Good oral presentation skills are important for communicating results and providing data to regulatory boards. Toxicologists address their hypotheses by observing the effects of model compounds in whole animals and cellular extracts. Therefore, they must be willing to work with animals in a humane and appropriate manner to develop information that is necessary to translate to human applications. Because chemical interactions involve various biological systems, toxicologists must be able to work with researchers in other fields outside of toxicology to get necessary data to understand important mechanisms. In addition, researchers in applied toxicology must have a broad understanding of the field in order to provide information to forensic, clinical, or regulatory agencies.
Toxicology is a broad field that can accommodate many interests.
To become a toxicologist you should take as much math and science in high school as possible. Be sure to study biology, chemistry, physics, and math such as trigonometry, algebra, and calculus. In addition to general studies, your undergraduate education should include environmental studies, biological sciences, biochemistry, chemistry, physics, calculus, and statistics. Courses in areas of specialization can be taken in graduate school to obtain M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in toxicology. Toxicologists can work in research positions at universities and private industry and applied areas primarily in private industry and government.