From Superfund remediation sites near neighborhoods to wartime combat zones, toxicology is everywhere, which is why many states employ toxicologists on their public health teams. Co-hosts Anne Chappelle, PhD, and David Faulkner, PhD, speak with Julie Miller, PhD, Public Health Toxicologist for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, about the impacts of stress and environmental exposures on public health.

About the Guest
Julie Miller, PhD, Public Health Toxicologist, Pennsylvania Department of Public Health, is a board-certified toxicologist with primary training and expertise in analytical chemistry, in vitro and alternative methods, toxicology study design, data analysis and interpretation, and mixtures toxicology. Dr. Miller has significant experience supporting regulatory submissions of consumer products for toxicological, analytical chemistry, and human health risk assessment and has demonstrated expertise in review and derivation of occupational exposure limits (OELs) and permissible exposure limits (PELs) for various industries, exposure assessment for consumer products, and analytical method development and analysis for quantification of tire particles in environmental matrices. Dr. Miller has also managed occupational health and safety projects related to employee stress, sleep deprivation, and traumatic injury in the workplace.

Dr. Miller received her PhD from the Department of Chemistry at West Virginia University, where her dissertation utilized early cellular changes to explore biological responses to individual chemical and mixture exposures. Dr. Miller received postdoctoral training at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (CDC/NIOSH), where she evaluated neurobiochemical alterations in vivo after exposure to a mixture of stress and occupational and/or environmental chemical insult to further elucidate the role stress plays in physiological response to external stimuli.

Dr. Miller has over 50 published manuscripts, abstracts, and book chapters related to in vitro and in vivo toxicology.

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Did you know that there are scientists who study teamwork? Co-hosts Anne Chappelle, PhD, and David Faulkner, PhD, DABT, speak with Stephen Fiore, PhD, Director, Cognitive Sciences Laboratory, about the art and science of working in teams and what you can do to improve teamwork in your lab, department, etc.

About the Guest
Stephen M. Fiore, PhD, is Director, Cognitive Sciences Laboratory, and Professor with the University of Central Florida's Cognitive Sciences Program in the Department of Philosophy and School of Modeling, Simulation, and Training. He maintains a multidisciplinary research interest that incorporates aspects of the cognitive, social, organizational, and computational sciences in the investigation of learning and performance in individuals and teams. His primary area of research is the interdisciplinary study of complex collaborative cognition and the understanding of how humans interact socially and with technology.

Dr. Fiore is Immediate Past President of the International Network for the Science of Team Science, and Past President for the Interdisciplinary Network for Group Research. In 2018, Dr. Fiore was nominated to DARPA's Information Sciences and Technology (ISAT) Study Group to help the Department of Defense examine future areas of technological development potentially influencing national security. He has been a visiting scholar for the study of shared and extended cognition at École Normale Supérieure de Lyon in Lyon, France (2010), and an invited visitor to the internationally renowned interdisciplinary Santa Fe Institute (2013). He was a member of the expert panel for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's 2015 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which focused on collaborative problem-solving skills. He has contributed to working groups for the National Academies of Sciences in understanding and measuring "21st-Century Skills" and was a committee member of their "Science of Team Science" consensus study, as well as a member of the National Assessment of Educational Progress report on "Collaborative Problem Solving".

Dr. Fiore has been awarded the University of Central Florida (UCF) prestigious Research Incentive Award four times to acknowledge his significant accomplishments, and he is recipient of UCF's Luminary Award (2019), as recognition for his work having a significant impact on the world, and UCF's Reach for the Stars Award (2014), as recognition for bringing international prominence to the university.

As Principal Investigator and Co-Principal Investigator, Dr. Fiore has helped to secure and manage approximately $35 million in research funding. He is co-author of a book on “Accelerating Expertise” (2013) and is a co-editor of volumes on Shared Cognition (2012), Macrocognition in Teams (2008), Distributed Training (2007), and Team Cognition (2004). Dr. Fiore has also co-authored over 200 scholarly publications in the area of learning, memory, and problem solving in individuals and groups.

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Fish on treadmills? Lisa Truong, PhD, MBA, Oregon State University, discusses the unique ways that they test exposure effects using zebrafish. Co-hosts Anne Chappelle, PhD, and David Faulkner, PhD, also ask her about the benefits of having an MBA as a scientist.

About the Guest
The overall goal of Lisa Truong's research program is to utilize the zebrafish model to help build computational predictive toxicity models. Secondarily, she aims to move the field to be less reliant on animal testing and to conduct toxicity-testing based on toxicity pathways.

Dr. Truong has a Bachelor’s degree in pre-pharmacy with a minor in chemistry, which provided the foundation to evaluate a structurally diverse class of fluorinated compounds during her Master's studies. Her PhD thesis was focused on developing rapid in vivo assays to investigate structure response relationships using larval and adult zebrafish. Using the methods that Dr. Truong developed, the zebrafish developmental toxicity screen is now fully automated at the Sinnhuber Aquatic Research Laboratory (SARL).

During Dr. Truong's postdoctoral training at the US Environmental Protection Agency, she developed systemic toxicity models while working within the then-National Center for Computational Toxicology and L’Oreal. She built numerous models using the high-throughput data generated from over 800 assays and became adept at programming in R and in advanced statistics.

More recently, since her recruitment as the Deputy Director of the SARL, Dr. Truong has begun to build robust statistical methods to integrate multi-dimensional phenotypic and expression zebrafish data and has helped to streamline data collection which has further increased the throughput which is critical for this proposal.

In summary, for nearly a decade, Dr. Truong has developed advanced zebrafish as a premier model for environmental health sciences research. The research is now at a point to begin mining the data to develop models to prioritize and predict toxicity of chemicals/nanoparticles/mixtures that have insufficient hazard information.

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Can two people experience the same exposure and have different reactions to both chemical and non-chemical stressors? Yes, according to Samantha "Sam" Snow and a team of toxicologists, epidemiologists, exposure scientists, and others who assess risk. Dr. Snow talks with co-hosts Anne Chappelle, PhD, and David Faulkner, PhD, about exposure science, new approach methodologies, and forming the SOT Out Toxicologists and Allies Special Interest Group.

About the Guest
Samantha Snow, PhD, DABT, is a Director of Toxicology at ICF specializing in risk assessment projects, toxicological and epidemiological study summaries and reviews, literature reviews, technical writing, hazard assessments, and health and risk communication. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the US EPA Cardiopulmonary Immunology Branch, where her research interests were wide and included examining neuroendocrine regulation of ozone-induced cardiopulmonary, systemic, and metabolic responses. Dr. Snow has a PhD in toxicology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is certified as a Diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology. She has been an active member of SOT since 2010, serving in the following capacities: Out Toxicologists and Allies Founding Member (2019) and President (2022–2023); Postdoctoral Assembly Chair (2017–2018); North Carolina Regional Chapter Councilor (2016–2018) and Postdoctoral Representative (2013–2015); and more.

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Whether its found in nature or composed by chemists a sweetener undergoes the same evaluations, according to Corey Scott, PhD, Principal Nutritionist, Cargill. Dr. Scott explains to co-hosts Anne Chappelle, PhD, and David Faulkner, PhD, how all sweeteners must be able to replace multiple properties inherit in sugar, such as taste, nutritional content, and binding properties.

About the Guest
Corey Scott, PhD, is a Principal Nutrition Scientist with Cargill in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he leads global nutritional research on sweeteners and carbohydrates. Prior to this role, he was Global Nutrition Manager for Lipid Nutrition BV in the Netherlands, focusing on clinical research involving novel lipids for early life nutrition, weight management, and diabetes. Dr. Scott has also worked for General Mills in Golden Valley, Minnesota, as a nutrition scientist at The Bell Institute of Health and Nutrition. He currently serves as a steering team member and work package leader for Project SWEET (a five-year EU Consortium project evaluating sweeteners). He is the Chair of the Institute for the Advancement of Food and Nutrition Sciences Low- and Non-caloric Sweetener Committee, Chair of the North Carolina Agricultural and Life Sciences at North Carolina State University Technical Advisory and Finance Committee, and an industry advisor for the University and Industry Consortium/Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research Sally Rockey Fellowship. Dr. Scott holds a doctorate degree in food science and nutrition from Ohio State University, a master’s degree in chemistry from North Carolina A&T State University, and a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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Co-hosts Anne Chappelle and David Faulkner speak with William J. Sullivan, PhD, Showalter Professor of Pharmacology & Toxicology and Professor of Microbiology & Immunology with the Indiana University School of Medicine, about toxic parasites lying dormant in your brain and the power and importance of science communication.

About the Guest
Bill Sullivan, PhD, has been studying the intracellular parasite Toxoplasma gondii since he was a graduate student in the laboratory of Dr. David Roos at the University of Pennsylvania in 1994. He completed postdoctoral fellowships with Dr. Chuck Smith at ELANCO (a division of Eli Lilly, Co.) and Dr. Sherry Queener at the Indiana University School of Medicine. He became an Assistant Professor at the Indiana University School of Medicine in 2003. Dr. Sullivan is now the Showalter Professor of Pharmacology & Toxicology and Microbiology & Immunology at the Indiana University School of Medicine.

Dr. Sullivan’s lab studies cellular signaling and the regulation of gene expression in a fascinating protozoan parasite called Toxoplasma gondii. Toxoplasma causes congenital birth defects as well as opportunistic infection in HIV/AIDS, cancer chemotherapy, and heart transplant patients. There is also emerging evidence that this parasitic infection may be linked to neurological disorders, such as schizophrenia and behavior modification. While the acute stage of toxoplasmosis can be treated, the ability of the parasite to convert into latent tissue cysts prevents eradication of the infection from the patient. Unfortunately, if immunity wanes, the patient can relapse and suffer additional episodes of life-threatening acute infection. Additionally, toxoplasma is a serious threat to some wildlife and livestock.

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As the foremost experts on the effects of chemicals, biological substances, and more, toxicologists are key contributors to health regulation and laws. Law Professor and lawyer Claudia Polsky, University of California Berkeley, discusses how science can influence environmental health law, as well as environmental justice, with co-hosts Anne Chappelle and David Faulkner and reveals legal gaps in protecting public health.

About the Guest
Claudia Polsky, JD, MAS, is a Clinical Professor of Law and the founding Director of the Environmental Law Clinic.

Before launching the Clinic, Ms. Polsky spent 18 years as a public sector and public interest environmental litigator: 14 as a Deputy Attorney General in the Environment Section of the California Department of Justice and four at Earthjustice and Public Citizen Litigation Group. She has litigated cases in trial and appellate courts, including the US Supreme Court; testified before Congress and the California legislature; and drafted and successfully defended environmental regulations.

Ms. Polsky also served as Deputy Director for Pollution Prevention and Green Technology at California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control. There, she managed a program that addressed an area of ongoing professional focus: reducing exposure to toxic chemicals throughout the supply chain, from workers to consumers and communities impacted by toxic waste. The Environmental Law Clinic handles many toxics-reduction matters, ranging from pesticide exposure cases to the regulation of hazardous ingredients in consumer products. It also addresses other issues of environmental health and environmental justice, including climate justice and access to safe drinking water for all.

Ms. Polsky’s past environmental advocacy work has encompassed negotiating conservation easements for The Nature Conservancy; protecting threatened Pacific salmon populations through dam removal; obtaining an injunction to save 50 million national forest acres from logging and roadbuilding; and serving as a volunteer park ranger in Yosemite, Grand Canyon, and Great Smoky Mountains National Parks.

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While pharmaceuticals provide positive benefits for patients, what about workers that may be exposed during production? Elizabeth M. Vancza, Merck & Co. Inc., reveals to co-hosts Anne Chappelle and David Faulkner the role of occupational toxicologists in understanding the exposure risks of pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and other substances that may affect worker health, as well as how to protect them from these exposures.

About the Guest
Elizabeth M. Vancza, PhD, DABT, is currently an Associate Director of Occupational Toxicology at Merck & Co. Inc., where she assists business operations in the areas of occupational toxicology, potent compound safety evaluation and awareness, product quality/safety, and hazard/risk assessment. Before joining Merck in 2021, she worked as an occupational toxicologist for SafeBridge Consultants for over 10 years, serving clients worldwide, primarily from the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.

Dr. Vancza earned her PhD and MS degrees from New York University, with respective concentrations in inhalation toxicology and immunotoxicology, and she remains a guest lecturer for the graduate program in the areas of risk assessment and genomics. She also is an Associate Member of the Occupational Alliance for Risk Science (OARS) Workplace Environmental Exposure Level (WEEL) Committee.

Dr. Vancza joined the Society of Toxicology (SOT) in 2004 and has remained an active member through her involvement on various committees and student outreach efforts for several Specialty Sections, Regional Chapters, and Special Interest Groups. She most recently completed a three-year term as Vice President (year one), President (year two), and Past President (year three) for the SOT Northeast Regional Chapter in 2021.

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