Dr. Daniella Pizzurro is a Sr. Principal Scientist at Merck and currently serves as a Discovery Program Leader in Nonclinical Drug Safety where she supports programs across modalities in the neuroscience, immunology, and cardio-metabolic therapeutic areas. Dr. Pizzurro has specific expertise in general toxicology, discovery toxicology, neurotoxicology, and preclinical development of cell and gene therapy drug products. Dr. Pizzurro received a PhD in Toxicology from the University of Washington in Seattle (2013) and is certified as a Diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology. She has been an active member of the Society of Toxicology since 2009 and, in addition to serving the SOT as a mentor for the Committee on Diversity Initiatives Undergraduate Diversity Program (2012–2019), is a founding member and Past-President of the Out Toxicologists and Allies (OTA) Special Interest Group (2019-2023), and served as the co-chair for the Special Interest Group Collaboration Group (SIG-CG) in 2021-2023. Her professional interests include working cross-functionally to solve problems and bolstering diversity and inclusion in all levels of educational and professional science.