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WIT SIG Creates More Awards After Successfully Launching a New Endowment Fund

By Tao Wang posted 11-19-2015 15:42

  

Tao Wang, MD, PhD, DABT, President of Women in Toxicology Special Interest Group

In May 2014, the Society of Toxicology Women in Toxicology (WIT) Special Interest Group started a fundraising campaign for our new “Celebrating Women in Toxicology Award Endowment Fund." This award was inspired and initiated by a generous donation of $8,000 from the estate of Ms. Anne Wolven Garrett. The fund’s initial goal was to raise $25,000 within three years in order to receive the SOT match and to become a permanently vested endowment fund with a fund balance of $50,000.

With the generosity of our contributors and the dollar-to-dollar matching from the SOT, we have raised over $93,000 in little more than 1 year!! The immediate effect is that WIT now receives dividends from this SOT Endowment Fund to award our budding scientists! The first Celebrating Women in Toxicology Award(s) will be presented at the 2016 SOT Annual Meeting in New Orleans. In future years, the endowment will provide WIT with a consistent source of funding to support our mission. Details about the award and application process are available on the WIT website.

The WIT Executive Committee would like to thank the individuals listed below for their generous contributions. We would especially like to mention and thank Dr. Jacqueline Smith and Dr. Jerry Hook for their significant contributions that helped to push this WIT Endowment Fund over the threshold! When we expressed our heartfelt appreciation to Dr. Smith and Dr. Hook and asked them why they decided to contribute to the WIT Endowment Fund, Dr. Smith told us that she and Dr. Hook had the pleasure of sitting in on the WIT business meeting at the 2015 SOT Annual Meeting, and they were extremely impressed by WIT's accomplishments and strategies for facilitating the recognition and careers of more women in toxicology.

Dr. Smith and Dr. Hook had an extensive interview with the SOT Headquarters after making their donation. In the interview, they spoke about their motivation for donating to specific funds. Dr. Hook also expressed that “Helping promote the visibility of women in toxicology and the Society is one of the things I am most proud of accomplishing during my time as SOT President. This contribution will help continue the Society’s commitment to and support of female toxicologists.”

View contributors to the Celebrating Women in Toxicology Endowment Fund.

 

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