Prof Rob Aitken is appointed new CEO of IOM

Rob, who first joined the IOM over 41 years ago as a laboratory technician, is now heading-up the Institute’s  UK and international focus on workplace health, by working with industry and government to share knowledge, improve conditions, and minimise health risks in both current and emerging work environments, as well as understanding the risks associated with new materials.

Prior to Rob’s appointment as Chief Executive, he successfully set-up and ran the research, consultancy, and training for IOM’s first international subsidiary in Singapore, holding the position of Managing Director.

Before the four-year secondment to Singapore, Rob was Director of Strategic Consulting at the IOM and was responsible for establishing the IOM’s pioneering Safenano Centre in 2006. The IOM’s Safenano initiative has dedicated more than 10 years of research to exploring the emerging risk in nanotechnology, and has the unique remit of interpreting and disseminating the emerging health, safety and environmental information about nanoparticles to help industry understand and mitigate the potential risks.

Professor Rob Aitken’s Main Scientific Interests

• Nanotechnology

• Exposure and risk assessments

• Life sciences

• Medical robotics (ISO 299 WG3)

Additional Organisations

Rob is also on the advisory board for organisations such as the: NANOfutures European Technology Platform, INSCX (Integrated Nano-Science & Commodity Exchange), and Institute of Nanotechnology.

Additionally, Rob is the Principal UK Expert to ISO 299 WG3, Nanotechnologies: SafetyHealth and Environment, and is a member of the FP7 Nanotechnologies Program Expert Advisory Group. Rob is also an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Nanotechnology, an Honorary Teaching Fellow at Edinburgh Napier University, and an Honorary Professor in Life Sciences at Heriot Watt University.