Mission & Officers

Dr. Lacher is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Minnesota (UMN) Medical School and a member of the Cellular Mechanisms of Cancer Program at the UMN Masonic Cancer Center. Dr. Lacher’s research focuses on characterizing cell-type specific patterns of gene regulation following exposure to various inducers of stress. In addition to her commitment to research, Dr. Lacher is a dedicated educator. She is leading the Pharmacology Thread in the new bi-campus curriculum build, and in 2022 Dr. Lacher was Awarded the Basic Science Teacher of the Year by the Medical Students. Dr. Lacher serves as Chair of her Department’s BMS DEI committee, and serves as an elected member on the DEI Council of the UMN Medical School. Dr. Lacher is also involved in STEM outreach activities through the UMN Innovators of the Future, Bois Forte Community Based Science and QueerScience Programs. Dr. Lacher is a member of the Society of Toxicology and is a Founding Executive Board Member of the Special Interest Group, Out Toxicologists and Allies (OTA). She has served two terms as Secretary/Treasurer for OTA. She is also a member of Women in Toxicology (WIT), Hispanic Organization of Toxicologists (HOT) and the Northland Regional Chapter of the Society of Toxicology.

Dr. L. Cody Smith is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Connecticut. He received his MS and PhD degrees in Toxicology from the University of Florida in 2013 and 2017, respectively, and was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at Rutgers University from 2017-2022. The overarching focus of his NIEHS R00 funded research is to investigate how inhalation of respiratory contaminants and pollutants causes lung disease. He is particularly interested in understanding how biological sex modifies these responses. He has published 20 articles and invited reviews and has received multiple awards for his research. His postdoctoral research was funded by an NIH F32 Postdoctoral Fellowship and an NIH K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award. Dr. Smith has been actively involved in the Society of Toxicology (SOT) since 2012 serving in graduate and postdoctoral trainee leadership roles, most recently as Junior Councilor for the Northeast Regional Chapter. He has also organized and chaired sessions at the annual SOT meetings and participated in numerous mentoring initiatives including the SOT Undergraduate Education Program. Dr. Smith is committed to mentoring and training the next generation of diverse toxicologists and public health professionals. He will support the Society’s LGBT+ community by facilitating professional and social development opportunities, highlighting the achievements of LGBT+ members, and advocating for diversity, equity, and inclusion across the broader SOT community.

Dr. Jeffrey Willy is currently a Senior Director in Preclinical Safety Assessment at Vertex Pharmaceuticals in San Diego, CA. He received his doctoral degree from the Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM) where he studied the role of the unfolded protein response during the pathogenesis of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. Dr. Willy also holds an adjunct faculty position at IUSM where he is a graduate student advisor. He began his career at Eli Lilly & Co. and worked there for over a decade. While at Lilly, he ran a lab focused on mechanistic and systems toxicology that incorporated novel applications of CRISPR/Cas9 and was an active member of the Innovative Medicines Initiative. Dr. Willy has numerous publications and presentations focusing on novel genomic methods to study liver injury and model adaptive and progressive pathologies. Over his career, he has received multiple awards, including the 2016 Midwest Chapter of SOT Young Investigator Award, a 2016 SOT Molecular and Systems Biology Specialty Section Research Award, 2015 Eli Lilly Innovator Award, 2015 American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases(AASLD) Basic Science Young Investigator Award, and 2009 John L. Emmerson Award for Scientific Excellence at Eli Lilly, to name a few. Dr. Willy also holds a music degree in percussion from the Eastman School of Music and teaches high school students in his free time.

Dr. Joseph Jilek is a board-certified toxicologist and Study Director Manager at Labcorp-Madison. In his current role, he oversees a broad portfolio of regulated and discovery toxicology studies supporting safety assessment of pharmaceuticals and chemicals. In addition to general toxicology, Dr. Jilek specializes in inhalation toxicology and central nervous system routes of administration. As a people leader, he supports a team of Study Directors, mentors and trains new Study Directors, and fosters operational excellence and improvement across multidisciplinary teams. Beyond his technical contributions, Dr. Jilek is deeply committed to creating inclusive environments within the scientific community. He revitalized the Labcorp-Madison Pride Employee Resource Group post-pandemic, increasing engagement and visibility for LGBTQ+ employees and allies. Dr. Jilek earned his PhD in Pharmacology & Toxicology from the University of California, Davis, and completed postdoctoral research at the University of Arizona focused on mechanisms of toxicological variability in liver disease. He has authored or co-authored twenty four peer-reviewed publications, served in leadership roles within the Society of Toxicology, including Chair of the Postdoctoral Assembly, and received multiple awards for scientific excellence and service.

Dr. Margaret “Meg” Whittaker is the Managing Director and Chief Toxicologist of ToxServices LLC. Dr. Whittaker is one of the pioneers in the field of chemicals alternatives assessments and is a key contributor to advancing these methods around the world. Dr. Whittaker performs quantitative exposure and risk assessments for projects including California Proposition 65 safe harbor assessments, medical device extractables and leachables assessments, and cosmetics/personal care product assessments, among others. Dr. Whittaker also performs chemical hazard assessments and alternatives assessments to support the selection of safer chemicals and technologies. Dr. Whittaker is a Diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology who earned a PhD in Toxicology from The University of Maryland, Baltimore and an MPH in Environmental Health from The University of Michigan. Dr. Whittaker is a UK/EuroTox Registered Toxicologist, as well as a Chartered Biologist and Fellow of the UK Royal Society of Biology. Dr. Whittaker has served as an officer on multiple SOT Committees, Specialty Section and Regional Chapters, including the Nominating Committee, Metals Specialty Section, Mixtures Specialty Section, Sustainable Chemicals for Contemporary Toxicology (SCCT) Specialty Section, and the National Capital Area Chapter of SOT. She has served as an SOT Roving Reporter since 2014. Dr. Whittaker is currently Vice President-Elect of OTA and is Past President of the SCCT.

Dr. Brinkman, PhD, DABT, ERT (she/her) is Senior Manager of Toxicology at Central Garden & Pet, where she is responsible for safety and regulatory compliance of a wide variety of EPA- and FDA-regulated products. Dr. Brinkman received her doctorate in Molecular & Environmental Toxicology from the University of Wisconsin—Madison in 2015, became a Diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology in 2019, and was admitted to the European Register of Toxicologists in 2024. She is the author/co-author of seven peer-reviewed articles, the most recent of which was awarded the 2024 SOT Ocular Toxicology Specialty Section Innovation and Impact Award. Dr. Brinkman is also a Review Editor for the journal Frontiers in Toxicology. She has been a member of SOT since 2011, and has served the SOT in the following capacities: SOT Nominating Committee (2023–2025), where her goal was to ensure that SOT’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusiveness was reflected in the slate of candidates for SOT office; Executive Committee of the Midwest Regional Chapter of SOT (Secretary 2019–2021, President-Elect 2021–2022, President 2022–2023, Past President 2023–2024), where she promoted greater connectivity between toxicologists in the Midwest by organizing a joint risk assessment webinar with MRC/SOT and Midwest SETAC (Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry), as well as advocated for greater accessibility for trainees in the region by waiving all MRC/SOT student membership dues and regional meeting registration fees. Dr. Brinkman has been a member of Out Toxicologists and Allies since 2019 and would love the opportunity to give back to the community through service as a Councilor.

Dr. Cassandra Meakin is a board-certified Toxicologist at Gradient, where she conducts biological safety evaluations and toxicological risk assessments for medical devices and pharmaceuticals. She earned her PhD in Environmental Toxicology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2020 under the mentorship of Dr. Rebecca Fry and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Rutgers University in the laboratory of Dr. Lauren Aleksunes from 2020–2022. Her graduate and postdoctoral research focused on elucidating mechanisms by which environmental exposures and pharmaceuticals alter placental cell function. Dr. Meakin has authored six first-author publications and is passionate about mentoring the next generation of scientists and fostering collaboration across diverse scientific backgrounds.

She has been an active member of the Society of Toxicology (SOT) since 2018 and has served in multiple leadership roles. She currently serves as the New Career Councilor for the Reproductive and Developmental Toxicology Specialty Section and has previously served as the Graduate Student Representative for the Molecular and Systems Biology Specialty Section, the Postdoctoral Representative for the Mechanisms Specialty Section, and as a judge on various award committees.

Dr. Drake Phelps is an ORISE Postdoctoral Fellow at the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Center for Computational Toxicology and Exposure where he is working to develop a battery of assays for the rapid identification of immunotoxicants. Prior to this postdoctoral position, he was a Postdoctoral Scholar at East Carolina University’s Brody School of Medicine. He received his PhD from North Carolina State University in 2022. During his time as a graduate student at NC State University, Dr. Phelps worked as part of a team of graduate and undergraduate students to revive the University’s chapter of Out in STEM (oSTEM), which seeks to provide community and advocate for LGBTQ+ students and their allies in STEM fields around the world. From 2018 to 2021, he also was the Graduate Student Representative to the NC State University College of Veterinary Medicine’s PrideVMC chapter, which exists to foster community for LGBTQ+ veterinarians and their allies. Dr. Phelps has been a member of SOT since 2017 and is excited for this opportunity to network with and advocate alongside fellow LGBTQ+ toxicologists.

Eli Cowan is a third-year PhD candidate in the Tanguay lab at Oregon State University (OSU) in the Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology. His research centers on predictive mechanistic molecular toxicology, with an emphasis on using chemical structure to forecast biological activity and developmental toxicity, focusing on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) as a model chemical class to develop and refine structure-function approaches for broader application in toxicological assessment. Mr. Cowan graduated from Mississippi State University in 2023 with a degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. He has served in a number of leadership roles during his doctoral program, including currently serving as the social chair of OSU’s “TEAM Tox” outreach club and the graduate student representative of OSU’s oSTEM (“out in STEM”) chapter, where he serves as a mentor to LGBTQ+ undergraduates in STEM majors. Eli has been a member of SOT since 2023 and is also an active participant of the PANWAT Regional Chapter.