Thank you to the members who participated in this year’s election. The members below were elected and will begin their service on May 1, 2019.
Vice President-Elect: Myrtle A. Davis, DVM, PhD, ATS
Dr. Davis is an executive director at Bristol-Myers Squibb, where she leads discovery toxicology in pharmaceutical candidate optimization to provide target and molecular hazard identification and risk assessments for issues identified in discovery research. She also currently serves on the National Toxicology Program (NTP) Board of Scientific Counselors and is a reviewer for the Assay Development and Screening Technologies Laboratory of the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS). Dr. Davis joined SOT in 1992 and was an SOT Councilor from 2013 to 2016.
“SOT must remain current and highly relevant to advance and provide the strongest advocacy for toxicological science,” Dr. Davis says. “We also have an obligation to aid our members in developing professional advocacy of their science as an art.… I believe that SOT should continue to be guided by communication with its highly dedicated membership and maintain a dynamic and diverse leadership to be effective. SOT is the only professional society that has a vested interest in undergraduate and graduate education in toxicology. I believe that we should utilize the talent of our highly energized membership to continue our notable contributions to the future of toxicology.” Dr. Davis also shares that she wants to pursue additional ways for SOT to engage in activities to help create awareness of the contributions of toxicology to public health.
Secretary-Elect: Suzanne C. Fitzpatrick, PhD, DABT
An SOT member since 1993, Dr. Fitzpatrick serves as the senior advisor for toxicology in the Office of the Center Director at the US Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. She also is the US FDA lead for the Toxicology in the 21st Century (Tox21) collaborative initiative between the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), NCATS, National Center for Computational Toxicology, and US FDA. Previously, she held positions on the SOT Awards and Nominating Committees.
Dr. Fitzpatrick wants “to help facilitate partnerships between SOT, academicians, regulators, and industry to work together to advance confidence in and use of new toxicology tools such as microphysiological systems and in silico modeling.”
Councilors: Virunya S. Bhat and Cynthia V. Rider
Virunya S. Bhat, PhD, DABT
For more than 19 years, Dr. Bhat has assessed consumer product safety, food and drinking water quality, and health risks of industrial and environmental chemicals and currently is the principal toxicologist at NSF International. She has served on many SOT committees and in various leadership roles for SOT Component Groups since she joined the Society in 2009. As a Councilor, her goals include focusing on promoting public awareness of toxicology and supporting mentoring relationships and career development resources.
Cynthia V. Rider, PhD
As a toxicologist with NTP, Dr. Rider serves as project leader for a diverse portfolio of testing programs, including polycyclic aromatic compounds, botanical dietary supplements, and industrial chemicals. She has been an SOT member since 2008 and served as the 2017–2018 Continuing Education Committee Chair. During her time as a Councilor, she wants to focus on encouraging trainees to engage with the Society by co-chairing Annual Meeting sessions and participating in other SOT activities designed to aid trainees’ scientific and professional growth.
Awards Committee
Aaron B. Bowman, PhD
An SOT member since 2009, Dr. Bowman became a professor and head of the School of Health Sciences at Purdue University in 2018 and is a member of the Purdue Institute for Integrative Neuroscience. Dr. Bowman has served on many SOT committees and subcommittees, is an associate editor for Toxicological Sciences, and has held leadership positions within SOT Component Groups.
Tracy Chen, PhD, DABT
Having founded and chaired the US FDA Toxicology Working Group, Dr. Chen currently serves as a US FDA liaison for toxicology-related projects and activities for the US FDA Office of the Chief Scientist. She has been an SOT member since 2006, serves on the Career Resource and Development Committee (CRAD), and has held various leadership positions within SOT Component Groups.
Brian S. Cummings, PhD
Dr. Cummings joined SOT in 1997 as a graduate student and previously served on the SOT Nominating Committee, in addition to holding leadership roles within several SOT Component Groups. Dr. Cummings is the director of the Interdisciplinary Toxicology Program and the interim department head of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Georgia.
Joyce S. Tsuji, PhD, DABT, ATS
Dr. Tsuji is a principal scientist within health sciences at Exponent and over the years has specialized in assessing exposure and risks associated with chemicals and in communication of scientific issues. An SOT member since 1997, she has served on the Continuing Education Committee and as the Nanotoxicology Specialty Section President.
Membership Committee
Danielle J. Carlin, PhD, DABT
Dr. Carlin is a program administrator with the NIEHS Superfund Research Program, a role that includes providing guidance and advice to grantees and applicants for P42 Center and R01 grants. Her research interests include chemical mixtures, xenobiotic metabolism, and inhalation toxicology. Dr. Carlin has been an SOT member since 2008 and has served in leadership roles for SOT Component Groups.
Betina J. Lew, PhD, DABT, ERT
As a senior manager of consumer safety at Reckitt Benckiser, Dr. Lew manages the US team and oversees the safety of a diverse portfolio that includes biocides, pesticides, and many other household products. She joined SOT in 2007 and has held leadership positions within multiple SOT Component Groups while also serving on various SOT committees and task forces.
Claude McGowan, PhD
After spending 30 years working in academia, government, and industry as a research and development professional, Dr. McGowan recently retired but remains committed to fostering community and educational activities. Since becoming an SOT member in 1982, Dr. McGowan has been an avid supporter of the Society’s efforts to expose underserved and underrepresented populations to the sciences in general and to toxicology in particular.
Nominating Committee
From Past Presidents: Marion F. Ehrich, PhD, DABT, ATS
An SOT member since 1980, Dr. Ehrich is the current SOT Historian and served as the 2003–2004 SOT President, in addition to previously holding numerous other leadership roles within the Society. She is a professor with the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, where she focuses on teaching toxicology and pharmacology to veterinary, graduate, and medical students while pursuing her own neurotoxicology research.
From Regional Chapters: Jennifer L. Freeman, PhD
At Purdue University, Dr. Freeman is an associate professor of toxicology in the School of Health Sciences, a faculty affiliate in Environmental and Ecological Engineering, and a member of the Public Health Graduate Program. Currently serving on the Scientific Program Committee, Dr. Freeman joined SOT in 2008 and has held leadership positions within various SOT Component Groups.
From Special Interest Groups: Jennifer D. Cohen, PhD, DABT
Since joining SOT in 2007, Dr. Cohen has actively participated in the Society by serving in Component Group leadership positions, chairing webinars and subcommittees, and contributing to task forces. A principal scientist at Takeda Research in California, she is responsible for nonclinical safety evaluation of small molecules and biotherapeutics drug candidates across therapeutic areas and serves as global strategy lead for neurotoxicity.
From Specialty Sections: Bethany R. Hannas, PhD, DABT
Dr. Hannas is a senior toxicologist at Corteva Agriscience, where she serves as a subject-matter expert in the area of developmental and reproductive toxicology (DART) and acts as lead scientist on guideline and mode-of-action DART studies in support of crop protection compounds and heads investigational research in the area of endocrine disruption. She became an SOT member in 2006 and is currently serving as a Senior Councilor for the Mixtures Specialty Section.