Postdoctoral Members

Olawande Olagoke

Chair

Dr. Olawande Olagoke is a biomedical scientist with about a decade of experience practicing in academia and the healthcare industry, through international fellowships and positions at BIDMC & Harvard Medical School, UFSM Brazil, and KIU Uganda. His research experience spans the development of predictive models of health and disease, as well as the discovery and safety assessment of functional foods with bioactive compounds, and he has authored/co-authored over a dozen peer-reviewed articles. As a lecturer, he has been involved in the development and implementation of physiology and toxicology teaching curriculums, modules, and case studies. He is also actively involved in mentoring the next generation of scientists via platforms like the Toxicology Mentoring and Skills Development Training (directed by the University of California Davis and the Society of Toxicology), and the International Research Initiative (directed by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health). Dr. Olawande has provided expert service for professional bodies and committees including the SOT Continuing Education Committee, Graduate Student Leadership Committee, Professional Development Subcommittee, Food Safety Specialty Section, and Toxicologists of African Origin. He served as the Vice Chair of the SOT PDA Executive Board from 2023–2024, and is serving as Chair from 2024–2025.

Esther Omaiye

Vice Chair

Dr. Omaiye is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Molecular, Cell & Systems Biology department at the University of California Riverside (UCR). She received her MS in Biotechnology and Bioinformatics from the California State University Channel Islands and her PhD in Environmental Toxicology from UCR. Her research investigates emerging tobacco products and their potential effects on human health using analytical and in vitro approaches. She is an author/co-author of several peer-reviewed articles. She has presented her research at numerous meetings/conferences and served as moderator on panels and symposia. Dr. Omaiye has been a member of the Society of Toxicology since 2017 and served her regional chapter as a Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Representative, during which she also served the Graduate Student Leadership Committee as a Member and Secretary and Chaired the Programming and Professional Development Committees. She was a peer mentor for the Undergraduate Education Program and has volunteered for the Undergraduate Diversity Program and Continuing Education Programs at the National meetings. She has organized local ToxScholar events and continues to promote SOT and encourage undergraduate interest in toxicology. As a dedicated and serving SOT member, she has acquired immense knowledge and skills from participating in component groups and serving SOT in multiple capacities. She will use her experiences from years of service to collaborate, support, and advance the postdoctoral and early career investigator community.

Shikha Sharma

Secretary

Dr. Shikha Sharma is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, School of Public Health, Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana, where she is examining “The presence of phthalates in electronic nicotine delivery system devices (ENDs) and their potential of inducing lung diseases.” Her research focuses on both regulatory and clinical perspectives of the presence of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in ENDs. She received her doctorate in Toxicology from the Department of Medical Elementology and Toxicology, School of Chemical and Life Sciences at Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi, India. Dr. Sharma was a Postdoctoral Associate at the Department of Environmental Medicine and Toxicology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York, from December 2019–November 2021. Dr. Sharma is an author/co-author of several publications including peer-reviewed articles and/or book chapters, etc. She is a postdoctoral member of SOT and has been presenting her work at SOT meetings since 2021. Dr. Sharma is a well-recognized postdoctoral member of SOT. She has been serving as a postdoctoral representative of the Occupational and Public Health Specialty Section (2023–2024) of SOT. She also received the Women in Toxicology award in 2024.

Dakota Robarts

Treasurer

Dr. Dakota (Cody) Robarts is a postdoctoral fellow at Pfizer in the Computational Safety Science group. Cody obtained his BS in Chemistry from Pittsburg State University in 2018 and recently completed his PhD in Toxicology at the University of Kansas Medical Center in April 2023. His involvement with SOT has been extensive. During his PhD, he first served as the graduate student representative for the Carcinogenesis Specialty Section for two years, where he actively represented and advocated for student interests. Following this, Cody contributed to the professional development subcommittee for a year and then took on the leadership role as the chair of the same subcommittee. In addition, he represented the PDA on the SOT’s Education and Career Development Committee from 2023–2024. Presently, he holds the position of Drug Discovery Toxicology Specialty Section postdoctoral representative and is the Treasurer for the PDA. His goal is to serve the PDA to the highest level.

Frederick Adams Ekuban

Councilor

Dr. Frederick Adams Ekuban is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Louisville, Kentucky. He holds a PhD in Toxicology from Tokyo University of Science, Japan, an MSc in General Toxicology and Environmental Health Risk Assessment from the University of Eastern Finland, Finland, and a BSc in Medical Laboratory Technology from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana. Dr. Ekuban's current research focuses on Environmental Liver Disease, specifically the impact of environmental factors such as perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) exposure on alcohol-associated liver disease. Since 2018, Dr. Ekuban has been an active member of the Society of Toxicology (SOT) and has served as a Peer Mentor for the Undergraduate Diversity Program and Undergraduate Education Program.

Javier Huayta

Councilor

Dr. Huayta is a postdoctoral associate at Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment, where he is exploring how combinatorial toxicity of Superfund chemicals alters development and function of dopaminergic neurons through different but converging mechanisms using the model organism C. elegans. He received his BS in Chemical Engineering from UNMSM (Lima, Peru), and his PhD in Chemical Engineering from North Carolina State University. During his time at North Carolina State University, he studied the effects of environmental stressors in C. elegans' aging. One of his papers published during this period elucidates the effects of dietary restriction and heat-shock on the oxidative stress response to naphthoquinone mixtures. He is aiming now at applying other aspects of his engineering background to his current toxicology work, such as machine learning, and computer vision tools. Dr. Huayta has served as president of North Carolina State's Latin American Student Association and as secretary of North Carolina State's CBE Graduate Student Association. He has been a member of SOT since 2022.

Chidozie Amuzie

Council Contact

Dr. Dozie Amuzie is the Head of Johnson & Johnson Innovation-JLABS in Canada where he is responsible for external engagement, innovation sourcing, new company onboarding, educational programming, and portfolio management. He is trained, board-certified, and experienced in comparative pathology and toxicological sciences. Before his current role, Dr. Amuzie was at Janssen Pharmaceutical R&D, where he was nonclinical safety representative on projects and led the North American Discovery and Project Pathology organization. Dr. Amuzie is a modality-agnostic safety assessment leader and had the privilege to work with teams that drove discovery or acquisition of several biopharmaceutical entities across 10 modalities from early discovery through clinical development and some regulatory approvals. His scientific leadership has helped shape strategies for safety assessment of some novel modalities at Janssen R&D. Prior to joining Janssen R&D, Dr. Amuzie was the Associate Director of Pathology at MPI Research, where he spent about five years in various pathology roles, on diverse nonclinical safety assessment studies. He also provided scientific leadership for the biomarker and investigative pathology unit.

Dr. Amuzie has authored/coauthored six book chapters and 22 peer-reviewed manuscripts in different areas of immunotoxicology, pathobiology and animal models of disease. He was a guest editor on a 2022 Toxicologic Pathology journal special issue that created practical knowledge on the pathology of laboratory nonhuman primates.