President

Anna Kalishnikova
Anna.Kalishnikova@dpr.ca.gov

Anna Kalashnikova is a member in the Risk Assessment Section of the Human Health Assessment Branch at the Department of Pesticide Regulation. She is the lead toxicologist of DPR’s cannabis program, where she evaluates the risk to humans from exposure to pesticides on cannabis and hemp. She is also a member of the California Pesticide Residue Monitoring Program, where she conducts health risk evaluations for exposure to pesticide residues on fresh food commodities, to protect the most sensitive populations, including infants and pregnant women. In addition, Dr. Kalashnikova is part of the team that completed the 2023 risk assessment of the insecticide fipronil. In her free time she enjoys backpacking with her rescue dog, and volunteering at Front Street animal shelter as a dog trainer.

President-Elect

Kim Truong
Kim.Truong@oehha.ca.gov

Kim Truong, Ph.D., is a Staff Toxicologist with the Pesticide and Food Toxicology Section of the Pesticide and Environmetal Toxicology Branch in the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) at California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal EPA). Dr. Truong’s work is in the conduct of human health risk assessments to predict health effects and their extent in humans under given conditions of exposure, with focus on preparing systematic review of open literature, review of toxicology studies, hazard identification, and dose-response assessment. She received her B.A. in English (2009), B.S. in Biotechnology (2009), and Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Toxicology (2019) at UC Davis, where her research focused on determining the mechanism by which environmental contaminants, such as legacy pollutant DDT, mediate calcium signaling dysregulation in skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle, and the central nervous system in humans. In her free time, she enjoys going on outings with her sons, fiancé, and pitbull.

Past-President

Jennifer Hsieh
Jennifer.Hsieh@oehha.ca.gov

Jennifer Hsieh, Ph.D., D.A.B.T. is a Staff Toxicologist (Specialist), in the Branch of Reproductive and Cancer Hazard Assessment, Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) since 2007. Her work specializes in cancer hazard identification and carcinogen risk assessment. She received her B.S. and M.S. degrees in pharmacological science and her Ph.D. from the Environmental Toxicology Program at Michigan State University. She did her post-doctoral training at the Cancer Center, UC Davis. Before OEHHA her research focused on investigating the potential mechanisms of carcinogenesis in breast and prostate cancers. Before her Presidency, Jennifer served as the GETA Treasurer.

Treasurer

James Nakashima
James.Nakashima@oehha.ca.gov

As a toxicologist for the Pesticide Environmental Toxicology Branch in the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, Dr. Nakashima serves as an exposure assessor and expert on pesticide-related illness reporting. Previously, he managed a pre-clinical drug discovery program for Solanan, Inc., and held a faculty position at Brown University in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. James received his PhD in Comparative Pathology from UC Davis, and postdoctoral training at Letterman Army Institute of Research and Brown University. His scientific interests include vascular peptide biology, pathogenesis of pulmonary fibrosis and sepsis, and regulation of the immune system.James served as GETA President from 2020-2021.

Secretary/Newsletter Editor

Chunbo Zhang
Chunbo.Zhang@cdpr.ca.gov

Chunbo Zhang is an Associate Toxicologist at Human Health Assessment Branch at California Department of Pesticide Regulation. She received her Ph.D in Zoology at University of Manitoba, Canada. Her expertise in neuroscience, molecular biology, developmental biology and cancer biology has been valuable in evaluating toxicity studies and conducting human risk assessment. She likes to read and is keen to testing new ideas for better living.

Website Officer

Sarah Elmore
Sarah.Elmore@oehha.ca.gov

Sarah Elmore, Ph.D. is a Staff Toxicologist with the Cancer Toxicology and Epidemiology Section of the Office of Environmental Health Hazards Assessment (OEHHA). Sarah's work is focused on cancer hazard identification and risk assessment. Prior to starting her work at OEHHA in 2018, Sarah was a Post-Doctoral Researcher at UC Davis where she investigated the toxicity and carcinogenicity of personal care products and pesticides. Sarah received her Bachelors in Biomedical Science (2010) and PhD in Toxicology (2016) from Texas A&M University. Sarah served as the 2018-2020 GETA Secretary, 2021-2022 GETA President, and is an active member of the Society of Toxicology. She lives in Santa Cruz with her husband and toddler where they enjoy surfing, hiking, biking and fishing.

Member at Large

Vanessa Cheng
Vanessa.Cheng@oehha.ca.gov

Vanessa Cheng, Ph.D. is an Associate Toxicologist in the Cancer Toxicology and Epidemiology section of the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) and works on cancer hazard identification and risk assessment. Vanessa earned her Bachelor’s in Biology (2017) and PhD in Environmental Toxicology (2021) from the University of California, Riverside, where she investigated the effects of nuclear receptors activation during early stages of development in zebrafish and receptor-mediated genomic, transcriptomic, and metabolomic alterations in human liver carcinoma cells.

University Representative

Weihong Guo
wguo@berkeley.edu

Weihong Guo, M.S, is a Research Specialist and Lab Manager at Children's Environmental Health Laboratory and Berkeley Public Health Biorepository, UC Berkeley. Her academic work focuses on biobanking, molecular epidemiology, epigenetics and studying children’s health in relation to environmental exposures using biomarkers of obesity, oxidative stress, inflammation, and cognitive functions. Before she returned to UC Berkeley, she specialized in analytical chemistry conducting biomonitoring studies on organic pollutants such as PBDE, PCBs, and organic pesticides, and cannabis testing at CA Department of Toxic Substances Control, Department of Public Health, and Department of Cannabis Control. She received her Master of Science degree in Environmental Health Sciences from UC Berkeley.

Government Representative

Scott Tiscione
Scott.Tiscione@cdpr.ca.gov

Scott Tiscione, Ph.D. is an associate toxicologist in the Risk Assessment Section of the Human Health Assessment Branch at the Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR). He received his B.S. in Environmental Toxicology (2014) and Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Toxicology (2020) at UC Davis. His research investigated the link between calcium and cholesterol homeostasis and the underlying molecular mechanisms of neurodegeneration in Niemann Pick Type C1 disease. Before joining DPR, he worked in industry as a toxicology consultant. He enjoys reading, watching movies, and spending time with his two cats in his free time.

Business Representative

Brett Winters
bwinters@cytokinetics.com

Brett Winters, PhD, CIH is a project toxicologist in the Toxicology & Safety Pharmacology group at Cytokinetics Inc, a biopharmaceutical company focusing on cardiovascular and musculoskeletal therapies. He specializes in designing, coordinating, monitoring, and reviewing IND-enabling and NDA-enabling toxicology and safety pharmacology studies. Brett also serves as the course director and lecturer of “Introduction to Toxicology” at California State University, East Bay. He received his B.S in Environmental Toxicology from UC Davis, and his PhD in Toxicology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Post-Doc Representative

Please contact a Board member for more information if you are interested in this position.

Student Representative

Mei-Yun Cheng
mytang@ucdavis.edu

Mei-Yun Cheng is currently a PhD candidate in the Molecular, Cellular and Integrative Physiology graduate group at the University of California, Davis. She is investigating the effects of gaseous vs. particulate components of traffic-related air pollution on neuroinflammation and blood-brain barrier disruption in a transgenic rat model of Alzheimer’s disease in the laboratory of Dr. Pamela Lein. Mei received her B.S. in animal science from UC Davis prior to starting graduate school and has been in the Lein lab since her third year of college. Outside of the lab, she enjoys serving as a mentor for college students at church with her husband, pouring homemade lattes, and playing volleyball.