Chris Kassotis, Ph.D., is the 2024 winner of the Lou Guillette, Jr. Outstanding Young Investigator award. This award comes with a $5000 honorarium and a recycled glass plaque.
The award, in honor of Lou Guillette, Jr., is given to an early-career scientist working in some aspect of endocrine disruptor research. Someone who is recognized as a creative, dedicated scientist who at an early stage of their career is already having an impact on human health and who has a special love of and dedication to mentoring. Someone who, like Lou Guillette, Jr., is a good communicator and who is willing to go beyond to help trainees succeed.
Dr. Kassotis is an Assistant Professor in the Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and Department of Pharmacology at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.
The Kassotis lab focuses on understanding endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and mixtures, and their potential impacts on human and animal health, with a particular focus on metabolic health. He takes on critical public health issues, such as the health effects of chemicals found in fracking fluids and in artificial turf.
According to one of the post-docs in his lab, Dr. Kassotis “is the best mentor I have had in my 10 years in academia” and is “always available for his trainees and fosters an open, positive lab environment.” He is not only a dedicated mentor to the numerous students in his lab, but has a passion for teaching as well.
Dr. Kassotis has over 50 peer-reviewed publications and is the Principle Investigator on an EPA STAR grant to assess the health effects of mixtures of chemicals. He is Co-Investigator on two NIH grants, to evaluate the effects of PFAS and on prenatal exposures to chemicals. He has been selected as Co-Chair of the 2026 Gordon Research Conference on Environmental Endocrine Disruptors.
We at HEEDS congratulate Dr. Kassotis for becoming the 2024 award winner. We also note the outstanding early-stage scientists who were nominated for the award. As in the past, there were a number of very well qualified applicants this year. Dr. Kassotis and all the nominated scientists indicate the field of endocrine disruption has a bright future.
Prior Award Winners
2023 Dr. Anne Starling, UNC
2022 Dr. Genoa Warner, NJIT
2021 Dr. Rita Strakovsky, Michigan State University
2020 Dr. Kelly Ferguson, NIEHS