Officers

Dr. Patial is a Scientist/Pathologist in the Division of Translational Toxicology at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences where she leads the Toxicologic Pathology Training Program and is actively involved in translational environmental health research. Prior to this, she worked as a Tenure-Track Assistant Professor in the Department of Comparative Biomedical Sciences at Louisiana State University, School of Veterinary Medicine. She received her DVM from the College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Palampur, India and her PhD from Michigan State University in 2010. Thereafter, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and a residency in Veterinary Anatomic Pathology at Louisiana State University. She is an author and co-author of more than 40 publications that include peer-reviewed publications and book chapters. She has received multiple awards over the years that includes recent university-wide LSU Alumni Association Rising Faculty Award and LSU Lung COBRE Successful Graduation award. She has also served on multiple NIH study sections in the last six years. Dr. Patial has been an active member of the SOT since 2015. She is also involved in other organizations including STP, ACVP, AAI, and ASIP. For the Comparative Toxicology, Pathology, and Veterinary Specialty Section Specialty Section (CTPVSS), she served as a Councilor between 2021–2023. Towards her potential role as a Vice President-Elect for the CTPVSS, she is looking forward to increasing the membership, providing mentorship opportunities to trainees, proposal development on environmentally relevant research topics, organizing Annual Meetings and mixers for members, and helping advocate and grow CTPVSS as an organization.

Dr. Tracey L. Papenfuss is a board-certified veterinary pathologist and PhD immunologist with areas of professional interest in immunopathology and immunotoxicology evaluation, particularly for immune-impacting therapies and novel immunotherapies. She received her BS from the University of Fairbanks, Alaska, DVM and MS in veterinary biosciences from the University of Minnesota, and completed her residency and PhD in immunology from The Ohio State University. She held an appointment as research faculty and directed an NIH-funded immunopathology and early discovery immunotherapeutics laboratory at The Ohio State University studying immunological and anti-inflammatory therapies in animal models of autoimmunity, immuno-oncology, and infectious diseases. In 2014, she moved to industry to work as a toxicologic pathologist for discovery and safety assessment projects at WIL Research, MPI Research, Charles River, and StageBio. She is a Senior Pathologist, leads the Immune Service line, and provides scientific guidance to clients at StageBio. She has deep expertise in immunology and pathology which she leverages to promote biomedical research and promotes scientific engagement and consultation across teams to optimize science, operations, business growth, and policy.

Dr. Papenfuss is a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Pathology (DACVP), a fellow of the International Academy of Toxicologic Pathology (IATP), and is an active member in numerous scientific organizations including the Society of Toxicologic Pathology (STP), Society of Toxicology (SOT), Health and Environmental Sciences Immunosafety Technical Committee (HESI-ITC), the American College of Toxicology (ACT), and American College of Veterinary Pathology (ACVP). She holds leadership positions in many of these organizations and focuses on promoting scientific education and outreach within comparative and translational biomedical fields. She has also mentored numerous trainees and early career scientists in both the veterinary, biomedical, pathology, and immunology fields and highlighted career opportunities within academia, industry, and beyond. Dr. Papenfuss has published over 50 articles and book chapters and given numerous presentations both nationally and internationally on the subjects of: immunology, pathology, immunosafety, veterinary and comparative medicine, and translational biomedical sciences.

Dr. Logeswari Ponnusamy, a Veterinarian and board-certified Toxicologist, currently serves as the Head of Toxicology at Zoetis Global Animal Health. With a solid academic background, including a DVM, MVSc in Pharmacology and Toxicology, and a PhD in Toxicology, she leads regulatory toxicology strategies for veterinary drug development, oversees safety assessments supporting manufacturing and product quality, and spearheads initiatives supporting New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) and the 3Rs at Zoetis. Dr. Ponnusamy represents Zoetis and the animal health industry in several influential roles, including as an industry representative on the Veterinary ICH Human Food Safety Working Group and the Animal Health Europe 3Rs Taskforce. She also serves in leadership roles within IQ Drusafe, 3Rs Translational and Predictive Sciences, and the IQ Microphysiological System (MPS) affiliate steering committee. Beyond her organizational responsibilities, she actively contributes to global toxicology outreach and diversity initiatives. Her professional contributions include serving on the editorial board and peer-reviewing for journals such as Reproductive Toxicology. She has authored 11 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters and received numerous research grants, fellowships, and awards from SOT and other organizations. As an active member of SOT and the American College of Toxicology (ACT), Dr. Ponnusamy has demonstrated exceptional leadership and a commitment to fostering collaboration and engagement within the toxicology community since 2013. Within SOT, she served as the Presidential chain (2020–2024) and Councilor (2017–2020) of the Food Safety Specialty Section and on the SOT Awards Committee (2021–2023). For CTPVSS, she served as Councilor (2017-2019) and Graduate Student Representative (2015-2017). She has supported the Risk Assessment, Regulatory and Safety Evaluation Specialty Sections, and the Women in Toxicology SIG since 2017 through proposal reviews and participation in awards and nomination committees. Within ACT, she served on the Outreach Committee (2021–2023) and Social Media Subcommittee (2018-2020). Dr. Ponnusamy is passionate about finding ways for toxicology societies to engage with members, and her services within SOT and ACT have offered valuable insight into different facets of the toxicology community on which she hopes to expand. Her tangible goals for the CTPVSS office are to enhance the visibility and outreach of comparative toxicology and pathology in Veterinary/Animal health research, drug development, and welfare space, engage membership through mentorship focusing on career development, and grow the CTPVSS membership.

Dr. Mahapatra is a Toxicologic Pathologist at INOTIV-RTP formerly Integrated Laboratory Systems, LLC (ILS), where he serves as the quality assessment (QA), pathology data review and pathology working group (PWG) pathologist for various National Toxicology Program (NTP) studies. Additionally, he serves as a study pathologist for GLP commercial studies at ILS including sub-chronic, carcinogenicity, and Extended One Generation studies in rodent species. He received his doctorate in Comparative Biomedical Sciences from North Carolina State, College of Veterinary Medicine in 2017. Prior to this he worked at the Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Lab as a Pathologist/ Molecular Diagnostician (2010–2012). Dr. Mahapatra also serves on the INHAND expert working group on Hepatobiliary system (STP). He is author/co-author of 12 peer-reviewed articles and/or book chapters, etc. He has been a member of the SOT since 2014 and has not had the opportunity to serve the SOT in any capacity until now.

Senior Director, Research Pathology (Clinical Biomarkers), Nonclinical Safety and Pathobiology, Gilead Sciences.

Dr. Mohanan is a Senior Director of Research Pathology in the Gilead Nonclinical Safety and Pathobiology division leading toxicologic and clinical translational pathology projects. Before joining Gilead, Sunish held the roles of Director of Pathology at GlaxoSmithKline and Principal Pathologist at Eli Lilly where he focused on both discovery/toxicologic pathology and clinical biomarker strategy in oncology and inflammation.

Dr. Mohanan received his veterinary medical degree from the College of Veterinary Medicine in Kerala, India. He completed biomedical research training from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and UPenn School of Medicine before joining the comparative pathology residency program at Wake Forest School of Medicine. He completed his Board certification as Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists in 2010. Later, Sunish received his PhD from Cornell University Comparative Biomedical Sciences where he focused on cancer epigenetics and the role of histone citrullination in cancer progression. He has co-authored 30+ scientific publications/book chapters.

Dr. Mohanan is active in multiple scientific Societies and Consortia (STP, SOT, HESI, IQ) and his recent leadership roles include Chair of the STP Education committee (2018–2020), HESI immunotoxicology WG co-Chair (2019–2020), current STP SRPC member (Scientific and Regulatory Policy Committee) and IQ NMT (New Modality and Technology) WG member. He has been an active SOT member since 2013. He served as the Secretary/Treasurer and Vice President-Elect in the SOT Comparative & Veterinary Specialty Section and was part of the Leadership team that facilitated the formation of CTPVSS. He is passionate about mentoring junior toxicologists and pathologists and is an active participant in various mentorship initiatives.

Dr. John Buchweitz is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pathobiology and Diagnostic Investigation at Michigan State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. Throughout his career, he has held numerous academic and professional positions. He currently serves as the Section Chief of the Nutrition and Toxicology Unit at the MSU Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (2012-2025) where he specializes in veterinary toxicology with an emphasis in clinical, forensic and regulatory diagnostics. He provides consultation on toxicology and nutritional cases, oversees thousands of diagnostic tests annually, and contributes to the veterinary field through research, teaching, and administrative service. He earned his BS in Biochemistry (1992), MS in Animal Science (2001), and dual-Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Toxicology and Environmental Toxicology (2007) from Michigan State University. He is actively involved in professional organizations, including serving on the Executive Board for the American Board of Toxicology (ABT) and holding fellowships with the Academy for Diagnostics and Laboratory Medicine (ADLM) and the Academy of Toxicological Sciences (ATS).

Dr. Wilson-Frank received her MS degree (2001) in toxicology and PhD in analytical chemistry (2006) from Purdue University. She has a dual appointment at Purdue University, serving as the Supervisor of the Toxicology Section at the Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory and as a Clinical Professor of Toxicology in the Department of Comparative Pathobiology. Under her direction, the Toxicology Section provides veterinary diagnostic testing services at the state, regional, and federal levels to diagnose toxicities in companion animals, aquatic species, wildlife, and food animals. Due to her expertise in analytical chemistry and diagnostic toxicology, Dr. Wilson-Frank has previously served on committees to provide input on analytical methods development and method validation guidelines for the US Food and Drug Administration through the Food Emergency Response Network (FERN) and the Veterinary Laboratory Investigation and Response Network (Vet-LIRN). As faculty, she is actively involved in teaching analytical chemistry or clinical toxicology in the DVM and forensic sciences programs at Purdue University in the professional, graduate and undergraduate curriculums. Peer-reviewed publications and book chapters for which Dr. Wilson-Frank has authored/co-authored encompass diagnostic toxicology case studies, validated toxicology tests developed in her laboratory, and toxicoproteomics. She has been a member of the Society of Toxicology and the Comparative and Veterinary Specialty Section since 2008 and has served as Councilor (2016–2018) and Treasurer (2007–2009) and President (2011–2012) of the Midwest Regional Chapter of the Society of Toxicology. She has also served as President of the American Academy of Veterinary and Comparative Toxicology (2017–2019) and is a Diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology.

TBD

Gina Capece is a PhD student in the Rutgers University Joint Graduate Program in Toxicology, where she is working under the mentorship of Dr. Lauren Poole to characterize the role of blood coagulation in chronic liver disease. She received her Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from The Pennsylvania State University in 2022 and graduated cum laude from the Schreyer Honors College and Millennium Scholars Program. During her undergraduate career, Ms. Capece participated in the STEP-UP NIH program at George Washington University as well as the RISE and SURF programs at Rutgers University. She was a recipient of the Rutgers SUPER-GRAD Fellowship, which is awarded to top scholars from underrepresented backgrounds. Additionally, she was selected as a recipient of the 2022-2023 Grover Fellowship to support her graduate studies. Ms. Capece currently serves as a teaching assistant for the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy. She has been a member of SOT since 2022.