Leadership
Darol E. Dodd., Ph.D.
Director, Division of Toxicology and Preclinical Studies
Darol E. Dodd, Ph.D. is a Senior Research Toxicologist and Director of Toxicology and Preclinical Studies at The Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences, located in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. Dr. Dodd provides leadership and coordination of applied toxicology research projects and supports marketing efforts for new business opportunities for the Institutes. He is also the Director of Research and Support Services at The Hamner. With more than 25 years of experience in toxicology and health hazard assessments, Dr. Dodd focuses his expertise in the area of inhalation toxicology.
Dr. Dodd conducts research on the toxic effects of xenobiotics on laboratory animals or cell systems. A xenobiotic is a chemical foreign to a given biologic system. During a typical workweek, Dr. Dodd plans and carries out in vivo and in vitro laboratory experiments, following good laboratory practice standards and operating procedures. He spends his time in data analysis, writing reports and scientific papers, presenting the findings, and researching the scientific literature. Providing leadership and support for proposal projects for new research contracts is another of Dr. Dodd’s main functions at The Hamner Institutes. He enjoys building teams and acting as a spokesperson, and he has had an impact on the careers of predoctoral and postdoctoral scholars who have worked with him on research projects.
A diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology, Dr. Dodd serves or has served on the editorial boards of several scholarly toxicology journals, including Inhalation Toxicology, International Journal of Toxicology, and Drug and Chemical Toxicology. Among the science committees on which he has served are subcommittees for The National Academies such as the National Research Council’s Committees on Spacecraft Exposure Guidelines and Exposure Guidance Levels for Selected Submarine Contaminants. Dr. Dodd is author or co-author of more than 200 scientific journal manuscripts, book chapters, technical reports and abstracts.
From 1990 to 2006, Dr. Dodd was Program Manager of the Toxic Hazards Research Laboratory under contract to the Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. During this time, he was recognized with the Air Force Research Laboratory/Human Effectiveness Directorate’s Science and Technology Achievement Team Award. He received the 2000 Stratospheric Ozone Protection Award (Corporate) by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and was the designated co-recipient to accept this award on behalf of the Air Force Research Laboratory.
Featured in American Men and Women of Science, 17th through 25th editions, Dr. Dodd is the recipient of a Performance Incentive Program Award from ManTech Environmental Technology, Inc., as well as a Special Recognition Award from Union Carbide Corporation. When in the 1980s a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, leaked the deadly gas methyl isocyanate, or MIC for short, Dr. Dodd was called upon to investigate. Today, due in part to his efforts and conclusive data sets, chemical companies circumvent having large quantities of extremely toxic chemicals stockpiled. Dr. Dodd’s objective is that an incident like the one in Bhopal may never again happen anywhere.
Dr. Dodd has served on the American Industrial Hygiene Association Emergency Response Planning Committee and the Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment Technical Qualifications Board. He has participated in the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Superfund Hazardous Substance Basic Research Program as well as the Defense Women’s Health Research Program of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command.
After earning a B.A. in Biology from the University of Kansas at Lawrence, Kansas in 1971, Dr. Dodd went on to earn a Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Toxicology from the University of Kansas in 1978. Embarking on a distinguished career, he was awarded a Postdoctoral Fellowship with the Chemical Industry Institute of Toxicology, Research Triangle Park, N.C. from 1978 to 1980. Among Dr. Dodd’s professional affiliations are the Society of Toxicology (SOT); American College of Toxicology; American Industrial Hygiene Association; and the National Defense Industrial Association. He served as Vice-President of the Allegheny-Erie SOT Chapter, President of the Ohio Valley SOT Chapter, and currently serves on the Membership Committee of SOT.