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College of Veterinary Medicine

David Dorman

DD
David Dorman

Professor

CVM Main Building B327

Bio

Dr. David Dorman is a professor of toxicology in the Department of Molecular Biosciences of North Carolina State University. Dr. Dorman received his undergraduate training in chemistry at the University of San Diego and a DVM from Colorado State University. He completed a combined PhD and veterinary toxicology residency program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in toxicology at the Chemical Industry Institute of Toxicology (CIIT). He remained at CIIT as a staff scientist until joining NC State University veterinary school as Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies.

Dr. Dorman is a diplomate of both the American Board of Veterinary Toxicology and the American Board of Toxicology. Dr. Dorman’s research interests include neurotoxicology, nasal toxicology, pharmacokinetics, and cognition and olfaction in animals. He is an elected fellow of the Academy of Toxicological Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences. In 2019 he was named a Fulbright Specialist (host institution: the University of Adelaide) and in 2020 he was a Fulbright- Saastamoinen Foundation Scholar (host institution: University of Eastern Finland). Most recently he has been invited to return to the University of Eastern Finland as a Fulbright- Saastamoinen Foundation Distinguished Chair in Health Sciences.

He has served on advisory boards for the US Navy, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the US Department of Agriculture, and the National Toxicology Program where he served as a member of the NTP’s Board of Scientific Counselors. He recently served on several International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) Monograph Groups that evaluated the carcinogenicity of several agents including nitrobenzene and other industrial chemicals (Vol 123), shift work (Vol 124), and acrolein, crotonaldehyde, and arecoline (Vol 128).

He has chaired or served on multiple National Academies committees and is a National Associate of the National Academies. His current National Academies service includes chairing the Committee on Emerging Science on Indoor Chemistry. His past National Academies service includes serving as a member of the Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology (BEST). He has also chaired the National Academies’ Committee to Organize a Workshop on Federal Government Human Health PFAS Research, the Committee on Toxicology, the Committee to Develop a Scoping Plan to Assess the Hazards of Organohalogen Flame Retardants, the Committee on Endocrine-Related Low Dose Toxicity, the Committee on Predictive-Toxicology Approaches for Military Assessments of Acute Exposures, the Committee on Design and Evaluation of Safer Chemical Substitutions, and the Committee on Potential Health Risks from Recurrent Lead Exposure to DOD Firing Range Personnel.

AFFILIATIONS

President of the American Board of Veterinary Toxicology
Member, Scientific Advisory Board, North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Health and Human Services.
Member, Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Animals in Research and Education Subcommittee.

CERTIFICATIONS

Diplomate of the American Board of Veterinary Toxicology
Diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology

Area(s) of Expertise

GLOBAL HEALTH, NEUROBIOLOGY, PHARMACOLOGY
TOXICOLOGY
My research and professional interests focus on three broad areas: (a) toxicology; (b) cognition and olfaction; and (c) human risk assessments.
The primary objective of my research is to provide a refined understanding of potential toxicity in humans from exposure to chemicals. Our laboratory has used a combination of in vivo, in vitro, and modeling approaches to accomplish this aim. Research interests has included evaluation of the role that the olfactory system plays in transporting chemicals from the olfactory epithelium directly to the olfactory bulb and other brain structures (‘nose-to-brain’ transport), examining the effect of chemicals on neonates and other potentially sensitive subpopulations; examination of chemically-induced effects on behavior and cognitive development; and the application of dosimetry modeling and other pharmacokinetic methods to chemical risk assessment. We have worked with a wide range of chemicals including manganese, tungsten, the organophosphate fenitrothion, di-butyl phthalate, acrolein, acetaldehyde, hydrogen sulfide, amongst others.
Our laboratory has branched out to evaluate cognition and olfaction in military working dogs. This effort arose in part from our past work examining the effects of chemicals on nasal structure and function in rodents exposed to a variety of inhaled chemicals. Our work sought to improve selection of dogs for use in bomb detection and evaluate olfactory capabilities, learning, and memory in dogs. We have also examined whether early scent exposure to improve scent detection of ammonium nitrate in rats.

Publications

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Groups