Burdock Group continues to encourage undergraduates to pursue a career in food ingredient safety and regulation by offering its Student Travel Award. During SOT 58th Annual Meeting and ToxExpo held in Baltimore, Maryland, in March, an exemplary candidate, Sumira Phatak, was honored with the Burdock Group SOT 2019 Student Travel Award. Sumira was given $1000 to cover travel expenses to attend SOT, along with a commemorative plaque and a copy of Casarett and Doull’s Toxicology textbook. Congratulations to Sumira on her achievements!


Sumira Phatak
Utah State University
College of Agriculture & Applied Sciences,
Department of Animal, Dairy & Veterinary Sciences
Sumira is an ADVS Toxicology PhD Candidate enrolled in the Animal, Dairy, and Veterinary Sciences Program at Utah State University. Sumira’s research has focused on how the Western dietary pattern impacts colorectal cancer outcome, epigenome programming, and gut microbiome composition across multiple generations. Her initial research was able to spark three additional preclinical projects! Sumira is also a Predoctoral Research Fellow with the USDA.