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Dori R. Germolec, PhD, has been elected 2021–2022 SOT Vice President-Elect. Dr. Germolec currently serves as the Immunology discipline leader for the National Toxicology Program (NTP) and oversees the efforts of the NTP to design, interpret, and report studies that assess the potential for chemicals to modulate immune responses.

She is particularly interested in persistent immunologic effects following in utero exposure to xenobiotics, autoimmune disease, and the development of in vitro methods to assess immune function. Dr. Germolec also serves as a project leader for toxicology studies and is spearheading the NTP research efforts to evaluate the health effects of exposure to molds.

Dr. Germolec has been an SOT member since 1996. She has previously served as an SOT Councilor and on several task forces and working groups within the Society. She is a member of the North Carolina Regional Chapter and the Women in Toxicology Special Interest Group, and she has served as Councilor and on the Presidential Chain of the Immunotoxicology Specialty Section, of which she has been a member since 1996. She has received several awards from the Society, including the Immunotoxicology Specialty Section Vos Lifetime Career Achievement Award in Immunotoxicology in 2017.

Of her goals for SOT, Dr. Germolec says, “As Vice President-Elect, and a member of the SOT presidential chain, I would focus my efforts on recognition of the Society as a resource for the public and the scientific community. . . . We must increase awareness of the discipline of toxicology as a whole and recognition of the SOT as a public resource and means of communicating information on issues of concern. Through interactions in my own community and volunteer groups I have developed a better understanding of the public perception of risk, and I would work to improve outreach and how we convey the basis of risk decisions. In addition, I recognize that the SOT has provided a forum to support scientific excellence and innovation in order to encourage the development of safe and effective products. We need to foster and embrace the use of novel techniques and applications, as well as integrate knowledge from basic and clinical science to mitigate the increased burden of disease and environmental damage caused by human activity.”