North America Leadership
SETAC North America Board of Directors
President
Mark Johnson, Federal Government (retired), USA
Vice President
Chris Stransky, GEI Consultants, USA
Immediate Past President
Nile Kemble, Federal Government (retired), USA
Treasurer
Teresa Norberg-King, Aquatic Ecotox Solutions, LLC, USA
Executive Committee Member-at-Large
Carla Ng, University of Pittsburgh, USA
Board Members
Katy Chung, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, USA
Katie Coady, Bayer, USA
Michele Harmon, University of South Carolina Aiken, USA
Alan Jones, BASF, USA
Scott Lynn, Federal Government, USA
Mark McMaster, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Canada
Ryan Otter, Grand Valley State University, USA
Patricia Ramírez Romero, Metropolitan Autonomous University, Mexico
Shawn Sager, Arcadis, USA
Ruth Sofield, Western Washington University, USA
Student Members
Bonnie Ertel, Arnold School of Public Health, USA
Katie Mayer, Virginia Tech, USA
SETAC North America Executive Director
Tamar Schlekat, ex officio
Executive Committee
Mark Johnson
Mark Johnson serves as the Director of Toxicology for the U.S. Army Public Health Center. He has held several leadership roles including as a past president of the American Board of Toxicology (ABT) and board member of the International Board of Environmental Risk Assessment (IBERA). He believes that the role of SETAC as a leader in environmental sciences is changing from one that has traditionally focused on understanding contaminants to one that has had to respond to increasingly complex emerging environmental issues that include human public health concerns. Johnson hopes to help SETAC encourage new ways to support multi-matrixed efforts to include One Health concepts in environmental risk assessment through focusing on emerging issues. He would also like to see SETAC bridge into recommending courses of action that will result in applied tools and solutions.
Chris Stransky
Chris Stransky is a manager of the Aquatic Sciences and Toxicology Group at WSP USA in San Diego, California. His experience and interest has been centered on a variety of toxicology and ecological risk assessment programs in support of regulatory compliance as well as pushing the boundaries to develop and test new innovative methods for monitoring. Characterizing the health of the biological communities in our local bays, harbors and watersheds is a role and passion of his. He has been an active member of SETAC since 1993 (helping to establish and grow the SoCal Chapter) and is the current co-chair for the National SETAC Regional Chapters Committee (various roles described further below). He also proudly serves on the Board of Directors for the Boz Research and Teaching Institute, affiliated with the University of California San Diego (UCSD). He received his B.A. in Aquatic Science from UCSB and an M.S. in Ecology from SDSU. Strengths specific to SETAC include identifying and fostering collaborative opportunities and motivation and enthusiasm to inspire others.
Nile Kemble
Nile Kemble received a B.S. degree from the University of Nebraska-Kearney in biology with a wildlife emphasis and a M.S. from the University of Missouri in fisheries management. Kemble has worked with a variety of other organizations, both nationally and internationally, to develop sediment quality guidelines that can be used to predict the incidence of toxicity in sediments as well as working with ASTM and USEPA in developing standard methods for conducting toxicity tests with contaminated sediments. His current research is primarily focused in evaluating toxicity and effects of hazardous algal blooms on freshwater fish and invertebrates and working on developing a bait food for eradicating invasive carp. He has published 94 peer reviewed articles or final reports.
Teresa Norberg-King
Teresa Norberg-King is a self-employed subject matter expert in the development and application of effective methods for identifying significant stressors and effects in aquatic systems. She has a master’s degree from the University of Wyoming and has spent a large part of her career working for the USEPA Office of Research and Development. Norberg-King has a history of service to the society. She has served on the SETAC North America Board of Directors, the SETAC World Council, and was President of the Midwest Chapter. She was an annual meeting chair and has chaired and served on many other committees and interest groups including the finance committee. She is dedicated to fiscally-responsible management of the society’s resources.
Carla Ng
Carla Ng has been an active member of SETAC North America for nearly twenty years and has also actively participated in SETAC Europe. She has an appreciation for the roles that SETAC plays globally. She has participated in Pellston Workshops and Focused Topic meetings, and SETAC has been the core association and scientific meeting place for her research career.
Carla is trained as a chemical engineer, works in a department of civil and environmental engineering, and manages projects that span chemical hazard assessment, toxicology, environmental fate modeling and human exposure assessment. This highly interdisciplinary experience helps her appreciate many of the fields of relevance to SETAC and the important roles this association plays in academic, regulatory and industrial sectors.
She is currently an Associate Editor for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, a Past President of the Exposure Modeling Interest Group, a Past Steering Committee Member of the Chemistry Interest Group and was a Co-Chair of the 2022 SETAC North America annual meeting.
Board Members
Katy Chung
Katy Chung received her B.S. from University of South Carolina and her M.S. from the University of Charleston. She has more than 20 years of experience at NOAA, and her current research focuses on per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) and PFAS-free fire-fighting foam compounds in estuarine organisms. Chung started as a SETAC student member in 1998 and has been an avid SETAC volunteer, serving on the Board of Directors for the Carolinas Chapter of SETAC (2004–2006) and as its secretary from 2006 to 2019.
Katherine (Katie) Coady
Katie Coady is an ecotoxicologist at Bayer Crop Sciences, with previous industry experience at Dow Chemical for more than 13 years. She received her Ph.D. from Michigan State University and began her career as a consultant followed shortly after as an assistant professor of biology and chemistry at a small college in Central Florida. Her areas of expertise include aquatic toxicology, ecological risk assessment, endocrine disruption, microplastics and bioaccumulation science. She first became involved in SETAC as a graduate student in the late '90s and has regularly participated in SETAC activities since on the regional level and in several geographies. Her goal as a board member is to give back to the scientific society that’s been so important to her, and she believes that SETAC should be moving toward greater inclusion and diversity and adopt innovative approaches to advancing science education and communication.
Michele Harmon
Michele has been an active member of both SETAC North America and the Carolinas Regional Chapter for over 25 years. Throughout her involvement, she has taken on multiple roles within the regional chapter, including several officer positions, and she currently serves as the chapter’s treasurer. Additionally, Michele contributes her expertise as a member of SETAC North America’s Finance Committee.
She earned her Ph.D. in Environmental Health Sciences from the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina. Since 2005, Michele has been a part of the University of South Carolina Aiken (USCA), where she serves as the director of the Environmental Restoration and Remediation Program and co-director of the Center for Research Excellence.
Alan Jones
Alan Jones is a Senior Aquatic Ecotoxicologist with BASF in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. He received a B.S. in Environmental Studies from Emory & Henry College and a M.S. and Ph.D. in Environmental Toxicology from Clemson University, where he studied the effects of multiple stressors on small stream ecosystems. He was a postdoctoral scholar at Oregon State University, working on the Hanford Site Natural Resources Damage Assessment, and went on to join the crop protection chemicals industry in 2015. He has been an active SETAC member since 2005 and has both been a member of and (co-)chaired the steering committees of the Chemistry Interest Group and the Sediments Interest Group. He was a member of the Membership Committee and has organized the SETAC North America Buddy Program for the last three years.
Scott Lynn
Scott has been actively involved with SETAC since attending his first North America annual meeting as a student, making it his professional society of choice. He has served two terms on the board of the Chesapeake-Potomac Regional Chapter (CPRC) and volunteered in various roles, including chairing the Science Committee and co-chairing the 43rd annual meeting in Pittsburgh. Scott is committed to SETAC’s mission of promoting environmental quality, focusing on emerging scientific topics, career development and fostering diversity and inclusion.
For the past 13 years, Scott has worked as a fish biologist at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. His academic background spans environmental science, toxicology and molecular biology.
Mark McMaster
Mark McMaster has a Ph.D. from the University of Guelph and has been with Environment and Climate Change Canada for more than 26 years. His research experience focuses on monitoring programs and the effects of contaminants on the reproductive status of wild fish. He first joined SETAC in 1989 and has been to most annual North American meetings since. He is an avid and diligent SETAC committee member and volunteer. McMaster is a senior research scientist, who leads a research team, manages projects across sectors, and is responsible for a budget of roughly one million a year.
Ryan Otter
Ryan has been an active member of SETAC since 2002, contributing to multiple meeting program committees in both North America and Europe. He is a dedicated reviewer for SETAC journals and has participated in SETAC Pellston® workshops, sharing his expertise to advance environmental science and management. Ryan strongly supports SETAC's multi-sector approach, which he believes sets the organization apart from others.
With a Ph.D. from Clemson University and postdoctoral research at the University of Miami, Ryan spent 16 years at Middle Tennessee State University, where he served as Director of the Data Science Institute. He brings valuable skills in strategic direction and financial oversight, which he aims to apply to SETAC's continued leadership in environmental science. Now a professor at Grand Valley State University, Ryan is eager to contribute his scientific and governance expertise to SETAC's future.
Patricia Ramírez Romero
Patricia Ramírez Romero has been a SETAC member since 1993 and was the founding President of the SETAC Mexico Chapter (AMEQA) in 2003. She continues to serve on their board, organizing national and international meetings and editing special journal issues relevant to Mexico. She has previously served on both the SETAC North America Board of Directors and the SETAC World Council.
Patricia brings a multicultural perspective on environmental protection to the board. Since 2007, she has also been a member of the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI) Committee on Coral Reef Enforcement & Investigation, contributing to capacity building in marine forensic evidence handling across 20+ countries. With over 30 years of experience, she is dedicated to teaching and currently serves as Coordinator of the Energy and Environment Postgraduate Program. She earned her Ph.D. in Zoology from Miami University of Ohio in 1997 and began her career as a Research Assistant in 1988, now holding the position of Principal Professor at Metropolitan Autonomous University.
Shawn Sager
Shawn Sager is currently a Vice President and Principal Scientist at Arcadis with more than 35 years of consulting experience. Her expertise lies in human health risk assessment. She received a B.A. from the University of California, an M.S. and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Sager attended her first SETAC meeting in 1993 and has been active in SETAC for the last 15 years.
Ruth Sofield
Ruth Sofield has been an environmental toxicology and chemistry faculty member in the Environmental Science Department at Western Washington University since 2003. Her research is focused on contaminants in Puget Sound, and she's involved in the restoration of the Sound as a member of the Puget Sound Partnership Science Panel. Additionally, she has coordinated and ran an online speaker series since 2020 called Toxicology and Societies; this series is designed to make science more relatable to the general public.
Ruth has a B.A. in Biology from West Virginia University, an M.S. in Environmental Science from McNeese State University, and a Ph.D. and post-doc from Colorado School of Mines (Environmental Science and Engineering). She would like to contribute to activities that make toxicology and chemistry relatable and relevant to different audiences, support toxicology programs in universities, and build on inclusive practices.
Student Members
Bonnie Ertel
Bonnie Ertel is a Ph.D. Student in the Arnold School of Public Health, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Center for Oceans and Human Health and Climate Change Interactions, where her research is focused on the impacts of microplastics on bottlenose dolphins. Prior to this, she completed her masters at the Citadel. She is involved in the Carolinas Regional Chapter and has been involved in NASAC.
Katie Mayer
Katie is a second-year Ph.D. student at Virginia Tech studying pharmaceuticals and organismal toxicology. She has been a SETAC member since 2022 and has presented posters at both North American and European annual meetings. SETAC has provided Katie with opportunities to connect with peers and professionals, helping her grow as a researcher. Her experiences inspired her to take on a leadership role as co-chair of the NASAC Outreach Committee, where she is working to enhance student engagement at SETAC meetings.