President

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

Anna Kalashnikova
Anna.Kalashnikova@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

Nathalie Pham
Nathalie.Pham@dtsc.ca.gov

Nathalie Pham, Ph.D., is a Senior Toxicologist and currently serves as Chief of the Toxicology and Exposure Unit in the Safer Consumer Products (SCP) Program at the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC). She holds an M.S. and a PhD in Pharmacology and Toxicology from UC Davis. In her role, Dr. Pham leads teams in evaluating chemical hazards and exposure risks in consumer products, focusing on integrating New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) into hazard screening processes. Previously, as a Staff Toxicologist at the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), she supported the environmental remediation of contaminated sites, and helped develop health guidance values for air and water contaminants. Dr. Pham also serves as an adjunct faculty member in the Chemistry Department at California State University, Sacramento. In her free time, her and her family love doing house projects and help in the West Sacramento community.

Treasurer

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.

Membership Officer

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

Sana Majid
sana.majid@oehha.ca.gov

Sana Majid as Research Scientist in OEHHA’s New Toxicological Evaluations Section, where she leverages new approach methodologies (NAMs) to assess human health risks posed by data-poor chemicals. Sana holds an MD from Saint George’s University and a Master of Science in Bioinformatics from Boston University. Before joining OEHHA, Sana conducted extensive lab-based, clinical, epidemiologic, and computational research on the health impacts of novel tobacco products, HIV/AIDS-related complications and the genetics of cardiometabolic diseases. Her findings on the vascular and metabolic effects of electronic cigarette use garnered attention from the American Heart Association and various news outlets. She has also worked on studies using data from the Framingham Heart Study and the UK Biobank. Most recently, as a Research Fellow at Harvard Medical School, Sana’s work included leveraging transcriptomics from a large pregnancy cohort to understand glycemic regulation and potential alterations implicating gestational diabetes. In her spare time, Sana enjoys most outdoor activities, board games, diving into sci-fi novels, and being an attentive dog guardian.

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 children 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

Juliann Jugan
jajugan@ucdavis.edu

Juliann Jugan, Ph.D. is a Research Intern in the Metabolic Disease Therapy Group at Insitro, a biopharmaceutical company focused on using machine learning to develop therapies for metabolic and neurological diseases. She received her B.S. in Biology from Saint Mary's College of California (2018) and Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Toxicology (2024) at UC Davis. Her research investigated the mechanism behind the impairment of energy expenditure in mammals exposed to the pesticide DDT and its persistent metabolite DDE. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, reading, and film photography.

Post-Doc Representative

Rebecca Wilson

Rebecca Wilson, PhD. is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Davis where she assesses how developmental exposure to environmental toxins—particularly polychlorinated biphenyls—disrupts normal neurodevelopment. Rebecca received her PhD from UC Davis in 2024. Prior to that, Rebecca earned a Bachelor’s in Biological Science and Mathematics from Roosevelt University in Chicago (2015) and a Master’s in Neuroscience from DePaul University (2019), where she researched sex differences in behavioral responses to subconcussive brain injuries. After her Master’s, Rebecca worked with Aptinyx Inc., a pharmaceutical company, on their Research and Development team, where she helped develop animal models for neurodegeneration research for use in compound assessments. Beyond the bench, Rebecca primarily enjoys spending time with her friends or her two dogs, Dolly and Peaches, and can often be seen outside hiking, paddle boarding, or playing on recreational sports teams in Sacramento.

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.