internal and external organizations.
He has over 25 years of pharmaceutical industry experience with multiple operating companies, beginning in the co-op program at Drexel and graduating in 1996 with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering. Matt is married to another Drexel Chem E, has two boys and lives in Downingtown.
CBE Alumni Panel Archives