K. S. Rao, PhD, DABT
K. S. Rao, PhD, DABT, has received the 2021 SOT Toxicologist Mentoring Award for his exemplary efforts to educate and train toxicologists in India.
Dr. Rao has more than 50 years of global experience in safety evaluation. He is an international expert in the toxicological assessment of agrochemicals, industrial chemicals, drug development, food additives, nutraceuticals, vaccines, medical devices, and cosmetic ingredients. He currently serves as the Subject Matter Expert—Safety Assessment at Eurofins/Advinus. The different positions that he held over an outstanding career introduced him to younger toxicologists with a fundamental need for mentoring and advice on their growth in the toxicological sciences.
In addition to devoted mentoring on the individual level, Dr. Rao has been instrumental in advancing toxicology in India as a whole. Since 2006, Dr. Rao has worked to meet the exceptional need to advise toxicologists at all levels of their careers in the growing Indian toxicology community. To this end, Dr. Rao has developed numerous seminars for young scientists, bringing to India well-recognized toxicologists from across the globe to advance the science of toxicology. Over the past 15 years, Dr. Rao has organized many training sessions in toxicology that have educated nearly 2,000 young toxicologists in India on topics such as safety pharmacology; toxicity and biocompatibility evaluation; comprehensive toxicology; risk assessment of personal care products; and pathology for toxicologists. He sponsored several students to attend these seminars using his own resources, offering opportunities that otherwise would not have been possible for those students.
Dr. Rao’s vision of mentoring the younger generation of toxicologists is perhaps best exemplified in his work to bring the DABT exam to India. Before Dr. Rao’s efforts that began in 2009, there were no board-certified toxicologists in India; at the time, the exam was not conducted in India, and the travel cost was prohibitory. Dr. Rao leveraged his reputation, network, and collaborative approach and was successful in persuading DABT management to initiate the exam in India—and this success has continued for the past decade, without any financial burden on the exam participants. In addition to his work in bringing the exam to India, Dr. Rao also was responsible for mentoring many candidates to prepare for the exam and career advancement. As a testament to Dr. Rao’s efforts, in the last decade, 100 candidates from India have passed the DABT examination, elevating these toxicologists and allied subjects to international standards.
Dr. Rao has been an SOT member since 1971 and was the first Indian toxicologist appointed as an Emeritus member. He also is a Past President of the Michigan Regional Chapter. In addition to his contributions to SOT, Dr. Rao is a recipient of the Life Time Achievement Award from the Society of Toxicology of India.