EDGE member, Dr. Elaine Faustman.
EDGE member, Dr. Elaine Faustman is honored for her toxicology scholarship, leadership, and service.
Those who work with Dr. Elaine Faustman know her to bring high energy and enthusiasm to everything she takes on. And she takes on a lot.
Dr. Faustman's work ranges from risk assessment to reproductive and developmental toxicology to epigenetics. She has over 220 peer-reviewed publications to her name and over 30 book chapters in toxicology.
Recently Dr. Faustman was honored with a 2020 PANWAT Achievement Award in recognition of her toxicology scholarship, leadership, and service. Her award will be presented at the Society of Toxicology Annual Meeting in mid-March.
As an awardee, Dr. Faustman has been asked to present a plenary lecture on her work. Unlike most plenary talks, this one is meant to provide inspiration to audience members by emphasizing the decisions and activities that led to her achievement and her scientific impact to the broader community.
Beyond the papers and book chapters, Dr. Faustman's impact as a mentor has certainly been broad. To date, she has trained over 100 graduate and post-doctoral students. In her nomination letter, Dr. Julia Cui identified Dr. Faustman as "a role model that has inspired several generations of scientists in toxicology."
Dr. Cui also described the important role that Dr. Faustman plays as an official or unofficial mentor to assistant professors and other junior colleagues, including Dr. Cui herself. "During difficult times in my career path, Elaine always remembers me, even though she has hundreds of important and urgent things to do on her schedule, she always finds times to be supportive to me," wrote Dr. Cui, "Through Elaine, I always find positive energy and the confidence to overcome the challenges in my research and career. What an amazing experience getting to know and work with Elaine!"
This is not the first time Dr. Faustman has been recognized for her achievements. Last year she was awarded the 2019 Merit Award from the International Union of Toxicology for her intellectual contributions to toxicology and her dedication to mentoring scientists around the world. Before that, she received a Distinguished Achievement Award from the Society for Risk Analysis and formal recognition as an Outstanding Faculty Mentor and Teacher from the University of Washington's Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences and School of Public Health.
Dr. Faustman said the PANWAT award is a special honor because of the critical support that PANWAT gave to her as she became a faculty member. “The mentors that I met in our regional society become lifelong colleagues and provided an amazing scientific home for me. As my career progressed, they also provided a sounding board and welcoming scientific place for my students and post-docs."
Congratulations to Dr. Faustman!