SOT recognizes nonmembers who embody outstanding and sustained achievements in the field of toxicology and/or allied disciplines with Honorary membership.
SOT is pleased to bestow Honorary membership to Namandjé N. Bumpus, PhD, in recognition of her pioneering research in drug metabolism and antiviral pharmacology, as well as her leadership, mentorship, and advocacy, especially regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Dr. Bumpus earned a BA in biology from Occidental College in 2003, which was followed by a PhD in pharmacology from the University of Michigan in 2007. She competed a postdoctoral fellowship at Scripps Research Institute where she researched gene expression and activation of drug metabolizing enzymes. Following her postdoc work, she became an Assistant Professor with the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and was appointed E.K. Marshall and Thomas H. Maren Professor and Chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences in 2020. In August 2022, she became the Chief Scientist for the US Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) where she provides strategic leadership and expertise to support scientific excellence, innovation, collaboration, and capacity to achieve the public health mission of the US FDA.
Though her PhD is in pharmacology, much of Dr. Bumpus’s impressive scientific resume is focused on drug-induced toxicity. Specifically, her research helped identify cytochrome P450-dependent metabolites that produce acute liver failure from antiviral drugs used to treat HIV and hepatitis C. Recently, her lab has used advancements in single cell technologies to detect RNA, proteins, metabolites, and xenobiotics in individual cells to investigate underlying variability in cellular response to xenobiotics. Dr. Bumpus has published 60+ peer-reviewed articles in high-profile scientific journals like Nature and The Lancet.
During Dr. Bumpus’s time at Johns Hopkins and other institutions, she mentored 15+ graduate students and postdocs, as well as master’s and undergraduate students within her laboratory. Dr. Bumpus also has been an advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout her career. She was the first Black woman to Chair a Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine department and significantly increased the department’s number of women and people of color. She has participated in many forums on racism and sexism in science and received a grant in 2021 to support Black, Latinx, and Indigenous graduate students in drug discovery and development.
Dr. Bumpus has been recognized throughout her career by the scientific community. Most notably, she received a US Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and is a Member of the National Academy of Medicine. She also is serving as the President-Elect of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics and has chaired or served on numerous National Institutes of Health study sections.
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