Jane S. Vergnes, Ph.D., DABT^®

Dr. Vergnes came to BCCM from Ashland, Inc., a Fortune 500-listed global specialty chemical company.  As Senior Manager, Toxicology and Regulatory Programs, at Ashland, Dr. Vergnes was responsible for practices and procedures followed by all toxicologists in the company globally, including oversight of chemical regulatory programs and chemical registrations, Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) chemical data reporting, and comparable programs in the many countries in which Ashland operates, drug precursor regulations, chemical weapons convention compliance, California Proposition 65 compliance, and hazard communication.  Prior to Ashland, Dr. Vergnes served as Senior Director of Global Product Stewardship for ISP, where she managed toxicology, hazard communication, and product regulatory affairs programs for all industrial and specialty chemical ingredient product lines, including personal care ingredients, household and industrial ingredients, biocides, performance chemicals, acetylenics, food and beverage, pharmaceutical excipients, tablet coating systems, encapsulation technologies, and elastomers.

Dr. Vergnes’ strong foundation in scientific study design and management was laid during her years as a research scientist and supervisor at the Bushy Run Research Center of Union Carbide.  It was there that she developed her keen ability to provide customized solutions to complex and unprecedented business challenges.  Her work often required her to design original protocols involving multiple internal and external resources, anticipating potential obstacles, and identifying key information and decisions to maximize benefit and limit expenditure of resources, often on extremely tight deadlines.

Leadership positions in the many trade groups and professional associations of which she is a member have given Dr. Vergnes the opportunity to advise the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) guidelines for genotoxicity testing and provide testimony before a European Commission panel on drug precursor chemicals.  Her work has also brought her in contact with officials from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Department of Transportation (DOT), Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), EPA, individual states, and many countries to discuss risk assessment and risk mitigation strategies.

Dr. Vergnes received her Ph.D. in Human Genetics from the University of Pittsburgh, Graduate School of Public Health, and her B.A. in Bacteriology from Ohio Wesleyan University.  She is a Diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology and a member of Phi Beta Kappa.  Her original research has been published in Toxicologist, Journal of Applied Toxicology, Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.