Curtis Grace, PhD is a Principal Scientist in Developmental and Reproductive Toxicology (DART), Nonclinical Drug Safety at Merck in West Point, PA. Dr. Grace works as a Study Director and Monitor  supporting multiple preclinical programs and modalities and has expertise in neurobehavioral toxicology assessments. Previously, he worked as a Study Director in the DART group at Covance Laboratories, Inc. Dr. Grace received his Ph.D. in Molecular and Developmental Biology from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Research Foundation in 2010, where he focused on long-term neurobehavioral effects of developmental exposure to drugs of abuse. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the US EPA Toxicity Assessment Division from 2010-2012. Dr. Grace has over 20 publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals and is an active member the Society for Birth Defects Research and Prevention (BDRP) and MARTA. He has previously served on the BDRP Membership Committee and as MARTA councilor, and currently serves on the BDRP Student Affairs Committee and is involved in the Health & Environmental Sciences Institute (HESI) DART preweaning developmental endpoints and dystocia working groups. 

Dr. Principato is an Associate Director of Preclinical Development at Organon where she works as a project toxicologist and currently supports a preclinical asset in development for the treatment of polycystic ovarian syndrome. Prior to this role, she worked as a study director and monitor in the Developmental and Reproductive Toxicology Groups at both Syngenta and Bristol Myers Squibb.

Dr. Principato received a doctorate in reproductive biology from the University of Florida in 2014 and was a postdoctoral fellow in the Toxicity Assessment Division in the National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory at the US Environmental Protection Agency from 2015-2019. She has been a member of Birth Defects Research and Prevention since 2019, and currently serves as the Chair of the Student Affairs Committee and is a member of the Communication Coordination Committee and 2023 BDRP Program Committee. Dr. Principato has also been a member of MARTA since 2019 and the Reproductive and Developmental Toxicology specialty section of SOT since 2017. She is currently participating on a HESI DART working group, the DARTable Genome.

Bio Coming Soon.

Johnathan (John) Furr has over 20 years of experience as a researcher and Study Director in Developmental and Reproductive Toxicology. Prior to joining Inotiv as a Senior Toxicologist (DART), he was Senior Scientist and Study Director at Southern Research for 5 years, and a Biologist at the US Environmental Protection Agency for 17 years. John’s primary area of expertise is male reproductive endocrinology, and the development, design, and implementation of non-clinical in vivo assays to assess chemical toxicity to the male reproductive tract. In addition, John has vast experience in the data interpretation of DART multigenerational and prenatal development studies.

John has served as Principal Investigator on DART programs and has co-authored over 50 peer-reviewed publications and abstract presentations in the field of Developmental and Reproductive Toxicology.

Bio Coming Soon.

Bio Coming Soon.

Jessica Miller, PhD is a Developmental and Reproductive Toxicologist and Study Director at Inotiv, Inc. She specializes in rodent and rabbit developmental and reproductive toxicology including fertility (male and female), prenatal and postnatal development, juvenile, and multigenerational studies. Prior to her current role at Inotiv, Dr. Miller received her doctorate degree in Biomedical and Molecular sciences from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada where her research focused on reproductive immunology and infertility. She is currently an active member of the American College of Toxicology (ACT), Society of Toxicology (SOT), and Society for Birth Defects Research and Prevention (formerly the Teratology Society) and has published 24 peer-reviewed publications/abstracts in scientific journals. Most recently, she published a review in Trends and Molecular Medicine discussing emerging research avenues in the immunology of the female reproductive tract.

Rashin Ghaffari is a Senior Research Scientist at Corteva Agriscience. She serves as a Study Director in Developmental and Reproductive Toxicology (DART) and provide internal consulting for endocrine related mechanistic studies both in vitro and in vivo. Prior to her current role, she received her postdoctoral training at Corteva Agriscience (2020-2021), investigating the effects of chemical induced maternal hypothyroidism on fetal and offspring development. She received her PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University of Texas at Austin (2019) focusing on male reproductive toxicology and oncofertility.  She is an active member of the HESI DART community where she currently serves as co-chair for dystocia project and is on MicroCT working group. She’s been a member of Society of Toxicology, Birth Defects Research and Prevention (BDRP), and recently joined MARTA as a councilor.