SOT is pleased to announce the four newly elected members of the Awards Committee, which is charged with reviewing all suggestions and recommendations as to the awards it has been designated by Council to confer and selecting the recipient or recipients for each award.
Julia Yue Cui
Julia Yue Cui, PhD, DABT, is an Associate Professor in toxicology in the University of Washington Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS). She is the Director of the Environmental Health and Microbiome Research Center, part of DEOHS. Dr. Cui also is a member of the UW Interdisciplinary Center for Exposures, Diseases, Genomics and Environment (EDGE) and Co-director of the EDGE Center’s Genomics, Functional Genomics, Proteomics, Metabolomics Facility Core. She previously held the Sheldon D. Murphy Endowed Chair in Toxicology and Environmental Health.
Dr. Cui is trained as a toxicologist, specializing in using toxicogenomic and toxicoepigenomic approaches to determine the effects of environmental chemical exposure and reprogramming the gut microbiome on the transcriptional and epigenetic regulation of genes involved in drug metabolism and obesity during development.
Dr. Cui joined SOT in 2007 and is the 2002 recipient of the SOT Achievement Award. She also just completed service as President of the SOT Pacific Northwest Regional Chapter.
Goals for SOT
(1) Promote a supportive transdisciplinary research platform for scientists from diverse backgrounds; (2) support and recognize trainees and junior investigators in the field of toxicology; and (3) promote a supportive career development platform for students, postdoctoral scholars, staff, and faculty, as well as investigators from government and industry to interact
Thomas A. Lewandowski
Thomas A. Lewandowski, PhD, DABT, ERT, ATS, is a toxicologist and chemist working in Gradient’s Seattle, Washington, office. He has more than 25 years of experience in the areas of product safety evaluation, pharmacokinetics, metals toxicology, and developmental toxicology. He is an affiliate faculty member at the University of Washington School of Public Health, where he lectures on metals toxicology and risk assessment.
Dr. Lewandowski is board certified in toxicology in the US and Europe and is a Fellow of the Academy of Toxicological Sciences. He was previously an Associate Professor of environmental health at Brooklyn College, where he taught courses in environmental health, human physiology, and sustainability.
A member since 1998, Dr. Lewandowski previously served as Chair of the SOT Education Committee and as a member of the SOT Continuing Education Committee and has held leadership positions for multiple SOT Component Groups.
Goals for SOT
As a member of the Awards Committee, I will work with other Committee members and SOT staff to increase the pool of qualified applicants for the Society’s various awards by actively reaching out to identify potential candidates from across the Society’s increasingly diverse membership. I believe that we should examine the existing awards program to ensure that it complements the SOT Strategic Priorities and Objectives, in particular to the goal of building and supporting the capabilities of the Society’s membership. Finally, I would like to see the Awards Committee take additional steps to publicize our awards and award recipients outside of SOT as a way of increasing the Society’s prominence within the scientific community.
Angela Slitt
Angela Slitt, PhD, is a Professor of biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences in the College of Pharmacy at the University of Rhode Island.
Dr. Slitt has been active in SOT since 1996 as a Student member and then as a Postdoctoral member. She became a Full member in 2008. She is a member of the Northeast Regional Chapter, having served as Vice President, President, and Past President (2017–2020). She also is a longstanding member of the Mechanisms Specialty Section, having served as a Junior and Senior Councilor (2012–2014), and as Vice President, President, and Past President (2014–2018). She also has served on other SOT Committees, such as the K–12 Subcommittee of the SOT Education Committee.
Over the years, Dr. Slitt has contributed to SOT through leading scientific Symposia, Workshops, and Continuing Education courses, often related to liver disease. She has served as a volunteer over the years at SOT Annual Meetings for scientific outreach events and programming related to undergraduate education.
Goals for SOT
I will serve the SOT Awards Committee through honoring the SOT Awards process and selecting individuals who represent the Society’s values and principles. I am committed furthering the SOT commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusiveness in the nomination and selection process.
Barbara A. Wetmore
Barbara A. Wetmore, PhD, is a toxicologist in the Office of Research and Development at the US Environmental Protection Agency. Her current research interests focus on the development and assessment of in vitro experimental and modeling tools that can be utilized to inform risk assessment and regulatory decision-making.
During her professional career, Dr. Wetmore has worked across the spectrum, starting in traditional mechanistic toxicology research for hazard identification, transitioning to the use of in vitro and ’omics tools and systems biology approaches, followed by her more recent work using in vitro-in vivo extrapolation approaches to facilitate incorporation of dosimetry, toxicokinetics, and population variability into assessments. She has served as a subject matter expert and on committees for the National Academy of Sciences, the European Reference Laboratory for Alternatives to Animal Testing, the United Nations Environment Programme, the US Food and Drug Administration, and Health Canada.
Since becoming a Full member of SOT in 2009, Dr. Wetmore has served in various capacities. She recently completed terms in the presidential chain for the Risk Assessment Specialty Section and the Exposure Specialty Section. She previously served in the presidential chain of the In Vitro and Alternative Methods Specialty Section, on the Specialty Section Collaboration and Communication Group, as a session Co-Chair at several Annual Meetings, and as a member of the FutureTox IV Organizing Committee. She also is a member of the Toxicological Sciences Editorial Board.
Goals for SOT
I am honored to serve on the SOT Awards Committee. Through these awards, the Society provides valued recognition to scientists who have distinguished themselves for their contributions as thought leaders and mentors in the toxicology community. Through highlighting these vast and varied contributions, these awards also help to foster engagement of the broader scientific and lay community. I will strive to maximize the ability of SOT to foster such engagement through identifying worthy candidates that embody the diversity and breadth of our organization. I also will work with the Committee to explore additional strategies for enhanced outreach and visibility.
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