2026 SOT Award Recipients

Honorary Membership

Barry H. Rumack, MD

University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO

SOT recognizes nonmembers who embody outstanding and sustained achievements in the field of toxicology and/or allied disciplines with Honorary membership.

SOT is bestowing Barry H. Rumack, MD, with Honorary Membership in recognition of his groundbreaking work in determining toxicity risks associated with acetaminophen and developing a treatment for acetaminophen toxicity.

Dr. Rumack earned his BS in microbiology at the University of Chicago and his MD at the University of Wisconsin. He completed his residency at the University of Colorado and fellowships with the National Institutes of Health, University of Chicago, and Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (United Kingdom). It was during these fellowships that Dr. Rumack began his instrumental research into the toxic effects of acetaminophen, the culmination of which was the development of the Rumack-Matthew Nomogram that is still in use in emergency departments worldwide to assess the toxicity potential of acetaminophen overdoses.

Upon returning to the University of Colorado as Director of the Rocky Mountain Poison & Drug Center, Denver Health and Hospitals, Dr. Rumack began his work researching an antidote to acetaminophen toxicity. In 1985, based on an extensive clinical trial on the effects of N-acetylcysteine, the US Food and Drug Administration approved the use of N-acetylcystaine as an antidote to acetaminophen toxicity—the only approved antidote, which has saved millions of lives around the world.

In more recent times, Dr. Rumack partnered with SOT member Hartmut Jaeschke, PhD, on researching another antidote to acetaminophen toxicity. What they found was that fomepizole has a wider therapeutic window and less side effects, while not inhibiting regeneration. Fomepizole is now in a phase III clinical trial as an adjunct therapy to N-acetylcysteine in late-presenting and severe overdoses of acetaminophen toxicity.

Another accomplishment that has saved countless lives is the creation of the Poisindex, a toxicology database that is utilized in poison control centers across 92 countries.

Dr. Rumack’s 240+ publications have been cited more than 18,000 times (h-factor: 71), and he has received many awards, including the Annual Recognition Award of the American Association of Poison Control Centers (1985); the Clinton Thienes Award of the American Academy of Clinical Toxicology (1991); an Honorary Doctor degree from Jagellonian University, Krakow, Poland (1995); the Matthew J. Ellenhorn Award from the American College of Medical Toxicology (2001); and the Career Achievement Award of the American Academy of Clinical Toxicology (2011). More recently (2023), Dr. Rumack was honored with the Prince Mahidol Award from Thailand. This prestigious award is given to an individual “for outstanding innovation, leadership, and achievement in advancing population health, which result in significant and sustained impact on population health and well-being and promote equity and social justice.”

Due to Dr. Rumack’s lifelong work as a clinical toxicologist, SOT is proud to present him with Honorary Membership in the Society.

Achievement Award

Katie Paul Friedman, PhD

UL Research Institutes, Morrisville, NC

This award recognizes an SOT member who has made significant contributions to toxicology within 15 years of obtaining the highest earned degree.

For her leadership in computational toxicology and her contributions to new approach methodologies (NAMs) that are transforming chemical safety assessment, Katie Paul Friedman, PhD, has received the 2026 SOT Achievement Award.

Dr. Paul Friedman earned her BS in biochemistry from Virginia Tech and her PhD in toxicology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where her graduate research focused on triclosan’s disruption of thyroid hormone homeostasis. She completed postdoctoral training at The Hamner Institutes and then at the US Environmental Protection Agency Office of Research and Development (US EPA ORD), developing high-throughput in vitro methods for endocrine disruption, including an assay for thyroperoxidase inhibition. She subsequently served as a regulatory toxicologist at Bayer CropScience, where she furthered her understanding of regulatory needs and the science of what is possible with NAMs in product testing and registration. In 2016, she returned to US EPA Office of Research and Development as a computational toxicologist and served as Branch Chief in the Computational Toxicology and Bioinformatics Branch and then as a Division Director within the Center for Computational Toxicology and Exposure. Dr. Paul Friedman is now Director for the Center for Chemical Informatics and Screening within UL Research Institutes’ Chemical Insights.

Throughout her career, Dr. Paul Friedman has led influential efforts to develop, apply, and build confidence in NAMs for regulatory decision-making. At the US EPA, she played a central role in the ToxCast program, guiding targeted high-throughput screening initiatives and overseeing curation and analysis pipelines that have made complex in vitro data broadly accessible to regulators and researchers. She has been the lead investigator for the Toxicity Reference Database (ToxRefDB) and analyses of the variability in in vivo study data, which has supported multiple efforts to benchmark NAM performance. Her research has advanced endocrine and developmental neurotoxicity testing through the design and interpretation of in vitro assays, including thyroid-relevant and steroidogenesis bioactivity assays and a suite of methods for developmental neurotoxicity evaluation. Her work demonstrating the utility of in vitro bioactivity as a protective point of departure has helped define how bioactivity-based information can be incorporated into human health risk assessment and chemical prioritization in the United States, Canada, and Europe.

In addition to her scientific contributions, Dr. Paul Friedman has been a key leader in science regulation. She previously led the TSCA New Chemicals Collaborative Research Program, an initiative that organized researchers and regulators to modernize new chemical evaluations with improved exposure, bioactivity, and toxicokinetic approaches. She served as a visible technical leader in multiple high-profile US and international efforts, including presentations to the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act Scientific Advisory Panel and participation in the consortium Accelerating the Pace of Chemical Risk Assessment, as well as guidance development for endocrine- and NAM-based assessments. Her productivity in federal and industry roles is reflected in more than 75 peer-reviewed publications and numerous US EPA ORD scientific honors, including gold, silver, and bronze medals; Level I, II, and III Scientific and Technological Achievement Awards; and multiple Impact Awards, as well as SOT recognition such as the Exposure Specialty Section Paper of the Year and Risk Assessment Specialty Section awards.

Dr. Paul Friedman is also deeply committed to mentoring the toxicology community. She has directly mentored 18 trainees at the undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral levels, many of whom have continued into influential roles in federal agencies and the private sector. Within SOT, she has held numerous leadership and committee roles, including North Carolina Regional Chapter Student Representative, In Vitro and Alternative Methods Specialty Section Postdoctoral Representative and later Councilor, Postdoctoral Assembly Board Councilor, and member of the Faculty United for Toxicology Undergraduate Recruitment and Education (FUTURE) Committee, as well as active involvement across multiple Specialty Sections and Special Interest Groups.

Through her innovative research, vision on addressing regulatory needs with NAMs, and dedication to training the next generation, Dr. Paul Friedman exemplifies the scientific excellence and service recognized by the SOT Achievement Award.

Arnold J. Lehman Award

Babasaheb Sonawane, PhD

Independent Consultant, Newberry, FL

Named after one of the SOT founders, this award recognizes an SOT member who has made a major contribution to risk assessment and/or the regulation of chemical agents, including pharmaceuticals. The contribution may have resulted from the application of sound scientific principles to regulation and/or from research activities that have significantly influenced the regulatory process.

For pioneering and sustained contributions that have transformed human health risk assessment through the development of physiological parameters database across life stages for application in physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) models, database for ontogeny of xenobiotic metabolizing enzymes, and children’s environmental health framework, as well as for leadership in applying these scientific advances to national and international regulatory decisions, Babasaheb Sonawane, PhD, is the 2026 recipient of the SOT Arnold J. Lehman Award.

Over a career span of more than five decades, Dr. Sonawane has played a significant role in shaping risk assessment practice. At the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), where he served for over 30 years in positions including Group Chief in the National Center for Environmental Assessment, Branch Chief for Reproductive and Developmental Toxicology, and Acting Director of the NCEA–Washington Division, he provided leadership and contributed to reviews for human health risk assessments of a wide range of high-priority contaminants. These assessments included Libby Amphibole asbestos, benzene, phthalates, formaldehyde, methyl mercury, diesel exhaust, lead, cadmium, PFOA/PFAS, pesticides, and numerous industrial chemicals, supporting Integrated Risk Assessment System (IRIS) and Provisional Peer-Reviewed Toxicity Value (PPRTV) evaluations used across US EPA air, water, toxics, pesticides, waste, Superfund, and regional regulatory programs, as well as by states and international partners.

Dr. Sonawane’s scientific leadership has been especially influential in advancing PBPK modeling and life stage–specific risk assessment. He led and contributed to key US EPA technical reports and guidance, including Approaches for Application of PBPK Models and Supporting Data in Risk Assessment, dermal exposure assessment principles, and aging- and life stage–focused risk assessment frameworks. His work along with his professional colleagues in federal agencies, academia, public, and private organizations helped to establish methods for evaluating age-related toxicokinetics and toxicodynamics, and developmental and neurodevelopmental susceptibility, providing practical tools for incorporating mode of action, population variability, and vulnerable subgroups into quantitative risk assessment. He also contributed to the development of the US EPA Reproductive and Developmental Toxicity Risk Assessment Guidelines and contributed to Neurotoxicology Risk Assessment Guidelines, which continue to serve as cornerstones for regulatory practice.

Beyond the US EPA, Dr. Sonawane has been a leader in national and international collaborations that connect innovative science with public health protection. He contributed to the World Health Organization’s International Programme on Chemical Safety Environmental Health Criteria and Concise International Chemical Assessment documents, participated in International Agency for Research on Cancer monograph evaluations, and also helped develop some of the first toxicological profiles for the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. He has conducted and advised on risk assessments for environmental chemicals and elemental impurities in pharmaceuticals. He served on science advisory panels for high-profile chemicals and organized or participated in more than 60 national and international workshops and conferences across North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America, promoting best practices in environmental health and risk assessment of xenobiotics.

Dr. Sonawane’s scientific contributions and professional service are equally distinguished. He is an author or co-author of more than 140 publications, over 25 book chapters, and more than 150 presentations at scientific meetings, including work that has advanced the understanding of children’s environmental health, genetic and epigenetic susceptibility, PBPK modeling databases, and integration of chemical and nonchemical stressors in risk assessment. He has received numerous recognitions, including US EPA Gold, Silver, and Bronze Medals; US EPA Science and Technology Achievement Awards; the US EPA Joseph Seifter Memorial Award in Regulatory Science; and multiple honors for international leadership and environmental health research. Recently, Dr. Sonawane received the International Forensic Medical Sciences and Toxicology Excellence Award at the Global Forensic Excellence Summit held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

A dedicated mentor and educator, Dr. Sonawane has served as an Independent Consultant and as Adjunct Professor in the Environmental Metrology and Policy Program at Georgetown University, where he taught environmental risk assessment and management. Across his academic, federal, and consulting roles, he has mentored more than 50 pre- and postdoctoral fellows, faculty, public health trainees, and interns, many of whom now hold leadership positions in government, academia, and industry. As a long-standing SOT member, he has been active in the Risk Assessment Specialty Section; American Association of Scientists of Indian Origin; Toxicologists of African Origin Special Interest Groups; and National Capital Area Regional Chapter and has organized or chaired numerous SOT Symposia and sessions on topics such as children’s environmental health, electronic waste, disparities in environmental exposures, and risk assessment in vulnerable populations.

Through his innovative science, regulatory leadership, international capacity building, and deep commitment to mentoring the next generation, Dr. Sonawane exemplifies the legacy of Arnold J. Lehman and the highest standards of the field of risk assessment.

Distinguished Toxicology Scholar Award

Pamela J. Lein, PhD

University of California Davis, Davis, CA

This award recognizes an SOT member who has made seminal and substantial scientific contributions to the understanding of the science of toxicology and is actively involved in toxicological research.

In recognition of a long-standing career of influential scientific contributions to neurotoxicology and her seminal work defining how environmental exposures and gene–environment interactions disrupt nervous system development and function, Pamela J. Lein, PhD, is presented with the 2026 SOT Distinguished Toxicology Scholar Award.

Dr. Lein received her BS from Cornell University, MS from East Tennessee State University, and PhD in pharmacology and toxicology from the State University of New York at Buffalo, followed by postdoctoral training at Roswell Park Cancer Institute. She held faculty positions at Johns Hopkins University and Oregon Health & Science University before joining the University of California Davis (UC Davis) in 2008, where she became Professor of Neurotoxicology in 2010, Distinguished Professor of Neurotoxicology in 2025, and has served as Department Chair since 2018.

Dr. Lein is internationally recognized for pioneering mechanistic studies that have reshaped the understanding of how environmental chemicals perturb neuronal connectivity and neurodevelopment. Her research has explained how polychlorinated biphenyls and related persistent organic pollutants alter calcium signaling, activate ryanodine receptors, and disrupt dendritic growth and synaptogenesis, thereby providing critical insight into how developmental exposure to these compounds contributes to neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism spectrum disorder. Her work has further demonstrated how genetic susceptibilities interact with toxicant exposures to modify risk and severity of neurologic disease, advancing the field’s framework for gene–environment interactions in brain development and function.

Dr. Lein has also made major contributions to translational neurotoxicology and chemical threat preparedness. As Director of the UC Davis CounterACT Center of Excellence, she leads multidisciplinary teams developing therapeutics and tools to prevent or mitigate the chronic neurological consequences of organophosphate nerve agent and pesticide intoxication, including novel seizure countermeasures and imaging approaches for early detection of brain injury. Her research program addresses additional high-priority public health concerns, such as the mechanisms by which traffic-related air pollution and ultrafine particles exacerbate Alzheimer’s disease–relevant phenotypes and how persistent pesticides and other environmental contaminants contribute to neurodegenerative and seizure disorders. The Lein Lab has been continuously funded by the US National Institutes of Health since 1997 and is currently supported by multiple NIH institutes through various awards.

Equally outstanding are Dr. Lein’s scholarly achievements and service to the profession. She is the author of more than 275 peer-reviewed journal articles and numerous reports and book chapters and is a highly sought-after speaker at national and international scientific meetings. She has played a prominent role in advisory efforts that strengthen the scientific basis for regulatory decision-making related to neurotoxicology, including service on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Committee on Toxicology, the Board of Scientific Counselors for the National Toxicology Program (Chair, 2023–2024), and California’s Scientific Review Panel on Toxic Air Contaminants and as an expert author for the US Environmental Protection Agency IRIS assessment of polychlorinated biphenyls. She has provided extensive editorial leadership as Editor-in-Chief of NeuroToxicology and as an Associate Editor or Editorial Board member for multiple leading toxicology and environmental health journals. Her contributions have been recognized through numerous honors, including being elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges Excellence in Research Award, the Zoetis Award for Veterinary Research Excellence, and the SOT Neurotoxicology Specialty Section (NTSS) Distinguished Neurotoxicologist Award.

As a dedicated and influential mentor, Dr. Lein has provided formal mentoring to more than 150 trainees at all levels, including junior faculty, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and undergraduates, many of whom have gone on to successful careers in academia, government, and industry. Her commitment to mentoring and training has been recognized by the SOT Women in Toxicology Mentoring Award and by multiple institutional awards from UC Davis for graduate advising and mentoring. Within SOT, she has served in numerous leadership roles, including President of the Neurotoxicology Specialty Section, Chair of the SOT Education and Career Development Committee, Endowment Fund steward for the Neurotoxicology Specialty Section, and President of the Northern California Regional Chapter, while organizing and contributing to many SOT Symposia and Continuing Education courses.

Through her innovative and impactful research, regulatory and editorial leadership, and outstanding dedication to training the next generation of scientists, Dr. Lein exemplifies the scientific excellence and service celebrated by the SOT Distinguished Toxicology Scholar Award.

Education Award

B. Paige Lawrence, PhD

University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY

The Education Award is presented to an individual who is distinguished by the teaching and training of toxicologists and who has made significant contributions to education in the broad field of toxicology.

In recognition of her influential leadership in toxicology education, her dedication to building rigorous and inclusive training environments, and her outstanding mentorship across all trainee levels, B. Paige Lawrence, PhD, is the 2026 recipient of the SOT Education Award.

Dr. Lawrence earned her BA in biology and chemistry with departmental honors from Skidmore College and her PhD in biochemistry, molecular and cell biology with a minor in immunology from Cornell University. She then completed postdoctoral training in Environmental and Molecular Toxicology at Oregon State University before joining the faculty at Washington State University, where she became a tenured associate professor. She was recruited to the University of Rochester Medical Center, where she currently holds the Wright Family Research Professorship and serves as Chair of the Department of Environmental Medicine, Director of the NIEHS-funded Environmental Health Sciences Center, and Founding Director of the Institute for Human Health and the Environment. Across these leadership roles, Dr. Lawrence has been a driving force in strengthening toxicology training and expanding access to interdisciplinary education in environmental health science.

A defining feature of Dr. Lawrence’s impact is her deep and sustained dedication to mentoring. She has mentored over 100 trainees, including undergraduate researchers, master’s and doctoral students, post-baccalaureate scholars, clinical trainees, postdoctoral fellows, and early career faculty. Her mentees have earned competitive fellowships, research awards, and placements in influential positions across academia, government, industry, medicine, and public health. Trainees consistently credit her thoughtful guidance, accessibility, scientific rigor, and strong advocacy as central to their development as independent scholars and professionals. Her excellence in this area has been formally recognized through the University of Rochester Faculty Mentoring Award and the Service Recognition Award for Excellence in Mentoring from SOT Women in Toxicology Special Interest Group.

Dr. Lawrence has also demonstrated outstanding leadership in curriculum development and academic program building. As Director of the Toxicology Graduate and Postdoctoral Training Program from 2011 to 2019, she led two competitive NIEHS T32 renewals before passing the reins to new leaders. She expanded the program’s interdisciplinary curriculum, strengthened student preparation in emerging scientific areas, broadened career-development programming, and created experiential learning opportunities that connect environmental health science with public health and community engagement. Through her leadership at the Environmental Health Sciences Center and the Institute for Human Health and the Environment, she has further advanced educational infrastructure, including initiatives supporting undergraduate summer internships, K–12 outreach, and cross-disciplinary graduate training.

Dr. Lawrence’s influence on toxicology education extends nationally. She has played major roles in NIEHS training grant leadership, served on numerous review panels and external advisory boards that guide the development of high-quality and inclusive research training environments, and supported national initiatives that strengthen the environmental health sciences workforce. Within SOT, she has been an active contributor through service on the Graduate Education Subcommittee, FUTURE Committee, Nominating Committee, and Immunotoxicology Specialty Section Council, as well as through sustained involvement in trainee-focused programming and mentoring at the SOT Annual Meeting.

Through her exceptional mentorship, visionary program leadership, and unwavering commitment to developing the next generation of toxicologists, Dr. Lawrence exemplifies the excellence recognized by the SOT Education Award.

Enhancement of Animal Welfare Award

Prof. Mathieu Vinken, PharmD, PhD

Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium

This award recognizes an SOT member for contributions made to the advancement of toxicological science through the development and application of methods that replace, refine, or reduce the need for experimental animals. This award recognizes outstanding/significant contributions made by SOT members to the scientifically sound and responsible use of animals in research. This award also serves to recognize member contributions to the public awareness of the importance of animals in toxicology research. The achievement recognized may be either a seminal piece of work or a long-term contribution to toxicological science and animal welfare.

For his pioneering work in human-relevant liver toxicology, leadership in developing integrated new approach methodologies (NAMs), and sustained commitment to advancing animal-free safety assessment of chemicals, Prof. Mathieu Vinken, PharmD, PhD, is the 2026 recipient of the SOT Enhancement of Animal Welfare Award.

Dr. Vinken earned his master’s in pharmaceutical sciences in 2001 and his doctorate in pharmaceutical sciences in 2006 from Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) in Belgium, followed by highly competitive doctoral and postdoctoral fellowships from the Research Foundation Flanders. He joined the VUB faculty in toxicology, progressing through tenure-track and associate professor roles to become Full Professor, leading a large multidisciplinary research team within the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy. He also served as a Visiting Professor at the Universidade de São Paulo in Brazil and has been a European Registered Toxicologist since 2010, reflecting his recognized expertise in regulatory-relevant toxicology.

Throughout his career, Dr. Vinken has built an internationally recognized program in mechanistic and in vitro liver toxicology that directly advances the 3Rs (reduce, refine, replace). His research focuses on explaining the pathways underlying chemical-induced liver injury, particularly cholestatic liver injury, and translating this mechanistic knowledge into adverse outcome pathway frameworks and predictive in vitro test batteries. His group has developed and refined human-relevant liver models and applied machine learning to integrate complex data for next-generation risk assessment. These efforts provide scientifically robust alternatives to traditional animal studies for evaluating the safety of pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, food ingredients, biocides, and other chemicals.

A central theme of Dr. Vinken’s work is the systematic replacement of animal studies with integrated nonanimal approaches. He has coordinated and is still coordinating numerous large European and international consortia dedicated to animal-free safety assessment, including serving as project coordinator for the Horizon 2020 ONTOX consortium, which is developing ontology-driven and artificial intelligence–based strategies for repeated-dose toxicity testing of chemicals, and for multiple earlier EU projects that advanced in vitro liver models and mechanistic toxicology. Since 2024, he also coordinates the ASPIS project cluster, bringing together the ONTOX, PrecisionTox, and RISK-HUNT3R consortia to accelerate implementation of animal-free chemical safety assessment across Europe and beyond. Collectively, these initiatives involve dozens of partner institutions and represent a major international investment in 3Rs-based toxicology.

Dr. Vinken’s contributions to animal welfare extend beyond his laboratory. He has played leading roles in the European Society of Toxicology In Vitro (ESTIV), serving as Vice President, President, and now Honorary Member, and has organized or co-organized multiple ESTIV meetings, EUROTOX conferences, World Congresses on Alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences, and the Microphysiological Systems World Summit. He is deeply engaged as scientific advisor in organizations and consortia relevant to alternatives, including the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI)-Europe, the Dutch Research Council project “Virtual Human Platform for Safety Assessment” and the European project “NAMs Within Integrated Safety and Efficacy Evaluation of Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals.”

Dr. Vinken has authored more than 280 peer-reviewed journal articles, edited three books, and contributed numerous book chapters that have helped shape modern in vitro hepatology and mechanistic toxicology.

As a member of SOT since 2010, Dr. Vinken has been an active participant in the Society, organizing and chairing Scientific Sessions at multiple SOT Annual Meetings and engaging with Specialty Sections aligned with in vitro and mechanistic toxicology.

Through his sustained leadership in developing mechanistically anchored, human-relevant in vitro systems and his coordination of major international programs aimed at replacing animal testing in chemical safety assessment, Dr. Vinken exemplifies the scientific innovation and commitment to animal welfare honored by the SOT Enhancement of Animal Welfare Award.

Founders Award (for Outstanding Leadership in Toxicology)

Janice E. Chambers, PhD, DABT, ATS, AAAS Fellow

Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS

This award, sponsored by the SOT Endowment Fund, recognizes a Full, Emeritus, or Retired Full member who has demonstrated outstanding leadership in fostering the role of toxicological sciences in safety decision-making through the development and/or application of state-of-the-art approaches that elucidate, with a high degree of confidence, the distinctions for humans between safe and unsafe levels of exposures to chemical and physical agents.

For her five decades of leadership in advancing the science of organophosphate toxicology, her seminal work on species and population differences in susceptibility and detoxification, and her influential role in translating mechanistic research into regulatory decision-making and countermeasure development, Janice E. Chambers, PhD, DABT, ATS, AAAS Fellow, is the 2026 recipient of the SOT Founders Award (for Outstanding Leadership in Toxicology).

Dr. Chambers earned her BS in biology from the University of San Francisco in 1969 and her PhD in animal physiology from Mississippi State University in 1973. She then joined Mississippi State University, where she progressed from Postdoctoral Fellow and Research Zoologist to Assistant, Associate, and Full Professor, initiating and building the university’s toxicology teaching and research program. Since 1995, she served as a William L. Giles Distinguished Professor and, since 1991, as Director of the Center for Environmental Health Sciences in the College of Veterinary Medicine.

Dr. Chambers’s research has consistently focused on anticholinesterase toxicology, especially organophosphate insecticides and chemical threat agents, with an emphasis on species-related and population-based differences in susceptibility and detoxification. More recently, her work has centered on the discovery and characterization of novel brain-penetrating oxime antidotes capable of preserving brain structure and function after organophosphate poisoning, leading to US and European patents and the lead compound being licensed for development.

Across a career supported by more than $30 million in competitive research funding, primarily from the US National Institutes of Health and the US Department of Defense, Dr. Chambers has authored over 130 peer-reviewed publications and numerous book chapters and edited volumes. Her research has clarified key biochemical mechanisms that determine organophosphate toxicity, including target-site interactions with toxicants, bioactivation and detoxication pathways, and age- and species-dependent differences in cholinesterase inhibition and recovery. These insights have informed human health risk assessments and safety standards for organophosphate insecticides and related compounds and have provided a scientific foundation for evaluating cumulative risk from chemicals with common mechanisms of action.

Dr. Chambers’s expertise has been widely sought by federal agencies and national advisory bodies, where she has played a prominent role in shaping policies and guidelines related to pesticide safety and environmental health. She has provided expert guidance to numerous federal agencies, which included service on multiple National Institutes of Health study sections; on advisory panels for the US Environmental Protection Agency, such as the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act Scientific Advisory Panel and the Human Studies Review Board; and as Chair of the Board of Scientific Counselors for the CDC/ATSDR National Center for Environmental Health. She also has served on National Research Council and Institute of Medicine committees addressing methylmercury, chemical warfare agents, and Agent Orange. Through these roles, she has been instrumental in integrating mechanistic toxicology and quantitative risk assessment into decisions that protect human health.

A dedicated educator and mentor, Dr. Chambers has trained more than 50 graduate students and numerous undergraduate researchers, many of whom have gone on to impactful careers in academia, government, and industry. Within SOT, she has provided sustained leadership through service on the Continuing Education, Education, Membership, Awards, and Endowment Fund Committees; as an officer of the South Central Regional Chapter; and as President of both the Neurotoxicology and Mixtures Specialty Sections. Her contributions have been recognized with honors such as the SOT Education Award, the American Chemical Society International Award for Research in Agrochemicals, the Burroughs Wellcome Toxicology Scholar Award, and multiple institutional awards for research excellence.

Through her pioneering mechanistic research, her exceptional record of service on national advisory bodies, and her long-standing leadership in toxicology education and training, Dr. Chambers exemplifies the outstanding leadership in toxicology that is honored by the SOT Founders Award.

Leading Edge in Basic Science Award

Staci Simonich, PhD

Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR

This award recognizes a scientist who, based on research, has made a recent (within the last five years), seminal scientific contribution/advance to understanding fundamental mechanisms of toxicity. The recipient should be a respected basic scientist whose research findings are likely to have a pervasive impact on the field of toxicology.

For groundbreaking work showing how transformed polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and related pollutants influence human exposure and toxicity and for redefining health risk assessment of particulate air pollution and remediated soils, Staci L. Simonich, PhD, has received the 2026 SOT Leading Edge in Basic Science Award.

Dr. Simonich earned her BS in chemistry from the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay and her PhD in chemistry from Indiana University. She began her career as a scientist at Procter & Gamble before joining Oregon State University (OSU) in 2001 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology and the Department of Chemistry. She was promoted to Associate Professor in 2006 and Full Professor in 2011 and has served as a project leader in the OSU Superfund Research Program and as a member of the OSU Environmental Health Sciences Center. In 2022, she was appointed Dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences and Reub Long Professor and Director of the Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station, while continuing her research at the interface of environmental chemistry and toxicology.

Over the past decade, Dr. Simonich has led a series of seminal investigations demonstrating that traditional risk assessment models for air pollution dramatically underestimate the health risks posed by complex mixtures of PAHs and their transformation products. By combining advanced analytical chemistry, atmospheric chemistry, and in vivo toxicology, her group has shown that PAHs attached to particulate matter are chemically “shielded,” increasing their persistence during long-range transport and resulting in higher concentrations at both urban and remote locations than previously predicted. This work, including studies showing a fourfold increase in estimated global lung cancer risk from shielded PAHs, has fundamentally altered how atmospheric particulate matter composition, bioavailability, and toxic potency are conceptualized and quantified.

Dr. Simonich’s research has also transformed understanding of how engineered remediation systems can unintentionally increase toxicity by generating hazardous transformation products. Through integrated field, laboratory, and bioassay studies at Superfund and other contaminated sites, her group has demonstrated that bioremediation, steam-enhanced extraction, and photocatalytic treatments can produce novel PAH derivatives with greater genotoxicity and developmental toxicity than the parent compounds. By pairing comprehensive chemical characterization with mechanistic toxicology, her work has exposed critical gaps in existing soil and sediment risk assessment frameworks and provided a scientific foundation for designing remediation strategies that minimize formation of toxic byproducts and better protect human health.

Dr. Simonich’s scholarly record reflects the influence of her work across disciplines. She has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles, with an h-index of 62, an i10-index of 115, and over 12,000 citations. Her leadership and creativity have been recognized through numerous honors, including election as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry/Roy F. Weston Environmental Chemistry Award, the NSF CAREER Award, and multiple institutional awards for outstanding scholarship and graduate mentoring at Oregon State University. She has also demonstrated a strong commitment to training the next generation of scientists, mentoring dozens of graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, and undergraduates in toxicology, chemistry, and environmental health sciences.

Through her innovative, transdisciplinary research that has redefined how the field understands and evaluates the toxicological consequences of environmental transformations of organic pollutants, Dr. Simonich exemplifies the scientific excellence and impact recognized by the SOT Leading Edge in Basic Science Award.

Merit Award

Ruth A. Roberts, PhD, ATS, ERT, FRSB, FBTS, FRCPath

ApconiX, Alderley Park, Cheshire, United Kingdom; and University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom

This award recognizes an SOT member who has made distinguished contributions to toxicology throughout an entire career in areas such as research, teaching, regulatory activities, consulting, and service to the Society.

Ruth A. Roberts, PhD, ATS, ERT, FRSB, FBTS, FRCPath, is recognized with the 2026 SOT Merit Award for an outstanding career that has advanced mechanistic toxicology, transformed approaches to drug and chemical safety assessment, and helped train and inspire the next generation of toxicologists.

Dr. Roberts earned a Class I BSc (Hons) in biochemistry in 1984 and a PhD from the Faculty of Medical Oncology at the University of Manchester in 1987. She completed postdoctoral training at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in London. Her career has spanned senior leadership roles in industry, academia, and consultancy, including Cancer Biology Group Leader at Zeneca/Syngenta Central Toxicology Laboratory; Director of Toxicology at Aventis in Paris; and Director of Toxicology and Global Head of Regulatory Safety at AstraZeneca in the United Kingdom and Sweden. She is a Cofounder and Director of ApconiX, a nonclinical safety science consultancy and ion channel research company and since 2016 has served as Chair and Director of Drug Discovery at the University of Birmingham, where she founded and leads the Birmingham Drug Discovery Hub.

Across nearly 200 publications, Dr. Roberts has made seminal contributions in chemical carcinogenesis, tumor biology, apoptosis, drug safety, and regulatory science. Her early work helped demonstrate that rodent liver tumors produced by PPARα agonists are not relevant to human cancer risk, informing regulatory decision-making and risk assessment. She has also been an influential leader in modernizing nonclinical safety assessment, advancing science-led study design, questioning routine use of recovery groups, and advocating for evidence-based approaches in place of default testing paradigms. More recently, she has collaborated with colleagues at the US Food and Drug Administration to explore how machine learning can support toxicology decision-making and deliver 3Rs benefits while improving translation to human risk.

Dr. Roberts’s scientific and leadership accomplishments have been recognized through numerous honors, including the SOT Achievement Award, the EUROTOX Bo Holmstedt Award, the SOT Founders Award (for Outstanding Leadership in Toxicology), the Academy of Toxicological Sciences “Millie” Award, and the SOT Drug Discovery Research Paper of the Year Award. ApconiX has also been recognized with the Queen’s Award 2022 and The King’s Award 2024 for Enterprise in International Trade and the 2025 King’s Award for Enterprise in Innovation.

Within SOT and the broader toxicology community, Dr. Roberts has demonstrated exceptional commitment to service and mentoring. She has been an SOT member since 1998; has been a regular presenter, organizer, and chair of Scientific Sessions; and has delivered various talks for SOT, including “The Entrepreneurial Toxicologist.”

In parallel, she has sustained a long-standing dedication to education through teaching in undergraduate, master’s, and PhD programs; supervision of graduate students and industrial postdoctoral fellows; and mentoring of scientists at all career stages, particularly those from institutions with limited toxicology resources.

Through her innovative research, influential leadership, and unwavering commitment to training and service, Dr. Ruth A. Roberts exemplifies the distinguished, career-long contributions recognized by the SOT Merit Award.

Public Communications Award

Paloma I. Beamer, PhD

University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

The SOT Public Communications Award is presented to recognize an individual who has made a major contribution to broadening the general public’s awareness of toxicological issues, including public understanding of the role and importance of experimental animals in toxicological science, through any aspect of public communications, over a significant period of time.

Paloma I. Beamer, PhD, is recognized with the 2026 SOT Public Communications Award for her sustained, community-centered communication and outreach on environmental exposures and health, with particular impact in communities that are historically underserved and disproportionately affected by environmental contamination.

Dr. Beamer earned her BS from the University of California Berkeley and her MS and PhD from Stanford University, all in civil and environmental engineering, before joining the University of Arizona faculty in 2007. She advanced through the ranks to Professor and currently serves as Associate Dean for Community Engagement in the Zukerman College of Public Health. She is also the Director of the Community Engagement Core of the NIEHS-funded Southwest Environmental Health Sciences Center, where she helps translate exposure science into practical, community-informed resources and action.

A defining feature of Dr. Beamer’s public communications is her ability to build sustained partnerships and maintain two-way engagement with communities, including Tribal entities and local health advocates, ensuring that scientific findings are communicated in ways that support informed public health decision-making. Her communications and outreach have included extensive local community presentations and teach-ins, as well as public-facing technical reports and fact sheets designed to support community decision-making.

Dr. Beamer’s rapid-response communications during environmental emergencies further exemplify the public value of her work. Following the 2015 Gold King Mine incident, when US Environmental Protection Agency contractors released three million gallons of acid mine drainage into the Animas River, affecting the San Juan River through the Navajo Nation, she conducted culturally appropriate exposure and risk assessments and helped communicate the results back to the affected communities. Her assessments identified limitations in traditional exposure scenarios and found estimated exposure doses over a billion times higher than previously assessed, reshaping how exposure assessment and community engagement were approached in this context.

In addition to her communications leadership, Dr. Beamer’s commitment to mentoring strengthens the public health workforce pipeline. Her dedication to supporting trainees, particularly those from underrepresented and first-generation backgrounds, has been recognized with university-level mentoring and community-engagement awards, reflecting an integrated approach to scholarship, communication, and service that aligns closely with the intent of the SOT Public Communications Award.

Science Policy Leadership Award

Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-MI)

US Senate, Washington, DC

This award recognizes an elected government official (local, state, national, international) who demonstrates support for science related to protecting or advancing the health and safety of people, animals, and/or the environment.

For her strong advocacy for federal investment in scientific research and development and actions to improve research and public health in the state of Michigan, Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) has been awarded the SOT Science Policy Leadership Award.

Seeing environmental protection and public health as a bipartisan issue, Senator Slotkin has supported funding increases for federal agencies such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Department of Energy’s Office of Science. In Michigan, she helped obtain appropriations for initiatives such as the Next-Generation Anaerobic Digestion Testing & Standard Development Facility at Michigan State University and the Flint Lead Exposure Registry. She has visited Michigan’s top research universities to understand their needs firsthand to better advocate for strengthened infrastructure, interdisciplinary research, and competitive federal grants.

Through her actions and correspondence, Senator Slotkin has exhibited a true understanding of the long-reaching effect of investing in scientific research. In an email with a constituent about the importance of funding for the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), Senator Slotkin expressed the detrimental effects of a funding decrease, stating “What life-saving treatment options will be delayed in discovery for years, leading to unnecessary harm to Michigander’s health and well-being? Whose family members will suffer from a disease that could have been solved had more research funds been available?”

Beyond her advocacy for research related to environmental protection and public health, Senator Slotkin recognizes the importance of the scientific disciplines in the next generation. She has championed policies to expand STEM programs in Michigan and supports science education and STEM workforce development.

Because of her dedication to using facts, evidence, and science to shape public policy and her understanding that investing in science is an investment in public health, Senator Slotkin exemplifies the qualities recognized by the SOT Science Policy Leadership Award.

Toxicologist Mentoring Award

A. Jay Gandolfi, PhD

University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

This award recognizes an SOT member who has displayed a commitment to mentoring and whose advice and counsel have substantially enhanced the career development of toxicologists.

A. Jay Gandolfi, PhD, is recognized with the 2026 SOT Toxicologist Mentoring Award for more than four decades of dedicated mentorship that has shaped the careers of students, postdoctoral fellows, junior faculty, and collaborators across toxicology.

Dr. Gandolfi received his doctoral training in biochemistry and biophysics from Oregon State University (with a minor in toxicology) and completed post-graduate training at the Mayo Clinic and Pacific Northwest Laboratories before joining the University of Arizona with appointments in the Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy. He became an Emeritus Professor in 2013 in the Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology and continued contributing as a part-time lecturer and through ongoing college service until retiring in 2025.

Throughout his career, Dr. Gandolfi’s mentorship has been extensive and enduring, including direct mentoring of 24 PhD students, 27 MS students, and 14 post-graduate trainees, along with service on 60 doctoral and 25 master’s committees. His mentoring impact also extends to colleagues and collaborative teams, helping others connect strong science to meaningful toxicological endpoints and building networks of “mentors who were good teachers, advisors, and researchers.”

As a mentor, Dr. Gandolfi is known for a hands-on, highly engaged approach, listening carefully, asking clarifying questions, and tracking progress with the “legendary” yellow legal pad and red pen that became a hallmark of his meetings and grant-planning efforts. This consistent presence helped trainees develop confidence and refine ideas and skills that carried into their leadership and mentoring.

Dr. Gandolfi also served the broader toxicology community through major academic leadership roles, including administering graduate programs for many years, serving as Interim Chair of Pharmacology & Toxicology for three years, and serving as Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies in the College of Pharmacy for 14 years—while also directing an NIEHS-sponsored Superfund Program for 12 years. Within SOT, he is a Past President of the Mechanisms Specialty Section and a recipient of the SOT Education Award and Metals Career Award and was elected to SOT Council as Secretary. In 2019, he received the Distinguished Scientist Award in Toxicology from the American Society of Toxicology.

Through his decades-long dedication to mentoring, steady leadership, and unwavering commitment to the professional growth of others, Dr. Gandolfi has left a lasting imprint on the field of toxicology. His influence is reflected not only in the accomplishments of his many trainees, but also in the mentoring cultures they have gone on to build. Dr. Gandolfi’s career exemplifies the values of guidance, generosity, and service celebrated by the SOT Toxicologist Mentoring Award.

Translational Impact Award

Alison Cory Pearson Elder, PhD

University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY

This award recognizes a scientist whose recent (within the last 10 years) outstanding clinical, environmental health, or translational research has improved human and/or public health in an area of toxicological concern.

Alison C. P. Elder, PhD, is recognized with the 2026 SOT Translational Impact Award for her pioneering translational research on inhaled engineered nanoparticles and ambient air pollutant aerosols, work that has helped connect real-world exposure and dosimetry to health-relevant outcomes and human risk evaluation.

After earning her PhD in environmental toxicology from the University of California Irvine and completing postdoctoral training at the University of Rochester, Dr. Elder joined the University of Rochester faculty in 2000 and is now an Associate Professor, serving as Director of the Environmental Health Sciences Center’s Inhalation Exposure Facility and Co-Director of the Toxicology Training Program.

A hallmark of Dr. Elder’s translational impact is her focus on exposure and dose characterization that supports meaningful exposure–dose–response relationships. Her work has emphasized designing studies with human dose relevancy, accounting for dose rate, and applying dosimetry modeling (including multiple-path particle dosimetry) to connect animal inhalation studies to deposited doses in specific regions of the human respiratory tract.

Dr. Elder’s findings have also contributed directly to practical guidance that protects health. As an example, her research demonstrates the importance of particle surface area as a determinant of lung effects, which has helped inform occupational exposure guideline development for poorly soluble particles, including work relevant to the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health; she has also served on the ACGIH Threshold Limit Value Chemical Substances Committee (Dusts and Inorganics Subcommittee Co-Chair).

Beyond the respiratory tract, Dr. Elder’s inhalation studies have advanced the translational understanding of ultrafine particle impacts in extrapulmonary systems. Her work with manganese oxide ultrafine particles (as a model of welding fume exposure) helped demonstrate brain accumulation in part via olfactory neuronal transport, and her studies of ultrafine particles and inflammatory changes in the cardiovascular and central nervous systems have helped catalyze broader evaluation of neurodegenerative, inflammatory, and behavioral effects relevant to particulate matter health assessments.

Dr. Elder continues to apply this translational approach to emerging concerns, including airborne nano- and microplastics, aiming to close knowledge gaps on exposure pathways so that animal studies can be designed with strong translational backing.

Dr. Elder joined SOT in 1992 and has contributed extensively through Society leadership and service, including roles such as President of the Nanoscience and Advanced Materials Specialty Section, Secretary/Treasurer of the Inhalation and Respiratory Specialty Section, and Councilor and Secretary/Treasurer of the Lake Ontario Regional Chapter.

For extensive research that has informed occupational health and other public health safety guidelines, Dr. Elder epitomizes the ideals of the SOT Translational Impact Award.

Rekha Mehendale Undergraduate Educator Award

Tisha King-Heiden, PhD

University of Wisconsin–La Crosse, La Crosse, WI

This award, sponsored by the SOT Endowment, recognizes an SOT member who is distinguished by outstanding contributions to the teaching of undergraduate students in toxicology and toxicology-related areas and whose efforts support the Society’s strategic efforts to “build for the future of toxicology.”

Tisha C. King-Heiden, PhD, is awarded the 2026 SOT Rekha Mehendale Undergraduate Educator Award for her outstanding commitment to undergraduate toxicology education and her innovative efforts to recruit, train, and prepare students for careers and advanced study in toxicology and environmental health.

Dr. King-Heiden earned her BS in Biology (marine biology emphasis; chemistry minor) from the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point, her MS in Biology from the University of North Carolina–Greensboro, and her PhD in Biology (physiology, endocrinology, and toxicology) from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. She was a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Molecular and Environmental Toxicology Program at the University of Wisconsin before starting her teaching career.

A faculty member at the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse (UWL), Dr. King-Heiden’s teaching reaches students across multiple levels of the curriculum. She teaches upper-level toxicology coursework, including a course that was redesigned from Environmental Toxicology to Aquatic Toxicology to better align with an Aquatic Science concentration, and she developed lower-level toxicology courses, Environmental and Human Health Effects of Water Pollution and Water Pollution Field and Lab Methods, to introduce and recruit students into the field. She also integrates toxicology concepts into large-enrollment core biology courses to broaden undergraduate exposure to toxicology across the program.

Beyond individual courses, Dr. King-Heiden has helped expand capacity-building in toxicology education through collaborative program development. She is assisting colleagues at UWL with the development of a Pharmacology and Toxicology concentration or certificate within the Chemistry major, with a longer-term goal of growing that effort into a full program/major.

Dr. King-Heiden is also collaborating with faculty across University of Wisconsin institutions through the Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin toward a statewide certificate program in aquatic toxicology that would allow students to take complementary coursework across universities, further strengthening recruitment pathways into aquatic toxicology and human health.

Dr. King-Heiden is recognized for advancing undergraduate research and professional development. She provides students with applied research questions and training, supports career exploration through visits and interactions with toxicology-related organizations, and ensures students can communicate their science through conference presentations, reflecting strong student participation in presentations and publications and continued progression into graduate and health-professions programs.

Through her innovative teaching, curriculum development, and dedication to undergraduate mentorship, Dr. King-Heiden has strengthened pathways into toxicology and environmental health. Her sustained commitment to student training and program building exemplifies the impact recognized by the SOT Rekha Mehendale Undergraduate Educator Award.

Toxicological Sciences Paper of the Year Award

Serum Glutamate Dehydrogenase Activity Enables Sensitive and Specific Diagnosis of Hepatocellular Injury in Humans.

Jiri Aubrecht, David Potter, John Michael Sauer, Roscoe Warner, Kent J. Johnson, Mitchell R. McGill, Katrina Peron, and Nicholas M. P. King.
2025. Toxicological Sciences 203, no. 2 (February): 171–180. View Abstract

This paper provides strong evidence supporting serum glutamate dehydrogenase (GLDH) as a liver‑specific biomarker capable of diagnosing hepatocellular injury in humans. Building on earlier exploratory findings, the authors confirm the diagnostic performance of GLDH across healthy populations and subjects with diverse liver diseases, while also validating its relationship to histopathologic lesions using 32 well‑characterized model toxicants in rats. Importantly, GLDH remained unaffected by injury to extrahepatic tissues that express this enzyme, demonstrating excellent organ specificity—a key limitation of traditional assays, particularly in patients with underlying muscle injury. The study also identifies faster GLDH elimination kinetics relative to ALT, suggesting value for monitoring early recovery. Together, these results offer compelling translational evidence that GLDH is a sensitive, liver‑specific biomarker with clear utility for advancing human risk assessment, enhancing drug safety evaluation, and improving the diagnostic precision of hepatocellular injury in both clinical and regulatory toxicology. The Board of Publications proudly confers the Paper of the Year Award to Dr. Aubrecht and the entire research team.