For over 50 years, the SOT Awards have honored trailblazing toxicologists, promising early career scientists, and exceptional postdocs and students. This cherished tradition carries on this year as SOT recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the field of toxicology.
The awardees have made significant contributions to advancing the science of toxicology, earning recognition for their groundbreaking achievements. One honoree improved chemical risk assessments for four widely used chemicals—hydrogen sulfide, manganese, acrolein, and acetaldehyde—laying the groundwork for more accurate and safer regulatory practices. Another recipient spearheaded the development of the first internationally harmonized guideline on defined approaches to skin sensitization, marking a pivotal step in replacing regulatory-required animal testing and enhancing animal welfare.
In the realm of neurotoxicology, an awardee illuminated the harmful effects of organophosphate pesticide compounds, contributing vital insights into public health. Others were recognized for establishing a robust foundation for the generation and analysis of big data in predictive toxicology. This work has been instrumental in uncovering the toxicity potential of large classes of environmentally relevant chemicals, including fluorocarbons (PFAS), for which prior information was scarce. Another awardee was the first to identify mechanisms driving oxidative DNA damage and liver cancer caused by certain chemicals, revealing pathways that could be targeted for chemoprevention.
Together, these achievements demonstrate the profound impact of innovative research in addressing critical challenges in toxicology and public health.
The 2025 award recipients exemplify excellence across their fields, distinguished not only by their groundbreaking research but also by their leadership, mentorship, and commitment to education. Their impact is evident in hundreds of published papers, the countless students and postdocs who have thrived under their guidance, and the significant influence they have had on shaping regulations, processes, and standards in their disciplines.
The 2025 new Honorary members and SOT Award recipients will be honored during the Society’s in Orlando, Florida, March 16–20, 2025.
SOT Honorary Membership
SOT recognizes nonmembers who embody outstanding and sustained achievements in the field of toxicology and/or allied disciplines with Honorary membership.
- Sir Colin L. Berry, MD, PhD, Queen Mary Hospital, London, United Kingdom
- David J. Julius, PhD, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
SOT AWARDS (Conferred by the SOT Awards Committee)
SOT Achievement Award
This award recognizes an SOT member who has made significant contributions to toxicology within 15 years of obtaining their highest earned degree.
- Shuo Xiao, PhD, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ
SOT Arnold J. Lehman Award
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.
- David C. Dorman, DVM, PhD, DABT, DABVT, ATS, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
SOT Distinguished Toxicology Scholar Award
This award recognizes an SOT member who has made substantial and seminal scientific contributions to the understanding of the science of toxicology and is actively involved in toxicological research.
- Debra L. Laskin, PhD, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ
Distinguished Toxicology Scholar Award Lecture:
Monday, March 17, 11:00 AM to 12:00 Noon
SOT Education Award
This award recognizes 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.
- Barbara F. Hales, PhD, McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada
SOT Enhancement of Animal Welfare Award
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.
- Nicole Churchill Kleinstreuer, PhD, NIEHS/NICEATM, Morrisville, NC
SOT Founders Award (for Outstanding Leadership in Toxicology)
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.
- Marion F. Ehrich, RPh, PhD, DABT, ATS, Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, Blacksburg, VA
SOT Leading Edge in Basic Science Award
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.
- Robyn Leigh Tanguay, PhD, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR
Leading Edge in Basic Science Award Lecture:
Tuesday, March 18, 11:00 AM to 12:00 Noon
SOT Merit Award
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.
- James E. Klaunig, PhD, ATS, IATP, AAAS, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
Merit Award Lecture:
Tuesday, March 18, 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM
SOT Public Communications Award
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.
- Anne H. Chappelle, PhD, DABT, SafeBridge Consultants Inc., Chadds Ford, PA
SOT Toxicologist Mentoring Award
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.
- Nathan J. Cherrington, PhD, ATS, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
SOT Translational Impact Award
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.
- Lu Cai, MD, PhD, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY
Translational Impact Award Lecture:
Wednesday, March 19, 9:45 AM to 10:45 AM
SOT Undergraduate Educator Award
This award, sponsored by the SOT Endowment Fund, 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.”
- Greg M. Landry, PhD, DABT, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Boston, MA
SUPPORTED AWARDS (Conferred by the SOT Awards Committee)
Bristol Myers Squibb Graduate Student Research Training Award to Promote Diversity in Toxicology
This fellowship supplements the resources available to academic laboratories hosting and supporting Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, and Indigenous American graduate students to conduct their research and training.
- Elijah Scott, BS, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Advisor: Judit Marsillach Lopez, PhD, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Colgate-Palmolive Award for Student Research Training in Alternative Methods
This award is designed to graduate student research training using in vitro methods or alternative techniques to replace the use of animals in toxicological research.
- Kyle R. Siegel, BS, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI
Colgate-Palmolive Grants for Alternative Research
This grant identifies and supports efforts that promote, develop, refine, or validate scientifically acceptable animal alternative methods to facilitate the safety assessment of new chemicals and formulations.
- Maria Teresa Cruz, PhD, Centre for Innovative Biomedicine and Biotechnology, Universidade de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
Colgate-Palmolive Postdoctoral Fellowship Award in In Vitro Toxicology
This award supports research to advance the development of alternatives to animal testing in toxicological research.
- Idoia Meaza Isusi, MSc, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY
ADDITIONAL AWARDS
Toxicological Sciences Paper of the Year Award
Selected by the SOT Board of Publications, this award recognizes the author(s) of a paper published in the official SOT journal, Toxicological Sciences, during the 12-month period terminating with the June issue of the calendar year preceding the Annual Meeting at which the award is presented.
- Shujie Liu, Toru Kawanishi, Atsuko Shimada, Naohiro Ikeda, Masayuki Yamane, Hiroyuki Takeda, and Junichi Tasaki. “Identification of an Adverse Outcome Pathway (AOP) for Chemical-Induced Craniofacial Anomalies Using the Transgenic Zebrafish Model.” Toxicological Sciences 196, no. 1 (September): 38–51.
SOT/SOT Endowment Fund/IUTOX Travel Awards
These travel fellowships, administered by IUTOX and sponsored by SOT and the SOT Endowment Fund, are awarded to junior and senior scientists from countries where toxicology is underrepresented to assist with travel to attend the SOT Annual Meeting and ToxExpo.
- Carla Brigagão, PhD, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
- Deepak Dhakal, MSc, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal
- Anja Haverić, PhD, Univerzitet u Sarajevu, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Eduardo Rojas-Prado, MSc, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional (CINVESTAV-IPN), Mexico City, Mexico
- Hande Sipahi, PhD, ERT, Yeditepe Üniversitesi, Istanbul, Türkiye
SOT Best Postdoctoral Publication Awards
Presented by the SOT Postdoctoral Assembly, these awards recognize outstanding work accomplished during formal mentored postdoctoral traineeships by recognizing exceptional recently published papers in the field of toxicology.
- Thomas Jackson, PhD, US EPA, Research Triangle Park, NC
Paper Citation:
Jackson, Thomas W., Christy S. Lambright, Nicola Evans, Leah C. Wehmas, Denise K. MacMillan, Jacqueline Bangma, L. Earl Gray Jr., and Justin M. Conley. 2024. “Exploring Maternal and Developmental Toxicity of Perfluoroalkyl Ether Acids PFO4DA and PFO5DoA Using Hepatic Transcriptomics and Serum Metabolomics.” Science of the Total Environment Volume 953 (September): 175978. .
- Katherine Roth, PhD, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI
Paper Citation:
Roth, Katherine, Zhao Yang, Manisha Agarwal, Johnna Birbeck, Judy Westrick, Todd Lydic, Katherine Gurdziel, and Michael C. Petriello. 2024. “Exposure of Ldlr-/- Mice to a PFAS Mixture and Outcomes Related to Circulating Lipids, Bile Acid Excretion, and the Intestinal Transporter ASBT.” Environmental Health Perspectives 132, no. 8 (August): 087007. .
- Jing Zheng, PhD, University of Calgary, Alberta, AB, Canada
Paper Citation:
Zheng, Jing, Dinara Baimoukhametova, Catherine Lebel, Jaideep S. Bains, and Deborah M. Kurrasch. 2024. “Hypothalamic Vasopressin Sex Differentiation Is Observed by Embryonic Day 15 in Mice and Is Disrupted by the Xenoestrogen Bisphenol A.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 121, no. 21 (May): e2313207121. .
SOT Perry J. Gehring Diversity Student Travel Award
Selected by the SOT Committee on Diversity Initiatives and named after an SOT Past President, this award recognizes an undergraduate or graduate student who was previously selected to participate in the SOT Undergraduate Diversity Program, who is from a racial/ethnic group underrepresented in toxicology (for example, African American, Hispanic, Native American, or Pacific Islander), and who is presenting a poster at the SOT Annual Meeting and ToxExpo.
- Jenielle Domaoal, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
- Gabriela Rojas Pacheco, University of La Verne, La Verne, CA
SOT Undergraduate Diversity Program Advisor Travel Award
This award provides the opportunity for undergraduate faculty advisors who are not SOT members to attend the SOT Undergraduate Diversity Program at the SOT Annual Meeting and ToxExpo to help them become more familiar with toxicology as a career option for their students.
- Bradley Baker, PhD, King University, Bristol, TN
- Kristine Konkol, PhD, Albany State University, Albany, GA
- Enrique Rodriguez Borrero, PhD, Universidad de Puerto Rico en Cayey, Cayey, Puerto Rico
- Ileana Rodriguez Velez, PhD, Universidad de Puerto Rico en Humacao, Humacao, Puerto Rico
SOT Undergraduate Diversity Program Student Travel Award
This award provides the opportunity for promising undergraduate science majors interested in research careers to attend the SOT Undergraduate Diversity Program at the SOT Annual Meeting and ToxExpo.
- Diana Abarca Palma, University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire, Eau Claire, WI
- Ramillie Acevedo Reyes, Universidad Ana G. Méndez Carolina, Carolina, Puerto Rico
- Jayla Barkley, Fort Valley State University, Fort Valley, GA
- Anahy Castañeda, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA
- Diana Castaneda, University of La Verne, La Verne, CA
- Nabiya Chaudhry, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ
- Jiwon Choi, Savannah State University, Savannah, GA
- Gina Ehlenburg, University of La Verne, La Verne, CA
- Hoda Elkady, John’s University, Jamaica, NY
- Eman Fasih, University of La Verne, La Verne, CA
- Myla Fowlkes, North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, NC
- Alexis Graham, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC
- Leslie Gutierrez, Rio Hondo College, Whittier, CA
- Lizbeth Gutierrez, Rio Hondo College, Whittier, CA
- Aniya Hayes, Norfolk State University, Norfolk, VA
- Sulyanis López Avilés, Universidad de Puerto Rico en Arecibo, Arecibo, Puerto Rico
- Carelys Maldonado Reyes, Universidad de Puerto Rico en Arecibo, Arecibo, Puerto Rico
- Ciara McCarthy, Fort Lewis College, Durango, CO
- Megyn McCoy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
- Betzaelys Olivencia-Huertas, Universidad de Puerto Rico en Arecibo, Arecibo, Puerto Rico
- Abigail Padilla, Mary’s University, San Antonio, TX
- Django Perrault, Fort Lewis College, Durango, CO
- Angelica Rivera, Universidad Ana G. Méndez Carolina, Carolina, Puerto Rico
- Aryanna Rivera, Albany State University, Albany, GA
- Viviana Romero, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
- Emily Soto-Segovia, Rio Hondo College, Whittier, CA
- Micheyla Stoney, Trinity Washington University, Washington, DC
- Alyah Valdez Walton, Southern University and A&M College, Baton Rouge, LA
- Terricka Womack, Albany State University, Albany, GA
- Mia Zuniga, King University, Bristol, TN
SOT Undergraduate Research Awards
These awards recognize outstanding undergraduates who have not yet received their bachelor’s degrees and are presenting research at the SOT Annual Meeting and ToxExpo. The goal of these awards is to foster interest in graduate studies in the field of toxicology.
- Benjamin Deaton, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC
- Ashley Gilbert, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
- Alexander Guess, University of California Davis, Davis, CA
- Allison Harbolic, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ
- Lauren Krueger, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI
- Grace Lee, Rutgers University–New Brunswick, New Brunswick, NJ
- Kai Malone, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC
- Sarah Marks, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York, NY
- Temm Phan, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA
- Hurshal Pol, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
- Casey Powell, Duke University, Durham, NC
- Dhruv Ranganath, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC
- Cecilia Rivas, Trinity Washington University, Washington, DC
- Ricardo Scheufen Tieghi, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC
- Ally Sprague, Lindenwood University, St. Charles, MO
- Elle Thompson, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT
- Elizabeth Tolrud, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Each year, SOT also provides support to more than 100 graduate and undergraduate students through student travel awards and the SOT Endowment Fund awards.
More information on the 2025 Award recipients is available on the .
For more information on a particular SOT Award or award recipient, please contact Michelle Werts, SOT Deputy Executive Director for Communications, at 703.438.3115 ext. 1640 or [email protected].
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About SOT Awards and Honors
The Society of Toxicology (SOT) Awards program recognizes distinguished toxicologists and students each year based on merit. In 1962, the Society inducted its first Honorary members, establishing its honors program. In 1965, the SOT Awards program was created with the establishment of two awards, the SOT Merit Award and the SOT Achievement Award, to support “the furtherance of the science of toxicology.” Today, the Society presents more than 20 awards that recognize achievement, facilitate travel for senior and budding scientists, and further toxicological research. Hashtag: #SOTAwards
About SOT
Founded in 1961, the Society of Toxicology (SOT) is a professional and scholarly organization of more than 7,500 scientists from academic institutions, government, and industry representing the great variety of individuals who practice toxicology. SOT is committed to creating a safer and healthier world by advancing the science and increasing the impact of toxicology. The Society promotes the acquisition and utilization of knowledge in toxicology; aids in the protection of human, animal, and environmental health; and has a strong commitment to education in toxicology and to the recruitment of students and new members into the profession. SOT values diversity, equity, and inclusiveness in all their forms and promotes them as part of all Society activities. For more information about SOT, visit the Society’s or like/follow SOT on , , , , and .
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