Sumira Phatak received her Baccalaureate Degree in biology from Northeastern Illinois University and is currently a doctoral candidate of toxicology at Utah State University. Growing up as an athlete, living healthfully has been second nature and she deeply enjoys sharing this passion with others. It may come as no surprise that the primary focus of her dissertation seeks to understand the complex interaction between dietary consumption, patterns of trans-generational inheritance, epigenetic remodeling, and gut microbial composition that ultimately influences colorectal cancer and metabolic disease outcomes. Ms. Phatak is a Pinnacle Honor Society inductee (2020), USDA AFRI NIFA Pre-doctoral Research Fellow (2018-2020), American College of Toxicology North American Graduate Fellow (2017-2018), USU President Noelle and John Cockett Graduate Fellow (2017), and USU ADVS Doctoral Student Researcher of the Year (2017). She was invited to participate in the “Innovating Global Fruit and Vegetable Food Systems to Help Bring Sustainable Nutrition Security” Workshop hosted by the Aspen Global Change Institute (August 2018). Sumira holds several leadership positions within the Environmental Mutagenesis and Genomics Society, American Society for Nutrition, American College of Toxicology, and at her home institution. She also currently serves as the SOT Graduate Student Leadership Committee Professional Development Subcommittee Chair and Mountain West Regional Chapter Graduate Student Representative, and previously as the Food Safety Specialty Section Graduate Student Representative. Sumira’s involvement with SOT includes serving as a mentor session host, networking mentor, poster group leader,#youtox photo helper, peer mentor, near-peer mentor, and plenary escort, as well as regularly participating in Chat with an Expert, Poster Tours for Trainees, and Trainee Discussions. Ms. Phatak has contributed to SOT by generating blogs, webinars, and proposals and has received several awards acknowledging her efforts. Having an appetite for adventure, she is an avid outdoor enthusiast and foodie. She loves to cook and is extremely particular about the quality of ingredients; as an environmentalist, making eco-friendly lifestyle choices is extremely important. Her service activities also include a lengthy history volunteering within the community, where she is currently a driver for Meals on Wheels, delivering lunch weekly to housebound elderly, a sensitive population where proper nutrition is critical. Her enthusiasm for science has grown alongside love of backcountry exploration, paddlesports, snowsports, upcycling, and photography, where she spend every ounce of free time.