Samantha Chua CIH, CSP

Founder and principal consultant, Samantha Chua is a Certified Industrial Hygienist and Certified Safety Professional with 19 years of experience, predominantly in the life sciences industry.

Prior to founding Datura, Samantha was Head of the Site Services functions including Environmental Health & Safety (EHS), Facilities Engineering and Operations, GMP Maintenance, and Security at MilliporeSigma Viral Vector Manufacturing, an aseptic CDMO facility, located in Carlsbad, California. Before joining MilliporeSigma, she successfully established the EHS, Security and Facilities Team at Genmark Diagnostics (now a part of Roche), also located in California.

In the seven years as Facilities and EHS Director, she has led multiple tenant improvement and utility installation projects varying from dry rooms, aseptic processing cleanrooms, process gas and purified water systems, to a $25M manufacturing expansion project. She has led the selection, installation, and significant upgrades to the following system types: Building Management System/Building Automation Systems, Computerized Maintenance Management Systems, Physical Access Systems and Environmental Monitoring Systems/Continuous Monitoring Systems. EHS accomplishments include reducing Worker’s Compensation Experience Modification Rates by 30% in a three-year span; and through her leadership and implemented strategy, increased the site leading EHS metric by tenfold.

Samantha served as the Corporate Industrial Hygienist for General Atomics, where she developed custom ventilation for toxic gas exposure control as part of the Super Critical Water Oxidation Project and a custom chromium acid mist control for the ITER Coil Joinery Project.  Early on, Samantha held a series of increasingly responsible EHS roles at Invitrogen/Life Technologies (now part of ThermoFisher Scientific) and authored over 1500 safety data sheets. She has also performed water intrusion/mold investigations for a Los Angeles based consulting firm. In addition, Samantha has authored over 1000 safety data sheets and is a Lead Auditor for ISO 14001 & ISO 45001.

Samantha holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Microbiology from Arizona State University and a Master of Science Degree in Environmental Health Sciences specializing in Industrial Hygiene from UCLA. She has volunteered as a past Director and Secretary of the California Industrial Hygiene Council and is a member of AIHA, RIMS and IFMA.