- 2019 Award in Excellence in Pharmacology/Toxicology
- 1972 Research Starter Grant in Pharmacology and Toxicology
Dr. Jay Goodman is a Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology at Michigan State University (MSU) who has achieved international recognition for his leadership and discoveries in the adverse effects and safe use of chemicals.
Dr. Goodman received a bachelor of science degree from the Brooklyn College of Pharmacy and a PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Michigan before joining the faculty at MSU as an Assistant Professor of Pharmacology in 1971. Following service as an Associate Professor, he began his duties as Professor in 1982.
Dr. Goodman chaired the MSU Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology’s Graduate Committee for eighteen years, from 1979 to 1997. The Committee played a key role in the administration of recruiting, admission, course development/requirements, comprehensive examination and monitoring student progress. During Dr. Goodman’s tenure, MSU experienced remarkable growth and maturation of its graduate program in Pharmacology and Toxicology. Eighty students received PhD degrees during this time span, and they have gone on to highly successful careers in academia, industry and government. From 2001 to 2002 he served as Interim Chairperson in MSU’s Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology.
Dr. Goodman has been a leader in various professional organizations, including serving the Society of Toxicology as President in 1999-2000 and as a member of range of Society committees and task forces. Other leadership positions include serving as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Toxicology Forum; the NIH’s Board of Scientific Counselors; and the Advisory Committee to the Director of the US. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Goodman has served in advisory capacities with other governmental agencies, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. He was Chairperson of the Executive Committee, International Life Sciences Institute, Health and Environmental Sciences Institute, from 2002 to 2004 and currently is a member of the Board of Trustees and member of the Executive Committee.
As an international leader in Toxicology, Dr. Goodman has served as a member of the International Scientific Program Planning Committee for the International Congress of Toxicology. He is also a member of the Education Subcommittee of the Federation of European Toxicologists & European Societies of Toxicology (EUROTOX), which fosters Toxicology, both scientifically and educationally, in all countries of Europe. Dr. Goodman is the first American to serve on a EUROTOX committee.
Dr. Goodman has published extensively, including more than 135 studies and contributions to journals and other publications. He has served as an Associate Editor for the publications Toxicological Sciences, Regulatory Pharmacology and Toxicology, and Toxicology, and has served on the Editorial Board of Toxicology since 2008.
He is the recipient of many awards and honors, including the International Society of Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology’s International Achievement Award; the Society of Toxicology’s Merit Award; the John Barnes Prize Lecture, awarded by the British Toxicology Society; and the George H. Scott Memorial Award, awarded by the Toxicology Forum. Other honors include delivering the Plenary Lecture at the Annual Meeting of the European Societies of Toxicology (EUROTOX) in 2009 and has delivered extensive lectures and presentations at leading Toxicology and Pharmacology conferences and symposiums in both the United States and internationally. He received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Michigan.
Dr. Goodman’s research is focused upon epigenetic mechanisms involved in the transmission of alternative states of gene activity following cell division. His research efforts are focused on epigenetic mechanisms involved in the maintenance and transmission (in the somatic sense as well as from one generation to the next) of alternative states of gene activity. Emphasis is placed on DNA methylation (presence of 5-methylcytosine (5MeC) in DNA as compared to cytosine), a key mechanism by which gene activity is regulated. The two hypotheses being tested are 1) that altered DNA methylation is an epigenetic, nongenotoxic mechanism underlying carcinogenesis and, possibly, other toxicities, and 2) there is an inverse relationship between the capacity to maintain the normal DNA methylation status and susceptibility to cancer and immunosuppression resulting from signaling through the Ah receptor. The unique aspect of this research program is that it combines the testing of hypotheses that are shedding light on basic mechanisms involved in toxicity while providing fundamental knowledge required to take a more rational approach towards carcinogen risk assessment, e.g., defining dose-response relationships and species -to-species extrapolation issues. When the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued its 2005 revised “Guidelines for Carcinogen Risk Assessment” a new section titled “Nonmutagenic and Other Effects” was included. This represents a marked step forward compared to the Agency’s previous Guidelines that focused exclusively on mutagenesis as the basis for carcinogenesis. Thus, a role for nonmutational events (e.g., altered DNA methylation, epigenetics) in carcinogenesis was recognized and acknowledged explicitly by stating, “perturbations of DNA methylation patterns may cause effects that contribute to carcinogenesis,” and a publication from Dr. Goodman’s laboratory is cited in this context.
