Executive Committee

Lisa A. Miller, President

Dr. Lisa A. Miller is a Professor in the Department of Anatomy, Physiology & Cell Biology at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. Her research focuses on the impact of environmental inhalation exposures on pulmonary and immune system development during early life using small and large animal models and novel cell culture approaches. Dr. Miller received her PhD in Comparative Pathology from UC Davis and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in immunology at Stanford University. She is the Associate Director of Research, Cardiorespiratory Diseases Unit Leader, and Inhalation Exposure Core Leader at the California National Primate Research Center, one of seven National Primate Research Centers supported by the NIH. Dr. Miller has been an appointed member of the Scientific Review Panel on Toxic Air Contaminants for the California Environmental Protection Agency and NIH Lung Cellular, Molecular, and Immunobiology Study Section; she continues to review grants for the NIH and the American Lung Association. Dr. Miller has authored over 90 articles and book chapters in respiratory immunology, is an Editorial Board member for Toxicological Sciences, and is an Associate Editor for Frontiers in Allergy. Dr. Miller has been a member of SOT since 2015 and most recently served on the Mentoring Committee for the Inhalation and Respiratory Specialty Section. Global news media, including the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), and Reuters, have highlighted Dr. Miller’s work on California wildfire smoke exposure in young rhesus monkeys. In 2020, she was honored as an American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow for distinguished contributions to understanding the health effects of air pollution and environmentally induced lung injuries.

Patricia Silveyra, Vice President

Dr. Patricia Silveyra is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at Indiana University School of Public Health Bloomington. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in molecular biology and biotechnology and her PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. She did her postdoctoral training at Penn State College of Medicine. In 2013, she established her independent research program at Penn State. Between 2018 and 2020, she led the Biobehavioral Laboratory at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and in 2021, she joined Indiana University School of Public Health Bloomington. Her research focuses on the study of sex differences and the role of sex hormones and their receptors in mechanisms of lung inflammation triggered by environmental exposures. Dr. Silveyra has served on the Editorial Board of the American Journal of Physiology-Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology, on the Board of directors of the Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) and Graduate Women in Science (GWIS), and on the NIH Scientific Advisory Committee on Alternative Toxicological Methods (SACATM). She has authored/co-authored 86 publications, including peer-reviewed articles and/or book chapters. She has been a SOT, Hispanic Organization of Toxicologists Special Interest Group, and IRSS member since 2017 and has served as IRSS Councilor from 2022 to 2024.

Katherine Zychowski, Vice President-Elect

Dr. Katherine Zychowski is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, where she leads a research program focused on understanding inflammatory consequences and mechanisms of exposure to inhaled pollutants, including wood smoke and metal-based particulate matter. Her work aims to elucidate how environmental exposures impact immune microenvironments, including the brain and the bone marrow niche, contributing to the broader field of Environmental Health and Toxicology. She has been extensively involved in this area of research for over a decade and has received numerous prestigious awards in recognition of her scientific contributions, including the inaugural Don E. Gardner Education Award (IRSS), the Postdoctoral Best Abstract Award (Cardiovascular Toxicology Specialty Section), and the NIH/NIEHS K99 Career Development Award. Dr. Zychowski earned her doctorate in Toxicology from Texas A&M University in 2014, followed by a postdoctoral appointment from 2014 to 2018. During this time, she was awarded the IRACDA Postdoctoral Fellowship, a competitive program funded by the NIH/NIGMS that supports training in both research and teaching. As an active member of the Society of Toxicology (SOT), Dr. Zychowski has held multiple leadership roles and has contributed significantly to the organization’s mission. She has served as a volunteer mentor for the SOT Committee for Diversity Initiatives, the Postdoctoral Representative for the Cardiovascular Toxicology Specialty Section, Junior and Senior Councilor for the Inhalation and Respiratory Specialty Section and Councilor for the Stem Cells Specialty Section. She has authored over 35 scientific publications, including peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, with additional manuscripts currently under review. Her research is currently funded through an NIH/NIEHS R01, P42 and P30 grants. Dr. Zychowski has been a member of SOT since 2010 and holds memberships in the Mountain West Regional Chapter (MWSOT), the International Neurotoxicology Association (INA), and the International Society of Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV). Dr. Zychowski previously served in IRSS leadership and is grateful and honored to be considered for IRSS VP-Elect.

Elizabeth Corteselli, Secretary

Dr. Corteselli is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics and Center for Environmental Medicine, Asthma, and Lung Biology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research investigates the mechanisms by which air pollutants cause airway epithelial cell injury, with a focus on perturbations in redox signaling and protein oxidation. She is also interested in the role of environmental exposures in the initiation and progression of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF). Her laboratory employs advanced in vitro models, such as organoid cultures, and primary human samples, including blood, bronchoalveolar lavage, induced sputum, nasal epithelial lining fluid, to investigate these areas. Dr. Corteselli received her doctorate from UNC Chapel Hill, where she studied how supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids mediates oxidative responses of airway epithelial cells when exposed to ozone. Continuing her interest in lung injury and redox signaling, she went on to complete a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Vermont, where she investigated oxidative post-translational modifications to proteins in the context of IPF. Dr. Corteselli has published 16 peer-reviewed articles, including first author manuscripts in Nature Communications, Antioxidants, Environmental Research, and American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology. She has been a member of the Society of Toxicology since graduate school, and was awarded the Mary Amdur Award (IRSS), Murphy Travel Award (Mechanisms SS), Clinical and Translational SS Travel Award, and First Place Poster Award at the North Carolina SOT meeting. Additionally, she served as IRSS Graduate Student Representative from 2018 – 2020. She is currently involved in SOT and looks forward to helping serve IRSS in the future!

Pooja Singh, Treasurer

Dr. Singh is an Instructor in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Her research focuses on how environmental pollutants contribute to lung injury and mucus accumulation in respiratory diseases. Dr. Singh is currently investigating the role of heavy metals in the development of small airway diseases. Her work aims to understand the mechanisms by which airborne particles like carbon and heavy metals, as well as bacterial exposures, can lead to lung injury. Dr. Singh received her doctorate from the University of Delhi, India in 2017, where she began her research on environmental exposures and respiratory diseases, specifically looking at host-pathogen interactions. Dr. Singh joined PHRI, Rutgers University in New Jersey, for her postdoctoral fellowships in 2017. Using animal (rabbit) model, she investigated lung injury by concentrating on cellular mechanisms such as autophagy and innate immune response, as well as tools like mRNA-FISH to help understand host-pathogen interactions. In 2020, she became a postdoctoral trainee at UAB, where she studied on the impact of environmental contaminants (such as PM2.5 and heavy metals) in chronic lung injury under the wings of NIEHS-Superfund Research Center. In 2022 Dr. Singh was appointed as Instructor. She has authored 25 peer-reviewed articles that have published in esteemed journals such as Nature, Journal of Clinical Investigation Insight, Microbial Pathogenesis, and American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. She has been a member of the Society of Toxicology (SOT) since 2020. At UAB she is affiliated to the NIEHS- Superfund Research Program (SRP). She organized an UAB-SRP trainee platform to facilitate communication among postdoctoral fellows.

Christopher A. Reilly, Past President

Dr. Christopher A. Reilly is a Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Utah College of Pharmacy and Director of the Center for Human Toxicology. Dr. Reilly also holds adjunct appointments in the Departments of Anesthesiology and Pediatrics (Clinical Pharmacology division) in the University of Utah School of Medicine. Dr. Reilly received a BS in Biology from the University of Utah in 1994 and a PhD in Toxicology from Utah State University in 1999: studying mechanisms of free radical toxicity and iron metabolism with Dr. Steven D. Aust. Dr. Reilly obtained postdoctoral training in lung toxicology and drug metabolism in the laboratory of Dr. Garold S. Yost and the Center for Human Toxicology from 1999-2001 where he received the SOT Colgate-Palmolive award in In Vitro and Alternative Methods. Dr. Reilly’s research program is focused on understanding the health effects of particulate air pollution, as mediated by transient receptor potential (TRP) cation channels, with particular interest in linking exposure with specific mechanisms and asthma in children. He is also broadly interested in xenobiotic metabolism by P450 enzymes (both in the context of pro-toxicant bio-activation), precision pharmacotherapy based on ADME/PK principals for managing asthma and other diseases, and drug discovery and development in the areas of chronic pain, glaucoma, and respiratory diseases. Dr. Reilly’s group has also been involved in developing inhalation-based medications for anesthesia. Dr. Reilly has published 90 peer-reviewed articles and has contributed approximately 20 review articles and book chapters over his career. Dr. Reilly has served as an ad hoc reviewer for the SIEE study section and the NIAID panel for Asthma and Allergic Disease Cooperative Research Centers and is a past member of the NIEHS Environmental Health Sciences Review Committee, which reviews P30 and T32 applications. Dr. Reilly has served SOT at multiple levels, including as: Vice President-Elect, Vice President, President, and Past President of the Mountain West Regional Chapter and Molecular and Systems Biology Specialty Section; Secretary-Treasurer of Mechanisms Specialty Section; member and Chair of the Continuing Education Committee; member of the Scientific Program and Contemporary Concepts Committees; and Councilor for Inhalation and Respiratory Specialty Section. He is currently the Vice President of Inhalation and Respiratory Specialty Section and a Fellow of the Academy of Toxicological Sciences (ATS).

Colette Miller, Senor Councilor

Dr. Colette Miller is a Biologist/Principal Investigator in the Cardiopulmonary Immunotoxicology Branch at the US EPA, where she studies how air pollutant exposures impact maternal, paternal, and intergenerational health outcomes. She received a doctorate in Nutrition from the University of Georgia in 2014 and was a postdoctoral scholar at the US EPA from 2015–2020. She has authored/co-authored 34 peer-reviewed articles and has received numerous research awards from SOT and other scientific societies. Dr. Miller has been a member of SOT since 2015 and was the IRSS postdoctoral representative from 2019–2020.

Alexandra Noël, Senior Councilor

Dr. Alexandra Noël is an Associate Professor in the Department of Comparative Biomedical Sciences in the School of Veterinary Medicine at Louisiana State University (LSU). She received her bachelor’s degree in biomedical sciences, her master’s in occupational and environmental health, as well as her PhD in public health, with a specialization in toxicology and risk assessment, all from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Montreal (Quebec, Canada). Her PhD work in nanotoxicology focused on pulmonary effects induced by inhaled TiO2 nanoparticles. She did her postdoctoral training at LSU from 2013 to 2017 on pulmonary responses induced by in utero exposures to inhaled environmental pollutants. Dr. Noël’s laboratory conducts inhalation toxicology studies on cardio-pulmonary effects of in utero and adult exposures to cigarette second-hand smoke, electronic cigarette aerosols, and ultrafine particles. These studies investigate the fundamental mechanisms at the epigenetic, molecular, and cellular levels that underlie the developmental origins of health and disease, with respect to respiratory effects caused by distinct emerging inhaled environmental pollutants. Dr. Noël’s laboratory is presently funded by the NIEHS and the NHLBI to conduct research on electronic-cigarette aerosols and cardio- pulmonary toxicity in vitro and in vivo. In addition, Dr. Noël is the Manager of the LSU Inhalation Research Facility and the leader of the Inhalation Toxicology Core of the LSU Superfund Research Program. Her publication record includes 36 peer- reviewed scientific articles that generated over 540 citations. Further, Dr. Noël is the co-Chair of the Membership Committee (2022-2024) of the American Thoracic Society (ATS), and a member of the NIH Advisory Committee on Research on Women’s Health (2022–2026). She has been a member of SOT and the IRSS since 2011 and served SOT in the following capacities: (1) She was the 2015–2016 postdoctoral representative for the SOT South Central Chapter. (2) She was a chairperson for Respiratory Toxicology poster sessions, sponsored by the IRSS at the 2017 and 2019 Annual Meetings. (3) She was a chairperson for workshops and symposiums, sponsored by the IRSS, at the 2019, 2022, and 2024 Annual Meetings. (4) She was the 2017–2019 Councilor for the SOT South Central Chapter. (5) She was President of the SOT South Central Chapter (2021–2022). (6) Since 2018, she has been a mentor (peer or host) for the CDI Undergraduate Diversity Program and gave the 2022 and 2023 Undergraduate Diversity Program Introduction to Toxicology presentation at those SOT Annual Meetings. (7) She is also a current member of the SOT Education and Career Development Committee (ECDC) (2021–2024).

Cassandra Deering-Rice, Junior Councilor

Dr. Cassandra Rice is a Research Associate at the University of Utah and Assistant Director in the Center for Human Toxicology where she investigates the role of transient receptor potential (TRP) ion channels in respiratory physiology, particularly in the contest of environmental air pollutants. She received her doctorate in Pharmacology and Toxicology from the University of Utah in 2009 where she continued as a Postdoctoral Research Associate from 2009-2014. She is author/co-author of 40 publications including peer reviewed articles and book chapters. She has been a full member of SOT since 2008 and has served the SOT in the following capacities: Mountain West Regional Chapter Presidential Chain and representative at the Regional Chapter Collaboration and Communication Committee as well as the Molecular and Systems Biology Specialty Section Postdoctoral Representative.

Yogesh Saini, Junior Councilor

Dr. Yogesh Saini is a Professor of Immunology and Toxicology in the Department of Population Health and Pathobiology at North Carolina State University's College of Veterinary Medicine. He earned his DVM from the College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences in Palampur, India, and completed his PhD at Michigan State University in 2010, focusing on toxicology and immunology. Following his PhD, Dr. Saini pursued postdoctoral training at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 2014, he began his independent research career as a tenure-track Assistant Professor at Louisiana State University (LSU). He was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2019, before joining NC State as a full Professor. Dr. Saini currently mentors nine graduate students and one postdoctoral fellow. Dr. Saini’s research explores the impact of environmental pollutants, including allergens, ozone, and chlorine, on lung health and disease mechanisms. He has published 50 peer-reviewed articles in prominent journals such as American Journal of Physiology - Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology, American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology, Journal of Immunology, and Scientific Reports. A dedicated member of the Society of Toxicology (SOT) since 2008, Dr. Saini has received multiple honors and awards from the organization. As a candidate for junior councilor of the Inhalation and Respiratory Specialty Section (IRSS), he aims to expand membership, foster proposals on environmentally relevant research, organize annual meetings, and advocate for the growth of IRSS.

Sam Cochran, Postdoctoral Representative

Samuel Cohran is a postdoctoral fellow at The Ohio State University in the lab of Dr. Kymberly Gowdy. His research focuses on elucidating mechanisms of pulmonary inflammation driven by exposure to air pollution. Dr. Cochran is currently supported by a National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) F32 fellowship award to investigate the role of ferroptosis in ozone-induced lung injury and inflammation. Just as he is passionate about science, he is dedicated to service and promoting professional development opportunities for trainees. He previously served as the Secretary for the Society of Toxicology (SOT) Postdoctoral Assembly (PDA) Executive Board (2023-2024). In this capacity, he organized the Career Exploration through Speed Informational Interviews event, in which graduate students and postdoctoral researchers met one-on-one with accomplished scientists in academic, government, and industry sectors. He presently serves as the 2025-2026 Postdoctoral Representative for the SOT Initiatives for Development and Engagement Committee (IDEC). In this role, he has assisted in preparing the speaker program and Career Roundtable sessions for the SOT 2025 and 2026 Undergraduate Education and Development Programs (UEP/UEP). He also serves as the 2025-2026 Postdoctoral Representative for the Ohio Valley Society of Toxicology (OVSOT), during which time he organized the 2025 OVSOT Virtual Summer Trainee Meeting, targeted toward trainee professional development. Overall, Dr. Cochran is very excited about promoting inhalation/respiratory toxicology research interests and programming that benefits trainees within SOT. Additionally, as a grateful recipient of the 2024 IRSS Donald E. Gardner Inhalation Toxicology Education Award, Dr. Cochran is looking forward to reciprocating the support given to him through service as the 2026-2028 IRSS Postdoctoral Representative.

Rachel Sun, Graduate Student Representative

Rachel Sun is a dual degree first-year PhD graduate student and third-year PharmD candidate at Rutgers University’s Joint Graduate Program in Toxicology and Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, respectively. In the labs of Dr. Andrew Gow and Dr. Debra Laskin, Ms. Sun researches the cellular mechanisms and immunometabolism of ozone-induced acute lung injury in the context of the development and use of mRNA technologies. She has been a member of SOT and has participated in the annual conferences and IRSS mentoring events since 2022. As a graduate student, Ms. Sun contributed to student mentoring at Rutgers’ high school education program (THED), the pharmacy school, and the NJ Governor’s STEM Scholars Program. This included teaching laboratory techniques, organizing events on topics such as crafting literature reviews and leading a group of students to present posters at national conferences. Through the IRSS graduate student representative position, Rachel plans to promote IRSS events, increase networking opportunities, and organize outreach activities to increase graduate student involvement in the IRSS. She is enthusiastic about the opportunity to serve the IRSS community as a Graduate Student Representative with the IRSS Executive Committee.