Overview Dr. Daniel G. Kougias, a Diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology (DABT), quantifies dose and human health risks from exposure to a variety of everyday chemicals such as those found in pharmaceuticals, personal care products, dietary supplements, pesticide products, e-cigarettes, medical devices, and other consumer products. As a board-certified toxicologist, Dr. Kougias manages and serves as a consulting expert on a variety of projects to provide technical and regulatory support. He is drawn to clients confronted with novel and technically complex questions of chemical and product safety. With his extensive experience applying in silico approaches, managing and evaluating toxicity studies, and performing systematic weight-of-evidence reviews, he provides clarity in situations where empirical evidence is limited or scientific data are overinterpreted or misconstrued. Co-Founder | Principal Health Scientist at K2 Toxicology and Integrated Risk Assessment, LLC As Co-Founder and Principal Health Scientist, Dr. Kougias actively practices toxicology by directing, performing, and reviewing human health risk assessments. His work includes systematic literature review, weight-of-evidence evaluations, predictive toxicology for data-poor substances, and regulatory support across U.S. and international frameworks. He remains directly engaged in technical analyses, report preparation, and scientific interpretation. Consulting Health Scientist/Toxicologist at Cardno ChemRisk now Stantec As a consultant, Dr. Kougias has led, managed, and made significant contributions to technically diverse projects where he has investigated the toxicology, exposure, risk, and regulatory needs for a variety of chemicals. Apart from occasionally leading or helping to direct primary research efforts, Dr. Kougias’s work predominantly involves comprehensively reviewing literature and thoroughly evaluating multiple lines of evidence using a weight-of-evidence framework to ultimately provide guidance to clients and assist with product sustainability, product stewardship, and regulatory submissions and compliance. Accordingly, Dr. Kougias is proficient with the design, management, and evaluation of in vitro and in vivo mammalian toxicity studies as well as the application of in silico approaches. He also has considerable experience in researching, measuring, and reconstructing exposure with the aim of assessing risk to exposed consumers and workers. Research Internship at Abbott Laboratories Dr. Kougias also has regulatory writing experience from working as a research intern at Abbott Laboratories during the latter portion of his graduate career. In particular, he has prepared an FDA Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) self-affirmed dossier on a proprietary bioactive nutrient by synthesizing scientific literature about its safety, formulating a safety assessment with tabulated studies, and compiling information regarding its properties, production, and food-use specifications. Dr. Kougias successfully published his first scientific review article as a first author on the topic of nutritional interventions that address the age-related changes in the neuromuscular system. Educational Training Dr. Kougias completed his PhD in Neuroscience at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign under the mentorship and in the laboratory of Dr. Janice Juraska. This laboratory broadly examined dietary and hormonal influences across the lifespan on the neuroanatomy of cognitive-related brain regions and their associated impacts on cognitive behavior. Since this laboratory’s work investigated hormonal influences, Dr. Kougias inevitably studied the hormone-sensitive periods of life (i.e., development, puberty, and aging) as well as sex differences. Thus, his first project explored the effects of short- and long-term oral dosing of a dietary supplement on the neuroanatomy and cognitive function in aging male and female rats. After successfully completing this project, Dr. Kougias started his dissertation work, which primarily investigated the neurotoxicity of perinatal exposure to phthalates in combination with a maternal high-fat diet in both male and female rats. Because of this work, Dr. Kougias also became affiliated with the Interdisciplinary Environmental Toxicology Program and completed additional coursework in toxicology. His toxicological training was further advanced and formalized as he was awarded an NIH Traineeship in Endocrine, Developmental, & Reproductive Toxicology. Overall, Dr. Kougias’s success, as reflected by a strong publication record as well as many professional honors and awards, is, in part, ascribed to acquiring a broad skillset during his undergraduate career, where he has held several interdisciplinary research positions and completed coursework for his dual degree in Molecular & Cellular Biology and Food Science & Human Nutrition.