RICHARD ADAMSON received the 2016 Founders Award from the Society of Toxicology.
The society also named over three dozen other award recipients, who will be formally honored during its annual meeting and ToxExpo in New Orleans, which begins March 13, 2016.
The Founders Award recognizes a society member who has demonstrated outstanding leadership in fostering the role of toxicological sciences in safety decision making, helping illuminate the difference between safe and unsafe exposure levels for humans to chemical and physical agents.
Currently of TPN Associates LLC, Adamson’s career spans more than four decades. For newborns, Adamson demonstrated that not only was weight a factor in administration of a dose to infants, but allowing for the development of drug metabolizing enzymes in the infant was also a major factor to reduce sensitivity to drugs.
In the use of antibiotics in surgical procedures and myasthenia gravis, he and his colleagues demonstrated the synergy between some antibiotics and neuromuscular blocking agents as very important interactions between muscle relaxants.
In studying absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion of folic acid antagonists, he found dichloromethotrexate was metabolized by liver enzymes and Methotrexate was generally excreted by the kidneys. This suggested that DCM was the better folic acid antagonist for use when renal function is impaired, or in the case of immunosuppression, such as cases of kidney transplantation.
In working with the National Research Council, Adamson was invited to a committee to investigate the safety of platinum catalytic converters in cars. The committee concluded that the platinum and palladium emitted from automobiles was small and the chemical form and lack of methylation by microorganisms posed no known threat to the environment or individuals.
His work with a Department of Health and Human Services committee reviewed the benefit and risks of fluoride in the use for prevention of dental cavities. The committee supported the use of fluoride in drinking water, toothpastes, mouth rinses and fluoride dietary supplements at optimal levels.
He has also investigated the carcinogenic potential of food additives, food contaminants, and pesticides. His long-term study of the use of saccharin led in part to various regulatory agencies to remove saccharin from their lists of carcinogens. He helped determine that MOPP combination chemotherapy for Hodgkin’s disease caused toxicity due partly to the use of procarbazine, which led to the development by oncologists of other first-line therapies for Hodgkin’s disease. Working with Japanese investigators, he found that heterocyclic amines resulting from cooking meat were carcinogenic and determined that certain methods of cooking could reduce their formation. More recently, he has spoken out about the safety and benefits of caffeine consumption.
“Toxicologists are involved in research that both assesses the safety of chemicals and compounds and determines the mechanisms, or ways, in which chemicals and compounds affect the body. The 2016 SOT awardees are among the best and brightest of our scientists whose work in these areas has greatly impacted public health—or soon will,” said Peter Goering, SOT president. “We also are pleased to honor exceptional individuals who are educating the next generation of scientists and who are making toxicology more accessible to all.”
The honorees represent various disciplines, which all factor into toxicological research. The 2016 SOT Award recipients are:
Raymond Nagle, University of Arizona Health Sciences Center; SOT Honorary Membership
Lauren Aleksunes, Rutgers University; SOT Achievement Award
Alan Boobis, Imperial College London; SOT Arnold J. Lehman Award
I. Glenn Sipes, University of Arizona; SOT Distinguished Toxicology Scholar Award
Kenneth Reuhl, Rutgers University, and John Wise Sr., University of Louisville; SOT Education Award
Warren Casey, NIH; SOT Enhancement of Animal Welfare Award
Cheryl Lyn Walker, Texas A&M Institute of Biosciences and Technology; SOT Leading Edge in Basic Science Award
Melvin Andersen, The Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences; SOT Merit Award
Steven Gilbert, Institute of Neurotoxicology & Neurological Disorders, and Gary Ginsberg, Connecticut Dept. of Public Health; SOT Public Communications Award
Richard Beger, FDA-NCTR; SOT Translational Impact Award
Mohamed Salama, Mansoura University, Egypt; SOT Translational/Bridging Travel Award
Antonio Baines, North Carolina Central University; SOT Undergraduate Educator Award
Jessica Ray, Michigan State University; SOT Undergraduate Intern Travel Award
David Pamies, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Lei Yin, University of Georgia; Colgate-Palmolive Grant for Alternative Research
Shih-Yu Chang, University of Washington, and Tshepo Moto, University of Pretoria, South Africa; Colgate-Palmolive Award for Student Research Training in Alternative Methods
Katherine Dunnick, The Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences; Colgate-Palmolive Postdoctoral Fellowship Award in In Vitro Toxicology
Thomas Luechtefeld, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; Syngenta Fellowship Award in Human Health Applications of New Technologies
The SOT Board of Publications for the Best Paper in Toxicological Sciences Award goes to: “A Systems Biology Approach Utilizing a Mouse Diversity Panel Identifies Genetic Differences Influencing Isoniazid-Induced Microvesicular Steatosis” (Toxicological Sciences, 2014, 140(2) 481–492); Authors: Rachel Church, Hong Wu, Merrie Mosedale, Susan Sumner, Wimal Pathmasiri, Catherine Kurtz, Matthew Pletcher, John Eaddy, Karamjeet Pandher, Monica Singer, Ameesha Batheja, Paul Watkins, Karissa Adkins, and Alison Harrill.
The Pfizer SOT Undergraduate Student Travel Award goes to: Sarah Burnett, University of Arkansas; James Ding, University of Texas at Austin; Benjamin Alan Elser, Indiana University; Emily Fabyanic, West Virginia University; Laura Fisch, Montana State University; Eduardo Aztlán González, University of California Davis; Mina Huerta, Oberlin College; Haydee Jacobs, University of Massachusetts Amherst; Rachael McMinimy, Oberlin College; Danyelle Osowskib, University of North Dakota; Lizbeth Perez-Castro, University of Puerto Rico at Cayey; Jiwon Seo, John Jay College of Criminal Justice; Carolyn Anne Smith, United States Coast Guard Academy; Stephanie Thiedeb, Purdue University; Nancy Ly Tran, Bates College; Jamie Weimer, Northern Kentucky University.
