Biography
Suren Bandara is a Senior Health Scientist with Cardno ChemRisk. His principal areas of training and expertise are in toxicology, pharmacology, and human health risk assessment. Dr. Bandara completed his PhD in Neuroscience with a focus on Neurotoxicology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he managed a research project focused on identifying the ototoxic effects of developmental exposure to polychlorinated biphneyls (PCBs). As a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California-Davis he developed a novel zebrafish model of seizures. This model was used to develop novel mechanistically targeted anticonvulsants against chemical threat agents, including potent pesticide induced seizures.
As a consultant, Dr. Bandara’s primary areas of practice include active pharmaceutical ingredients/supplements, PCBs, and herbicides/pesticides. Additionally, Dr. Bandara has studied the health effects of exposure to a wide range of industrial compounds, including cobalt, lead, cyanide and asbestos. Dr. Bandara has published multiple abstracts and peer-reviewed publications on various toxicology, environmental, occupational, and risk-related topics.
Education
- PhD, Neuroscience, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, 2015
- BS, Biology, minor Chemistry, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, PA, 2007
Professional Associations
- Member of the Society of Toxicology (SOT)
- Member of International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE)
- Member of the Genetic and Environmental Toxicology Association of Northern California (GETA) - Business representative (2019-current)
- Member of the Northern California chapter of Society of Toxicology (NorCal SOT); postdoctoral representative 2017 - Postdoctoral representative (2017)
- Member of the Developmental Neurotoxicology Society (DNS), 2012-2015
Most Recent Awards/Professional Honors
- Poster award: 1st place at the UC Davis Postdoctoral research symposium, 2017; University of California-Davis, Davis, CA
- Poster award: 3rd place at the International Society of Toxicology (NTSS), 2017; Baltimore, MD
- TL1 Postdoctoral Fellowship in Clinical and Translational research 2016-2017; University of California-Davis, Davis, CA
- Poster award: 2nd place at the Midwest chapter of Society of Toxicology annual meeting, 2014; Chicago, IL
- Poster award: 2nd place at the Midwest chapter of Society of Toxicology annual meeting, 2014; Chicago, IL
- Ranked ‘Outstanding’ by the Center for Teaching Excellence’s list of teachers ranked as excellent, 2011-2012; University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, Urbana IL