Samuel M. Cohen, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chairman of the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s department of pathology and microbiology and Havlik-Wall Professor of Oncology, has been appointed to the National Toxicology Program Board of Scientific Counselors. Tommy G. Thompson, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, made the appointment. 
The National Toxicology Program is a division of one of the National Institutes of Health — the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) — but is supported by numerous agencies of the government, including the NIH, Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Dr. Cohen’s appointment runs through June 30, 2004.
The National Toxicology Program (NTP) Board of Scientific Counselors is a technical advisory body established to advise the NTP executive committee and program director on matters related to the scientific program content. The advisory board also evaluates the scientific merits of the intramural and collaborative programs of the NTP, and provides external scientific advice on that program’s activities.
Kenneth Olden, Ph.D., is director of the NIEHS and the NTP, which are headquartered in Research Triangle Park, N.C.
“This appointment clearly recognizes Dr. Cohen’s prominence in the field of toxicology,” said William Berndt, Ph.D., vice chancellor for academic affairs at UNMC. “The National Toxicology Program is the foremost federally sponsored toxicology testing and research program in the country. In the field of toxicology, it covers everything from testing noxious chemicals to having fundamental basic research programs. This is a very important appointment because the board drives what the National Toxicology Program does.”
In 2001, Dr. Cohen received the prestigious Arnold J. Lehman Award from the Society of Toxicology for more than 35 years of work in carcinogenesis and toxicology research, primarily utilizing the urinary bladder as a model system.
Dr. Cohen’s research on saccharin was key in the federal government’s 2000 decision to drop it from its list of cancer-causing chemicals. Dr. Cohen began studying the sweetener in 1974 while at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester, Mass. His research continued after Congress overrode the Food and Drug Administration’s proposed ban of saccharin in the United States and warning labels were added to products containing saccharin.
Dr. Cohen joined UNMC in 1981 as professor and vice chairman of pathology and professor at the Eppley Institute. In 1992, he became chairman of UNMC’s department of pathology and microbiology. He received his bachelor of science degree in 1967 and his M.D. and Ph.D. (oncology) degrees in 1972, all from the University of Wisconsin.