A Diagnostics & Imaging Week

John Bucher, PhD, a toxicologist at the National Toxicology Program (NTP; Research Park, North Carolina) for the past 24 years, has been named its new associate director.

NTP, an inter-agency program established to conduct and coordinate the U.S. government's toxicological research, evaluates chemicals and other agents that may be damaging to human health. It has examined the safety of more than 2,500 substances and prepares the biennial "Report on Carcinogens" which has identified 246 cancer-causing agents.

NTP is located at the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS; Research Park, North Carolina), a unit of the National Institutes of Health.

David Schwartz, MD, director of the NIEHS and the NTP, said that Bucher "has outstanding scientific credentials, an insightful vision for toxicological research and an in-depth knowledge of the NTP. I believe he is uniquely capable of moving the NTP forward using the best and most innovative technologies to increase the effectiveness and rate of testing chemicals."

He noted that Bucher was selected from 33 applicants.

Bucher joined the NTP team as a toxicologist 24 years ago and since then has helped to shape the program's research and policies, overseeing the development and evaluation of several non-traditional testing methods including high-throughput automated screening.

Schwartz said that Bucher played a major role in developing the NTP "Vision and Roadmap for the 21st Century," a plan for toxicology research to advance as a predictive science, building on the knowledge gained from traditional single-agent in vivo studies. He said also that Bucher is an internationally recognized expert in the design and interpretation of cancer bioassays and has authored several publications examining issues in dose selection for toxicology and cancer studies.