Marion Ehrich, professor emerita at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech, has received the 2025 Society of Toxicology Founders Award for Outstanding Leadership. She was honored for her groundbreaking contributions to safety science and public health protection.
One of Dr. Ehrich’s most notable contributions to the toxicology field was her discovery that traditional laboratory animals, such as rats and mice, were not effective for evaluating specific toxic effects in people. Instead, she found that chickens provide the best model for predicting how certain neurotoxic organophosphates harm humans. Outside of her scientific endeavors, Dr. Ehrich is an advocate for advancing toxicology education, particularly among young students from underserved schools.
Dr. Ehrich has been a faculty member with Virginia Tech since 1980. Though officially retired, she is actively engaged in research with Virginia Tech’s Laboratory for Neurotoxicity Studies. She is currently working with her colleague, Mike Zang, to develop a nicotine vaccine.
A graduate of South Dakota State University, Dr. Ehrich earned her master’s degree from the University of Chicago and her Ph.D. in pharmacology and toxicology from the University of Connecticut.