Global Senior Scholar Exchange Program

Scholar: Chiagoziem Anariochi Otuechere, PhD

Redeemer’s University, Ede, Nigeria

Dr. Otuechere is an Associate Professor of Phytomedicine and Biochemical Toxicology at Redeemer’s University in Nigeria. The twin departments of Biochemistry and Environmental Management and Toxicology include nine faculty members. There is a strong collaboration with the Departments of Biochemistry, Physiology, Anatomy, Chemistry, and Microbiology in the teaching of toxicological concepts to undergraduate and postgraduate students. Eighty percent of these staff possess PhDs. Faculty have the goal of building a center of excellence for toxicological research through the expansion of academic programs, curricula enhancement, and enabling an environment for international collaborations and student exchanges. Knowledge gained from the exchange will enable program updates and the design of a more robust curriculum, as well as fostering short-term and long-term collaborations between institutions.

Scholar: Nisha A R, PhD

College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Kerala, India

Dr. Nisha A R is an Assistant Professor and Head of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University. The department currently has five staff members, all of whom possess PhDs. Their vision includes equipping graduate students and faculty with technical expertise in risk assessment. Additionally, they hope to support regulatory agencies, scientists, and community members in Kerala through the development of a xenobiotic monitoring lab and to assist with creating guidelines associated with the use of antibiotics and pesticides. Collaborations built through the exchange will improve awareness about the risk elements and assessments that can be applied in the field.

Hosts: Lili Tang, PhD and Jia-Sheng Wang, PhD

Environmental Health Science & Interdisciplinary Toxicology Program, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States.

Dr. Tang serves as associate professor at the Department of Environmental Health Science, College of Public Health, University of Georgia (UGA) and as a faculty member in the Interdisciplinary Toxicology Program under the Graduate School of UGA. She has over 25 years’ research experience in environmental health and toxicology areas. The long-term goal of her research is to better understand health effects of exposure to environmental toxicants and individual response by integrating the microbiome, exposome, multi-omics, model organism, and biomarkers. She has maintained active collaboration with researchers at Texas A&M University, Texas Tech University, Makerere University, and Jiangnan University. The collaborative efforts have resulted in many publications. She also has an active USAID funded research project conducted in Uganda via collaborations with toxicology faculty at Makerere University School of Public Health.

Dr. Jia-Sheng Wang, Head of Department has devoted all his career on studying global etiology and prevention of chronic diseases linked with environmental toxicants, including liver and esophageal cancer studies in rural areas of China in 1980–2000. In past 20 years, under the support of USAID, he collaborated with many US research Institutions conducted studies in many developing nations, including Ghana, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and Nepal to explore the correlations between mycotoxins exposure and children’s growth stunting.

Hosts: Bernard Gadagbui, MSc, PhD, DABT, ERT and Michael Dourson, PhD, DABT, FATS, FSRA

Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment (TERA), Cincinnati, Ohio, United States.

Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment (TERA) is an independent, non-profit, 501(c)(3) corporation organized in 1995 for innovative scientific and educational purposes. TERA’s mission is to support public health protection through the best use of toxicity and exposure information in the development of human health risk assessments. We accomplish this mission by developing risk values, communicating risk assessment information, organizing expert reviews and workshops, improving risk methods through research, and educating risk managers, assessors, and the public on risk assessment issues. TERA has extensive corporate experience in developing and applying risk assessment guidance and methods; developing cross-jurisdictional methods reviews; developing hazard and risk prioritization frameworks; analyzing toxicity and epidemiology data for single chemical and mixtures toxicological assessments; and developing methods and assessments for human health and chemical risk assessment for environmental, pharmaceuticals, consumer products, and occupational exposure scenarios. Our assessment program utilizes state-of-the-science risk methods (some having been developed by our scientific staff) and guidance used by the leading government agencies and other authoritative bodies. 

TERA employees including highly trained generalists and specialists and is led by our President, Dr. Michael Dourson, DABT, FATS, FSRA, with Dr. Bernard Gadagbui, DABT, ERT, as the Director of Training.  Individual TERA scientists have training in toxicology, chemistry, biochemistry, molecular biology, industrial hygiene, pharmacology, epidemiology, biomathematics, environmental science, biomedical science, aquatic toxicology, education, and technical and scientific communication. Many of our senior staff are recognized leaders in the toxicology, occupational toxicology, industrial hygiene, and risk assessment fields. The majority of TERA’s staff members hold a PhD or Masters; many are Diplomates of the American Board of Toxicology (DABT) and one is also included in the UK Register of Toxicologists.