Working Group
Biotoxin-CIRS mould

PANDIS is grateful for the support of our Biotoxin-CIRS Mould Working Group members.

AMANDA WATSON

Group Chair | Biotoxin CIRS Working Group

Amanda Watson was appointed by PANDIS in early 2020 to the role of Group Chair, to establish the first ever Biotoxin CIRS Working Group. Amanda herself, and her teenage daughter are both long-term Biotoxin CIRS patients, after chronic environmental exposure within a water-damaged rental property in Sydney as a result of inadequate building maintenance. This lead to their on-going symptom cascade and eventual diagnosis. This resulted in her forming a CIRS Biotoxin Facebook Support Group at the beginning of 2016 to raise awareness and provide support for members.


Her personal experience started her quest for better validation of patients, particularly within the existing main-stream medicine and mental health model, wider public recognition and acceptance of this illness. But most importantly better training and accountability in recognising the impact the pathobiome in the built environment can have on the occupants, particularly within the rental property market where there are often no clear enforceable standards and tenants have limited rights of safety, security or redress for themselves or their families. 


Whilst most of Australia has simply thought of the resulting aesthetic damage and perceived minimal risk within water damage buildings to primarily be (toxic) mould - without due consideration of the true risk and the wider health implications for a large percentage of the population - Amanda took a much expanded focus and investigation as to other causative agents, rather than just mould alone. Having personally endured many years of apathy and resistance to these risks, she understood that the answer was to advocate for scientifically sound answers through better, targeted research, which could change perspectives and lead to expedited patient diagnosis, better access to local, more cost-effective patient testing and treatment pathways.

This approach brought her to confer with Professor Gilles Guillemin OM in 2019, specifically after her own years of scientific literature review (most with a singular or limited focused research topic viewpoint), as to the distinct similarities she saw between Biotoxin Illness and a large range of other chronic health conditions and diseases, particularly their biomarkers and symptomology. And what she believes is the urgent need for a more global scientific overview to validate each within their own bounds, but even more so, to better understand their similarities and their interconnectedness. PANDIS uniquely recognise and most importantly, value the wider collaboration, contribution and insights learned in an inclusive, patient-lead research model. And she believes through her own lived experience, she will also be to provide caring and validating management of the subject patent cohorts with understanding both their needs, and their limitations.


Although now unable to work due to her illness, prior to her exposure and diagnosis, Amanda had a varied multi-discipline career with a focus on commercial design and project management, particularly within the construction industry both in Australia and also the USA. She worked across multiple multi-million dollar construction site projects and staged fitouts, for groups such as Meriton Apartments, Rosecorp, Newport News Shipbuilding, Motorola and Langley Air Force Base. She brings that expertise to her current volunteer role, to assist PANDIS with assembling and managing the entire team, across multiple research disciplines, in formulating a strong, multifaceted and progressive research approach, using state of the art technology. 

Amanda strongly believes that the power of PANDIS merging these varied disciplines TOGETHER, will finally bring the answers patients need and learnings for clinicians worldwide, to enable them to provide better diagnosis, support and long-term patient care, reduce the burden on public spending and infrastructure, but most importantly, improve the quality of life for so many patients who are currently often mis-diagnosed or dismissed, despite the reality of suffering from complex, chronic illness.

DR TIM LAW

Consultant | Biotoxin CIRS Working Group

Dr Tim Law is a building surveying lecturer with the College of Engineering & Science at Victoria University.

He is an architectural scientist who studies how to make buildings perform and why they fail.

Tim has a special interest in Environmental health and establishing how building construction affects the microbiology such as mould, microbes and bacteria, particularly in water damaged buildings and the resulting impact on physical and mental health and wellbeing. This includes Biotoxin Illness (also referred to as CIRS – Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome).

His expertise includes:

  • Condensation
  • Hygrothermal analysis
  • Building physics
  • Building microbiology
  • Indoor air quality
  • Environmental health
  • Water-damaged buildings
  • Mould

DR CAMERON JONES

Consultant | Biotoxin CIRS Working Group

Dr Cameron Jones is a microbiologist/mycologist and former University academic who specialises in the study of indoor air quality problems caused by mould and water damage in the built environment.

As a microbiologist, he is passionate about healthy buildings and environmental health and continues to investigate the scientific relationship between people and how the microbiome of the built environment is emerging as a vitally important determinant of physical wellbeing and mental health.

Cameron has a popular weekly Facebook Live series of videos exploring the current research and many facets of mould, microbes, viruses and their interplay with health including CIRS - Biotoxin Illness and the linked association with other neurological and autoimmune diseases, as well as the latest on Covid-19.

Dr Jones has a PhD from Swinburne University of Technology and has published over 80 peer reviewed papers and conference proceedings and over 2500+ technical reports on air quality and microbial pathogens in the built environment. He has undertaken Post graduate research in the Centre for Mathematical Modelling as a Chancellery Research Fellow extended his use of data processing in biological systems. After leaving Swinburne, he set up Biological Health Services which is an independent laboratory and environmental health consultancy that provides indoor air quality and mould inspections and assessments.

He consults widely to the media, residential and commercial real estate and insurance sectors in all aspects of microbial pathogens and building biology.

Published research at: https://www.drcameronjones.com

Consultancy at: https://www.biologicalhealthservices.com.au

Editorial Board Positions

  • Environmental Health Engineering and Management Journal
  • The International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
  • Open Health
  • Journal of Human Virology & Retrovirology

Academic Faculty Positions

  • Adjunct Research Fellow, National Institute of Integrative Medicine

Academic Qualifications

  • BSc – major in microbiology (LaTrobe University)
  • Grad.Dip.App.Sci – Industrial Microbiology (Swinburne University of Technology)
  • PhD – School of Chemical Sciences (Swinburne University of Technology)
  • Certificate III in Investigative Services (Australian Institute of Public Safety)
  • Certificate IV in Security and Risk Management (Australian Institute of Public Safety)
  • Diploma of Security and Risk Management (Australian Institute of Public Safety)
  • Certificate IV in Property Services (Real Estate) (The NSW Real Estate Training College)
  • Certificate IV in Training and Assessment (CBD College)
  • Victorian Agent’s Representative Course (Australian College of Professionals)
  • Quarantine Awareness and Quarantine Approved Premises for Accredited Persons (Classes 2 to 9) (Australian Government – Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry/Biosecurity). Accreditation Number: A13859 and 2579
  • Meth Lab Cleanup & Testing Course (Jena Dyco International)
  • American Bio-Recovery Association Crime and Trauma Cleanup Course (Jena Dyco International)
  • Fungal Spore Identification (Mold & Bacteria Consulting Laboratories, Canada).