GTA Board of Directors and Committee Chairs

Ashley Allemang is a Senior Research Scientist at Procter & Gamble with a Master's degree in Toxicology. She has been actively involved in genetic toxicology research for over a decade, focusing on alternative testing methods and regulatory science.

Ashley has been instrumental in advancing new approach methodologies (NAMs) in genetic toxicology, particularly in the development and validation of reconstructed human tissue models for genotoxicity testing.

She has served in various roles within GTA and is passionate about promoting scientific excellence and fostering collaboration within the genetic toxicology community.

Dr. Cheairs received her M.D. degree from the Ivano-Frankivsk National Medical University in Ukraine, and M.S. degree in Public Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She conducted postdoctoral research at the U.S. FDA National Center for Toxicological Research, investigating epigenetic alterations involved in chemical-induced carcinogenesis.

In 2014, Dr. Cheairs joined the New York Medical College (NYMC) as an Assistant Professor of Pathology. At NYMC she heads an innovative research program focused on the use of non-animal models for the study of hazardous effects of chemicals as a replacement of animals in safety assessment. Due to her active involvement in teaching activities, in 2019 she has been appointed as an Assistant Dean for PhD Programs at the NYMC Graduate School of Basic Medical Sciences

Her research thus far has yielded 24 publications and 5 book chapters, and was recognized by several awards from professional societies, including two Travel Awards for Early-Stage Investigators from the Genetic Toxicology Association (GTA). In 2020, she was invited to become a co-editor of the 7th edition of “Hayes’ Principles and Methods of Toxicology” textbook. She is a member of several professional societies, including Society of Toxicology, Toxicology Forum and American College of Toxicology.

Dr. Cheairs has been a part of GTA since 2015, when she joined the society and visited the annual meeting for the first time. Since then, she had served as a member of GTA Board of Directors (2017 – 2020), GTA secretary (2017 – 2022), part of the Scientific Program Committee for the 2024 annual GTA meeting, volunteer and a regular attendee of the annual meetings.

Liz is a Principle Scientist at Pfizer, holds a B.S. in Diagnostic Genetic Sciences from the University of Connecticut and has been working in Genetic Toxicology for over 25 years. Current portfolio responsibilities include serving as technical lead for the high content iScreen assay providing micronucleus results with mechanism of action to project teams and as a POA for the ex vivo portion of the Big Blue Assay.

Liz also works on developmental projects involving data management, 6-well Ames imaging, continuous improvement of routine assays and serves as the image analysis specialist to groups within Drug Safety and Development.

As well as roles on the board for the Society of Biomolecular Imaging and Informatics (SBI2) since its founding, she has been a member of GTA for over 20 years, serving as a board member and scientific program chair in years past.

Dr. Yi Yang is currently Director of Genetic, Environmental, and Occupational Toxicology at AbbVie. She is also a Therapeutic Area Leader overseeing preclinical safety portfolios in Specialty and Cell Therapy area. Dr. Yang has 20 years of experience in preclinical safety assessment for a variety of therapeutic modalities, including small molecules, monoclonal antibodies, degradomers, cell and gene therapy. Her areas of expertise include regulatory toxicology, predictive and mechanistic toxicology, genetic toxicology, toxicogenomics, toxicity biomarkers, and biostatistics.

Dr. Yang received her MD from Sun Yet-Sen University of Medical Sciences, her Ph.D. in Toxicology and M.S. in Biostatistics from University of Cincinnati. She is also certified as a Diplomat of the American Board of Toxicology. She authored 25 peer-reviewed publications and over 20 regulatory submissions supporting Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical trials. She is actively involved in several industry-wide collaborations, including the Predictive Safety Testing Consortium and the ILSI-HESI consortium. She also served as Secretary to the American Association of Chinese in Toxicology (2010-2012), Chair to the Applied Pharmaceutical Toxicology (2015-2016), and President to the Midwest Regional Chapter of SOT (2017-2019). Dr. Yang joined GTA in 2022 and is co-chair of the Scientific Program Committee for the 2023 annual meeting.

James Kath is a Principal Scientist in the Genetic Toxicology group at AbbVie. He received his PhD in Biophysics from Harvard University where he studied bacterial translesion DNA polymerases, and was an active participant in the academic communities studying DNA replication, repair, and mutagenesis. In 2017, James joined AbbVie's Chemical Biology group, where he supported small molecule programs through the development of target engagement assays, identification of off-targets, and evaluation of new therapeutic modalities. Over the past six years in AbbVie Discovery, James developed a strong interest in toxicology through a close collaboration with AbbVie's Investigative Toxicology and Pathology group, and leading two cross-functional working groups on new modalities. Since transitioning to the Genetic Toxicology group in 2023, James's focus has been on the implementing new approach modalities and supporting regulatory filings. He is excited to participate the GTA and HESI GTTC committee and build further connections between the genetic toxicology and DNA replication and repair communities.

Steven Nicotra is a Senior Scientist in the Global Toxicology and Safety Pharmacology group at Johnson & Johnson. Steven began his career in the field toxicology in 2008 and started a focus on genetic toxicology in 2011. Steven holds a BSc in Animal Biotechnology and Conservation from Delaware Valley College and a Master of Business Administration from Holy Family University. Steven’s areas of expertise span from performing in vivo studies and in vitro genetic toxicology studies to monitoring and directing genetic toxicology studies supporting all stages of drug development. Moreover, Steven has supported successful regulatory submissions performing the mutagenicity hazard assessment of impurities and authoring/reviewing corresponding dossier sections. Steven has been active volunteer for the Genetic Toxicology Association since 2020. His volunteer responsibilities have focused on meeting preparation with input, collating and reviewing Student/Early Investigator submitted abstracts, and chairing symposia.

Dr. Robert Foster is a principal scientist at Lhasa Limited. He received his PhD in organic chemistry from the University of Sheffield & initially worked in contract synthesis. His move to Lhasa Limited allowed him to apply his chemistry background to structure activity relationships.

In his current role as principal scientist, Rob leads development of Lhasa Limited's Nexus software for in silico risk assessments of genotoxicity. Additionally, he is a scientific consultant for Consult Lhasa, applying his knowledge of developing in silico tools to the assessment of impurities. Rob's research has has contributed to publications & book chapters on the use of in silico systems for the assessment of genotoxicity, including research on assessments of nitrosamine structure activity relationships to support efforts during the recent crisis. Recognised for his proficiency in (Q)SAR & genotoxicity, he is a member of the UK Committee of Mutagenicity.

Rob has been actively volunteering for the GTA since 2022, managing communications & serving as the account executive. As a member of the board of directors, Rob intends to continue helping the GTA community & advocate for the representation of in silico methods in genotoxicity risk assessments, which are increasingly important as industry shifts towards non-animal testing methods.