Dana C. Dolinoy, MSc, PhD, is the recipient of the Society of Toxicology (SOT) 2018 Achievement Award. A graduate of Duke University, Dr. Dolinoy received her PhD in genetics and genomics and integrated toxicology and environmental health in 2007. She also received her postdoctoral training in radiation oncology at Duke. Currently, she serves as the NSF International chair of environmental health sciences and associate professor of nutritional sciences and of environmental health sciences at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. She also bears the distinction of serving as faculty director for the Epigenomics Core at the University of Michigan Medical School.
Her broad background in genomics and toxicology with specific training and expertise in epigenetic research is evidenced by her impressive list of publications. She has published 80 peer-reviewed manuscripts in high-quality scholarly journals and 10 peer-reviewed book chapters. In addition, she has participated in more than 100 extracurricular invited presentations, advisory panels, and chairmanships. Within a short timeframe, Dr. Dolinoy has established herself as a researcher on the cutting edge of the toxicological sciences.
Dr. Dolinoy has been continually supported by competitive external grant funding since 2009. Her work on the understanding of the fetal basis of adult disease, “In Utero Exposure to Bisphenol A: Effects on the Fetal Epigenome,” earned her a National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Outstanding New Environmental Scientist (ONES) Award. This work combined animal models and human clinical approaches to identify epigenetic mechanisms underlying toxicant-induced disease outcomes and will continue to have broad-reaching impacts on research, teaching, and the protection of public health.
As a principal investigator within the NIEHS/US Environmental Protection Agency-funded Michigan Children’s Environmental Health and Disease Prevention P01 Center, her current work focuses on developmental exposures to complex mixtures and risk for later-in-life disease, including metabolic syndrome. Dr. Dolinoy also serves as principal investigator of a U01 Award within the NIEHS Toxicant Exposures and Responses by Genomic and Epigenomic Regulators of Transcription (TaRGET) II consortium. In 2015, Dr. Dolinoy received the National Institutes of Health Director’s Transformative Research R01 Award to develop novel epigenetic editing tools to reduce disease risk. Her transformative work has been described as innovative, unconventional, and paradigm shifting. She is a creative thinker and an example of a scientist who will continue to push boundaries.
An SOT member since 2005, Dr. Dolinoy became a Toxicological Sciences associate editor in 2014 and joined the SOT Board of Publications in 2015. She currently serves as vice president-elect of the Molecular and Systems Biology Specialty Section. She has received numerous awards, including the Women in Toxicology Special Interest Group 2017 Young Investigator Award.