SOT is pleased to announce the four newly elected members of the SOT Nominating Committee: Emanuela Corsini, PhD; Kembra L. Howdeshell, PhD; Marianna Stamou, PhD, DABT, and Courtney E. W. Sulentic, PhD. The Nominating Committee is charged with submitting nominations for each SOT elective office and Committee.
Emanuela Corsini
Dr. Corsini is Professor of toxicology at the School of Pharmacy at the Università degli Studi di Milano. She is active in training undergraduate and graduate students and in research. Her research focuses on the refinement of alternative in vitro tests for immunotoxicity and on the understanding at the molecular level the mechanism of action of immunotoxic/immunomodulatory compounds.
Dr. Corsini has authored over 210 research publications in the area of toxicology. She is active in numerous scientific and professional organizations and serves on several editorial boards of toxicology journals. Her service includes Treasurer of the Association for In Vitro Toxicology; Secretary General of IUTOX; and current President-Elect of EUROTOX.
Dr. Corsini joined SOT in 2000 and has served as President of the SOT Immunotoxicology Specialty Section.
Goals for SOT
Through my career, I could appreciate more and more how important SOT is for the field of toxicology, the practitioners (whether in academia, industry, or regulatory agencies), and the next generation of toxicologists. I had the opportunity, while serving in the Executive Committees of IUTOX and EUROTOX, to meet many toxicologists worldwide, an experience that I deem extremely useful for serving on the SOT Nominating Committee considering its strategic vision of expanding “horizons” outside of the United States.
Kembra L. Howdeshell
Elected to represent the SOT Regional Chapters, Dr. Howdeshell is a Health Scientist with the Integrated Health Assessment Branch of NIEHS Division of Translational Toxicology (DTT). Her prior work experience includes a position as research fellow for the World Wildlife Fund Wildlife and Contaminants Program (2001–2002) and postdoctoral training at the University of Michigan in environmental toxicology (2002–2002) and the US Environmental Protection Agency in Reproductive Toxicology (2004–2009).
Dr. Howdeshell’s research interests include developmental reproductive toxicology, endocrine disruption, and mixtures toxicology. At the DTT, she conducts literature-based evaluations on the health effects of environmental exposures using systematic review methodology. Her research has focused on the reproductive toxicity of bisphenol A and mixtures of phthalates, as well as systematic review evaluations on the association of personal care products and fetal growth and occupational exposure to cancer chemotherapy use and adverse health effects.
Beyond her current service on the SOT Scientific Program Committee, Dr. Howdeshell has contributed to SOT as a Councilor for the Mixtures Specialty Section, Host Mentor for the Undergraduate Diversity Program/Undergraduate Education Program (2010, 2014, 2017, 2019), webinar coordinator for joint Mixtures and Risk Assessment Specialty Sections webinar (2012–2021), and judge of trainee poster sessions during many SOT North Carolina Regional Chapter meetings. She joined SOT in 2007.
Goals for SOT
I will work to identify dedicated and engaged SOT members to run for SOT elected positions with the goal of recruiting candidates from diverse occupational affiliations within the field of toxicology and associated disciplines, as well as different demographic backgrounds. I am a proponent of giving back to the scientific communities that aided and continue to shape my career development as a toxicologist. I look forward to this opportunity to assist in identifying and fostering leadership talent within our Society to continue to make SOT impactful and representative of all its members.
Marianna Stamou
Dr. Stamou is a Board-Certified Toxicologist currently employed as a Project Toxicologist at AstraZeneca, where she leads the nonclinical safety strategy for drug candidates in the respiratory and immunology therapeutic areas across therapeutic modalities.
Dr. Stamou received her doctorate in pharmacology and toxicology from the University of California Davis in 2015, where she studied the role of environmental risk factors in neurodevelopment, and then continued her academic research as a postdoctoral scholar at Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETH) Zurich from 2015 to 2017, where she utilized ’omics-based approaches to develop predictive in vitro models of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Prior to her PhD, Dr. Stamou was employed for several years as an analytical chemist in the Federal Sports Drug Testing Laboratory of Greece, during which time she also obtained a master’s degree in pharmaceutical production and quality control. Her early career steps in Greece spanned from quality control assurance in the food industry as a chemical engineer to business development in a software startup in Athens as an MBA graduate.
Dr. Stamou is a member of the American College of Toxicology and the Association of Inhalation Toxicologists. She has significant expertise in systems-based investigative toxicology, has authored/co-authored 19 peer-reviewed articles and one book chapter, and has mentored a number of graduate students and postdocs in academia and industry.
Dr. Stamou is currently serving as Secretary/Treasurer of the Drug Discovery Toxicology Specialty Section of SOT. She has been an active member of SOT since 2011, starting her service as Secretary and then Chair of the SOT Graduate Student Leadership Committee (GSLC) Professional Development Subcommittee and as Treasurer of the SOT Postdoctoral Assembly Executive Board
Goals for SOT
My goal for SOT is to advocate for a diverse, inclusive, and action-oriented leadership that is committed to shaping the future of toxicology through innovative science, collaboration, education, and outreach, and is a source of inspiration for the next generation of toxicologists.
Courtney E. W. Sulentic
Elected to represent the SOT membership-at-large, Dr. Sulentic is an Associate Professor within the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine. Prior to joining the faculty at Wright State in November 2003, she was a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of SOT Past President Norbert Kaminski at Michigan State University and was funded under a National Institute of Environmental Sciences (NIEHS) National Research Service Award.
Dr. Sulentic’s research program at Wright State has been funded by NIEHS and intramural grants. She also has received the SOT Colgate-Palmolive Grant for Alternative Research. Her overall research goal is to elucidate, at the cellular and molecular level, the human health implications of altered antibody expression by xenobiotics, such as the environmental contaminant, 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, and the role of specific genetic factors in influencing individual susceptibility to xenobiotics.
Dr. Sulentic has been very active in training undergraduate and graduate students and is involved in professional societies, including the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, the American Association of Immunologist, and particularly SOT and the SOT Ohio Valley Regional Chapter, for which she is a Past President. She joined SOT in 1995 and has served as an SOT Councilor, President of the SOT Women in Toxicology Special Interest Group, Chair of the former SOT Career Resource and Development Committee, and a member of the SOT Continuing Education Committee,
Goals for SOT
My service on Council, Component Groups, and Committees has given me the opportunity to actively engage and network with our diverse membership. Because of these efforts, I have a broader perspective of the goals and functions of several groups. This experience will be helpful in identifying candidates best suited to the elected positions within the Society. The importance of SOT members who actively engage within the Society cannot be overemphasized. Their service is vital to implementing the goals and initiatives of the Society. The Nominating Committee plays an essential role in identifying qualified candidates that represent the diversity of our membership and in fostering the development of future leaders of the Society.
My main objective is to promote a diverse candidate pool by collaborating with our various Component Groups to identify SOT members, particularly at the early and mid-career stages, that have demonstrated the enthusiasm to become more involved within the Society and the potential for leadership and collaborative work. Of particular importance is to have a diversity of perspectives and lived experiences to help identify the current and future needs of our membership and to develop strategic objectives around these needs.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this blog is based on the biosketches provided by electees for use as part of the election ballot. These citations are being shared under the Secretary’s name as part of their official duties and should not be interpreted as their personal or professional opinions.
#Communique:SOTNews#Members