Grant from SOT provides $4,000 to assist with travel to Sierra Leone.
Students who have been involved with the Sierra Leone Toxicology Curriculum received $4,000 from the Society of Toxicology Council Subcommittee for Global Initiative Funding. The grant, which is part of the society’s strategy to foster and sponsor global initiatives, was a perfect fit for this project. Specifically, the initiative seeks to fund projects that are focused on important toxicological issues, promotes novel approaches to toxicology, and promotes transformative science in the field, all of which are covered by this proposal.
Says Folagbayi (Fola) Arowolo (Shanmuganayagam Lab), who is one of the contributors to the proposal, “Developing a toxicology curriculum for Sierra Leone is just the beginning. Our goal is that by creating awareness, we can influence policies that will eventually lead to societal changes.”
The success of this project has energized the group to find more sources to help make the trip to Sierra Leone a reality. To this end, they have begun speaking with campus partners to make sure that all the necessary visa requirements are met and student status is retained. Graduate School Travel Funds have also been secured, in the amount of $1,200.
Funding is still needed, as flights to the region are expensive. If you are interested in helping our students make the trip, please contact director Chad Vezina or see the “Supporting Excellence” page of our website. If this is a project that you would like to learn more about, the Graduate School did interviews and recently released a story on the work that the MET students have done thus far, as well as what future plans and ideas look like.