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This edition of Casarett & Doull's Toxicology the Basic Science of Poisons is dedicated to John Doull, M.D., Ph.D., the co-founder and co-editor of the first editions of this textbook, for his many contributions to the discipline of toxicology. Dr. Doull was born in Baker, Montana, on September 13, 1922, recently celebrating his 90th birthday. He obtained a B.A. with a chemistry major from Montana State College in 1944. John spent 2 years in the Navy during WWII, before attending graduate school at the University of Chicago, an outstanding center of toxicology research and education. There he was mentored by two prominent researchers in the history of toxicology, E. M. K. Geiling and Kenneth DuBois. John received his Ph.D. in 1950 and M.D. in 1953, followed by an appointment as Assistant Professor and then Associate Professor at the University of Chicago.
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After 2 decades in Chicago, John became Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Kansas Medical School in Kansas City, Kansas, in 1967. Dr. Doull initiated the toxicology research and education programs in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology. Within his first year at KU Medical School, John and his colleague, Dan Azarnoff, M.D., obtained an NIH Center grant, which provided faculty salaries, scientific equipment and supplies, as well as research space for the toxicology program. During the next 4 decades, John saw the toxicology program flourish with the receipt of a NIEHS Toxicology Training grant, a NIH COBRE grant, the hiring of more than 20 faculty, and the training of more than 200 graduate and postdoctoral students in toxicology.
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Dr. Doull was also active in toxicology at the national level. He has been a charter member of the Society of Toxicology since its establishment in 1961. He served on numerous SOT committees including president of the Society from 1986 to 1987. John was also a member of 20 committees of the National Academy of Science, and was chair of 7 of those committees. In addition, he served on 10 committees for the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as committees for the National Toxicology Program, and the Food and Drug Administration. For the National Institute of Health, John was a member of the Toxicology Study Section (1965–70) and NIEHS Council (1975–80), the National Institute of Occupational Health and Safety, Chairman of the TLV Committee of the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (1989–97), the Toxicology Forum, and others too numerous to list.
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In addition to these numerous contributions to the discipline of toxicology, it is probably the co-founding of this textbook that has had and will have the greatest impact in elevating the discipline of toxicology. This textbook helps to define the discipline of toxicology and has been used in educating toxicologists for almost 40 years.