Commentary

International Journal of Toxicology

2023, Vol. 0(0) 1–8
Harihara M. Mehendale: A Life Dedicated to © The Author(s) 2023
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DOI: 10.1177/10915818231174567
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Udayan Apte1 , S. Satheesh Anand2, Murali Badanthadka3,

Jaya Chilakapati4, Lawrence R. Curtis5, Vivek Dadhania6,
Sivarao V. Digavalli7, Urmila Kodavanti8, Prasada Rao Kodavanti8,
Pallavi Limaye9, Raja Mangipudy10, Subramanya N. Murthy11,
Binu Philip12, Pratibha Rao13, Sharmilee Sawant14, Kartik Shankar15,
Vishal Vaidya10, and Tao Wang16

Dr Harihara M. Mehendale, renowned toxicologist, revered
mentor, an outstanding educator, and the former editor of the
International Journal of Toxicology passed away on October
13, 2022, in Dallas, TX. Dr Mehendale (Figure 1) was born
on January 12, 1942, in a small village located on the central-
western coast of what was then the Colonial India. His
parents were subsistence farmers with extremely limited
resources. His childhood and early adult life until he settled
in the US was characterized by challenges and hardships.1
Like many a great people, Dr Mehendale took this adversity
and forged it into an iron will to succeed, obtained strong
moral values and a zest for life. Dr Mehendale would be the
first from his family to go to college or travel beyond the state
lines, let alone abroad. His educational path was extremely
treacherous. To begin with, there was no school in the village
where his family had a small farm. Some of his earliest
memories about attending school were of walking for miles
through flooded rivers and snake infested dirt paths to get to
the single room schoolhouses where he obtained a basic
education. While life was tough, Dr Mehendale was always
strongly supported in his quest for education by his father
and his uncle. After his elementary education near his an-
cestral village, he moved in with his uncle for his further
education. His uncle had a stable but transferable job, which
meant Dr Mehendale would move around quite a bit during
his school years changing several schools until he obtained
his high school diploma. Not only was this a time of persona
challenge for Dr Mehendale, but it was also a time of turmoil
and change in the newly independent India. Resources were
limited and opportunities were even more scarce. Most good
students chose one of two career pathways, medicine or
engineering. However, both of these required substantial
financial recourses, which was a challenge for Dr Mehendale.
Instead, he decided to choose a different path, something that
he would always do in his later life. Dr Mehendale entered an
agricultural college and in 1963 graduated with a Gold Medal
topping the list all three years of his bachelor’s degree
program.
His time at the agricultural college had broadened his
horizons. Dr Mehendale now knew about the larger world, had
read about America and the opportunities that existed abroad.
He made the brave decision to leave rural India and travel to
the US to obtain graduate education. This was no small feat
given that he had no money and very little information. Such
challenges never stopped Dr Mehendale from chasing his
dreams. He borrowed money, left his beloved family including
his parents and siblings behind, and took a leap of faith by
moving to the US. Dr Mehendale arrived in the US in 1964
with $8 in his pocket and a mind full of dreams to join the MS
program at the North Carolina State University in 1964. He
found mentorship from some of the leading scientists of the
1
Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Therapeutics, University of
Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS, USA
2
Boehringer-Ingelheim Drug Safety, Suwanee, GA, USA
3
Nitte, NGSM Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of Nitte
University Centre for Animal Research and Experimentation, Mangaluru,
Karnataka, India
4
Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health USA, Atlanta, GA, USA
5
Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology, Oregon State
University, Corvallis, OR, USA
6
Scipex Consultants LLC, Old Bridge, NJ, USA
7
Gatton College of Pharmacy, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City,
TN, USA
8
Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
9
BioIVT, Kansas City, KS, USA
10
Pfizer, Boston, MA, USA
11
Southern University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA
12
Moderna, Cambridge, MA, USA
13
Verona Pharma, Plainsboro, NJ, USA
14
BD, Clovis, CA, USA
15
Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado School of Medicine,
Denver, CO, USA
16
Coherus BioSciences, Redwood City, CA, USA
Corresponding Author:
Udayan Apte, Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Therapeutics,
University of Kansas Medical Center, 3901 Rainbow Blvd, MS1018, HLSIC
4087, Kansas City, KS 66160, USA.
Email: uapte@kumc.edu
2 International Journal of Toxicology 0(0)
Figure 1. Dr Harihara M. Mehendale (1942 to 2022).
time, a time when toxicology was just beginning to assert itself
as a separate discipline. This included Dr Ernest Hodgson, the
founding Head of the Department of Toxicology, the first
independent such department in the US, at the NC State
School of Agriculture. He was further helped by Dr Frank
Guthrie, Associate Dean of the Graduate School at NC State,
and by Dr Walter Dauterman, a chemist working on pesticides
at NC State. Dr Mehendale obtained an MS in 1966 and
continued his research work to complete his PhD in 1969, both
under the able mentorship of Dr Ernest Hodgson. Following
his PhD, he did his first postdoctoral fellowship in the lab-
oratory of Dr H. Wyman Dorough at the University of
Kentucky in Lexington KY. A major career break came when
Dr Mehendale joined NIEHS in Research Tringle Park, NC, in
1971 as a visiting scientist later to be promoted as the Staff
Fellow. He remained at NIEHS till 1975 honing his research
skill and preparing for an illustrious academic career. Dr
Mehendale began his independent academic career in 1975 in
the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the
University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, MS. He
was promoted through the ranks and became a full professor
within a short period of 5 years in 1980 and also assumed the
directorship of the NIEHS funded Toxicology Training Pro-
gram in 1982. In 1992, Dr Mehendale moved to the University
of Louisiana at Monroe (formerly known as Northeast Lou-
isiana University) as the inaugural Kitty DeGree Endowed
Chair in Toxicology and professor of toxicology where he
remained till his retirement in 2016.
Dr Mehendale had an eminent and long career studded with
numerous accolades. He served as the Editor-in-Chief of the
International Journal of Toxicology from 1999 to 2009. He
received numerous accolades over the years, including the
Burroughs Wellcome Scholarship in 1993, the prestigious
Education Award (2001) and the Distinguished Toxicology
Scholar Award (2010) both given by the Society of Toxi-
cology (SOT) in 2001, and the Lifetime Achievement Award
(2007) given by the American College of Toxicology (ACT).
Scientific Impact
The first few years of Dr Mehendale’s long scientific career
were spent in trying to carve a scientific niche for himself. He
worked on what was fashionable then, ADME of chemicals,
especially the biliary excretion, and he mainly focused on
various pesticides including Mirex and Kepone (also called
Chlordecone). Towards the end of the 1970s, he started
working with carbon tetrachloride and its mixtures with other
organochloride chemicals. By the mid-1980s, he had dis-
covered the phenomenon which would become his primary
scientific quest and legacy—tissue repair after chemical in-
jury. Dr Mehendale discovered that while initial liver toxicity
induced by a chemical may depend on various factors in-
cluding its metabolism and antioxidant defense status of the
cell, but once the cells die, the ultimate survival of the animal
depended upon how well it initiated compensatory liver re-
generation response.2 Starting around 1988 until the end of his
active research career in 2016, Dr Mehendale devoted all his
efforts in studying “tissue repair,” the toxicodynamic process
where the organ responds to injury by mounting a compen-
satory regenerative response. He used multiple chemicals to
show that tissue repair process follows the cardinal rule of
dose response in toxicology. His work conducted mainly in the
liver but also in kidney, blood, and lung, demonstrated that as
chemical-induced injury increases, there is a corresponding
increase in compensatory tissue regeneration. Injury and re-
pair are opposing processes and up to a threshold dose, and
prompt tissue repair always thwarts the progression of tissue
injury resulting in complete recovery from injury. However,
beyond the threshold dose, several mechanisms actively in-
hibit tissue repair leading to unabated progression of tissue
injury ultimately leading to organ damage and animal death.
During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Dr Mehendale went on
to demonstrate that many factors including sex, age, nutri-
tional status, and existing disease affect tissue repair process
and thus affect the final outcome of chemical-induced injury.
Simultaneously, he worked diligently to push for inclusion of
the tissue repair process in risk assessment of chemicals.
While he faced significant opposition from the toxicology
community during his early years, by the end of his career, his
ideas on tissue repair were widely accepted and were em-
braced by both his contemporaries and the next generation of
Apte et al.
scientists.3,4 The work on tissue repair following toxicant-
induced injury initiated by Dr Mehendale has now become an
active and exciting area within the broader regenerative
medicine research.
Dr Mehendale as a Mentor: His True Legacy
The most enduring legacy of Dr Mehendale is the exceptional
training he provided to a number of graduate students and
postdoctoral fellows. In a career spanning 41 years, Dr Me-
hendale trained 35 postdoctoral fellows and 30 PhD students,
who have gone on to have excellent careers in academia,
government, and industry. Dr Mehendale was a demanding yet
caring mentor, who always put his students’ needs before his.
He was not only a mentor in scientific sense but also served as
their life coach. Dr Mehendale and his wife Rekha (Figure 2)
provided a caring and loving home away from home for all his
students. This was critically important for the well-being of the
students, many of whom were international students who had
left their homelands and families to pursue their dreams.
The impact Dr Mehendale has on his trainees cannot be
summed by any one person. The experiences were unique yet
had the same central core of harsh discipline, solid work ethic
combined with love and dedication to the student’s career.
Following are few selected testimonials from Dr Mehendale’s
trainees on how he impacted their lives.
Figure 2. Mrs Rekha and Dr Harihara Mehendale.
S. Satheesh Anand, PhD, DABT
Sr Principal Scientist
Boehringer Ingelheim
Postdoctoral Fellow (2001–2003)
3
My time in Dr Mehendale’s laboratory was a very pro-
ductive period filled with life lessons for my professional as
well as personal lives. I am proud to say that I am his student. I
have always been awed by his patience, consistency, and love
for teaching and mentoring his students. When I joined his
laboratory, he first observed me for a while and understood my
strengths/soft spots. He then pulled me aside one day and
listed the things that I am good at and things that I need to
work on. This never happened to me before, was tough to
accept, but was a fact. He prepared us for real-life that filled
with unknowns, surprises, and disappointments. I owe a great
deal to Dr Mehendale for his mentorship which I am practicing
and paying it forward. I feel his legacy lives on through his
students’ success.
Murali Badanthadka, PhD
Director
NUCARE, NITTE University, India
Postdoctoral Fellow (2002–2005)
My first meeting with Dr Mehendale was at the Indian
Pharmacological Society (IPS) conference in Gandhinagar,
India, in 2000 where I was presenting my poster on a diabetes
project. Dr Mehendale came to my poster, asked a few
questions about the development of type I & II diabetes
models and luckily, I could answer to his satisfaction. This led
to him offering me a postdoctoral position in his laboratory.
During my postdoctoral tenure, I worked on the tolerance of
aged Fischer 344 rats against chlordecone-amplified carbon
tetrachloride toxicity. Interestingly, one fine day during my
early animal experiments, all my experimental animals in-
cluding vehicle controls showed 100% mortality! My confi-
dence was totally shattered. I was scared to inform Dr
Mehendale and face the consequences. But it had to be done.
So, gathering all my shattered pieces of confidence, next
morning I entered Dr Mehendale’s office and informed him
expecting the worst to happen. But to my surprise, he was
calm and with a smiling face he said, “accidents are sure to
happen while you work”! Suggested me to repeat and mo-
tivated me by keeping his confidence in my experimental
hand. His support, motivation, and inspiration have helped me
come a long way and achieve what I am today. He was always
my role model and will be forever my guiding soul.
Jaya Chilakapati, B.Pharm., PhD, DABT
Principal Toxicologist
Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health USA Inc
PhD Student (2001–2006)
I joined Dr Mehendale’s lab as a graduate student after
completing my bachelor’s degree in pharmacy from India. Little
did I know that this decision would lead me on along a path of
unlearning whatever I learnt up until that point and learning how
to think scientifically! His impact on the personal and academic
lives of his students is beyond measure. To me, Dr Mehendale
was an advisor, confidant, friend, mentor, critical reviewer, and
4 International Journal of Toxicology 0(0)
role model. He taught me that success is having clarity of thought
in setting objectives and then fighting to achieve them. He spent
several hours to discuss my research and career goals, and he
always had supportive and encouraging words. He also taught
me how to effectively communicate science to any type of
audience. Dr Mehendale has mentored numerous students and
post-docs into becoming world-class scientists. The remarkable
thing is how many others had similar experiences. His many
students and postgraduate trainees have developed successful
programs in their respective fields; have held influential positions
in academia, government, and the corporate sector; and have
continued to contribute to the discipline. I am forever grateful for
the profound impact that he had on my career as a toxicologist.
He will be dearly missed.
Lawrence R. Curtis, PhD
Professor Emeritus, Department of Environmental and
Molecular Toxicology
Former Department Head, Department of Environmental
and Molecular Toxicology
Former Associate Dean, College of Agricultural Sciences
Oregon State University
PhD Student (1977 to 1980)
A brief summary of how Hari presented his perception of
the research process to me in 1977 follows. I shared this
approach with my graduate students over the 30+ years that I
lead a research group. It worked for me and with few ex-
ceptions for my students. A three-step process for pursuit of
my doctoral program demonstrates this: (1) Complete ex-
periments as per design. (2) Prompt analysis of results and
presentations within the institution and at a scientific meeting.
(3) Throughout Step 1 and Step 2, seek and accept critical
assessments to enhance integration in current scientific
opinion. Within the first year of my time in Hari’s lab, we
demonstrated a remarkably strong interaction between two
chlorinated hydrocarbons. Feeding very low concentrations of
the insecticide chlordecone to rats profoundly increased he-
patic necrosis after dose of carbon tetrachloride that was
marginally toxic alone. This was not explained by increased
bioactivation of carbon tetrachloride in chlordecone fed rats.
Subsequent work in Hari’s lab demonstrated chlordecone’s
inhibition of tissue repair after carbon tetrachloride-induced
necrosis as the mechanism. This was a novel conclusion
broadly important in understanding liver disease. Hari was an
enthusiastic advocate for a methodical approach for pursuing
innovative research and maximizing impact of it. He mentored
with an emphasis on enhanced awareness of key results within
the discipline and development of positive relationships with
colleagues.
Vivek Dadhania, PhD, DABT, ERT
Founder and Chief Toxicologist
Scipex Consultants, LLC
PhD Student (2012–2016)
As the last and sole student throughout in the HMM
laboratory, I was privileged to spend a significant amount of
time with Dr Mehendale. From my initial email to Dr Me-
hendale on October 7, 2008, to our final interaction on October
13, 2022, the entire experience was truly life-changing for me.
Before offering me a position in the laboratory, Dr Mehendale
screened me through exchanges of more than 50 emails!
During this screening process, he had me read his published
research articles and answer questions related to them. He also
tasked me with writing a research proposal for my PhD that
aligned with his research interests, designing experiments,
making a presentation, writing a review article on “tox-
icodynamics of chemical-induced tissue injury,” and more—
all before I arrived in the USA on 09 August 2012. As I
worked closely with Dr Mehendale after joining the lab, I
came to appreciate his unwavering passion, ambition, and
determination, despite the physical challenges he faced due to
a stroke. His kindness and caring nature were always present,
and he not only provided exceptional mentorship but also
acted as a paternal figure for me. Dr Mehendale and Mrs
Rekha Mehendale made sure that I had a home away from
home. They ensured that I had everything I needed to succeed,
from excellent training to their personal funds. I will forever be
grateful for the time I spent with Dr Mehendale and the
profound impact he had on my life. Saying just “thank you”
does not adequately express my gratitude for Dr Mehendale!
It’s time for me to do something that would make him proud!
Siva Digavalli, BPharm, PhD
Professor
Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy – Pharmaceutical
Sciences
East Tennessee State University
MS Student (1992–1993)
When Dr Mehendale first joined NLU (that was what
ULM was called back then) as an endowed chair and started
moving in, he was assigned a big lab on the second floor of
Sugar Hall. This space was unused for a long time and
needed a lot of cleaning and we were all invited to help
clean it. On the assigned day, Dr Mehendale showed up in
shorts and a t-shirt and started working on perhaps the least
glamorous and most involved part of the cleaning, rather
than just come in to oversee and cheer a bunch of enthu-
siastic graduate students, crack jokes and disappear,
practices I would not have been surprised to see from
someone of his stature. That day, he did the hardest work
and stayed the longest time. This is one small instance of
how he led by example. After I left Dr Mehendale’s lab, I
kept in touch with him while pursuing a PhD in Pharma-
cology at LSU Health Sciences Center. Of the many things I
benefitted from Dr Mehendale, perhaps the most critical one
was about choosing mentors for my PhD and Post-doctoral
training. I was a witness to his sagacity both by omission
and commission. That is, paid a price when I didn’t listen to
Apte et al.
his advice and benefitted much by sticking to it. Much of the
advice he gave me, I still pass on to other seekers, in an
almost verbatim fashion.
Prasada Rao Kodavanti, PhD
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Postdoctoral Fellow (1984–1989)
Urmila Kodavanti, PhD
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Postdoctoral Fellow (1985–1991)
Dr Mehendale was a determined and dedicated scientist
and a great educator. He played a significant role in preparing
us to tackle the challenges in toxicology, look out-side the box,
and make seminal contribution through research, teaching and
training. Dr Mehendale showed unwavering enthusiasm for
training scientists from India and dozens of scientists have
benefited with highly successful careers including us. The
support, love, and compassion of Dr Mehendale and Mrs
Rekha Mehendale remained throughout our long post-doctoral
training. We are extremely thankful and blessed that both of
them acted as God Parents for Urmila when we got married in
a Hindu temple. Both of them accepted our request without
any hesitation and conducted our wedding at Meenakshi
Temple in Houston, TX. This is just an example how Dr
Mehendale took care of their students (we would say children)
not only in advancing their scientific careers but also personal
lives. Dr Mehendale always had an open mind and courageous
personality. He never feared contradictions and challenged the
science through his remarkable contribution to the field of
adaptation versus toxicity. He instilled these characteristics in
our lives making his legacy immortal. We are fortunate to have
him as a mentor throughout our training program and played a
significant role in advancing our scientific careers.
Pallavi Limaye, PhD, DABT
Director of Consulting
BioIVT, Kansas City, KS
PhD student (1999–2004)
The list of the things I leant from Dr Mehendale is very
long! Critical thinking, integrity, hard work, zest for knowl-
edge, perfection, resilience, and so on, but above all, self-
motivation! I think that “self-motivation” that he instilled in
me is what has made me who I am today. He used to say that
attempting is the first step. He always insisted that if you don’t
attempt for that award, or that grant, or in general, that par-
ticular task, you are guaranteed to fail 100%, but if you at-
tempted to do it there is at least 50% chance that you will
succeed. His mantra was show up, do your job the best, and
then let the process decide. When I started as a PhD student in
his lab, I was married for only 3 weeks before and both my
husband (Udayan) and I were his students at the same time. Dr
Mehendale made sure that I develop a distinct research
identity and independence, sometimes hard to come in such
5
situations. I was so fortunate that I had him as my strict mentor
who guided me in the right direction at the start of my career.
And not only Dr Mehendale, but I had also more in my store of
fortune because I met Mrs Rekha Mehendale! She quickly
became my role model. I learnt other very important life
lessons from her like independence, developing strong bonds
with family and friends, and going beyond to help others. The
impact that Dr Mehendale has on me immense, and I will be
always indebted to him for the training, mentorship, and love
that I received.
Raja Mangipudy, PhD, DABT
Senior Vice President, DSRD & Comparative Medicine
Pfizer, Inc.
PhD student (1992–1996)
The journey began with a simple question: “I have been
trying to study a compound called Thioacetamide. Would you
be interested in developing this further?” I was intrigued, my
mind filled with ideas formed from a review of Dr Me-
hendale’s body of research work till then. Encouraged by him,
we jumped headlong into an exhilarating journey armed with
an astonishingly simple molecule and a universe of ideas.
Along the way, I was fortunate to learn the process of scientific
query, clarity of communication, importance of collaboration,
and mentoring. Preparations and travel to meetings became a
conduit for learning the finer points of the scientific process
through interesting and sometimes very funny reflections from
his experiences. Perhaps the lasting lesson has been that the
purpose of scientific debate is not personal triumph but
progress. This legacy lives on through generations of his
students and postdoctoral fellows.
Subramanyam N. Murthy, PhD
Professor
Southern University, LA
Postdoctoral Fellow (July 1999–September 2001)
A great Mentor is remembered forever by his trainees and
towards this end, Dr Mehendale stood out in a superbly
distinguished manner. He had a unique way of inculcating
values that mattered most in research, and ethics that would
stand the test of time. Most all his PhD students and Post-
doctoral Fellows have made it big in their chosen career path,
be it research or academia or industry, which is a true tes-
tament to Dr Mehendale’s scientific acumen. While his out-
standing contributions to research in toxicology and teaching
commitments were alone exemplary, his attributes let ev-
eryone around to learn and imbibe such excellence. He was
very straightforward and never minced words driving home
his point with blunt emphasis. He never left any stone un-
turned in seeing his students succeed. This was ably mirrored
in ensuring his students become well rounded in research
requirements, presentations, networking, defending their
work, and most importantly disseminating their research
findings in a succinct yet confident way with utmost clarity. It
6 International Journal of Toxicology 0(0)
will be most befitting to mention a line or two about Mrs
Rekha Mehendale. She was a single woman army and treated
every new and incoming student to Dr Mehendale’s team like
family. Although now we miss the physical presence of Dr
Mehendale, it goes without saying that His legacy will live
endlessly through His beneficiaries, esteemed students, and
postdoctoral fellows alike.
Binu Philip, PhD, DABT
Director, Toxicology
Moderna, Inc.
Postdoctoral Fellow (2003–2006)
Some people come into our life and our life will change
forever. I first met Dr Mehendale in the summer of 2003 when
I joined his lab as his last post-doctoral fellow. I used to
wonder how all the alumni from Dr Mehendale lab had certain
traits that made them successful and stood out in a crowd. I
found the answer after spending 3 years with him. Dr Me-
hendale had a big influence in my life and played a major role
in shaping my career. We used to have weekly lab meetings on
Saturdays, where I first learned the art of public speaking, soft
skills, and the ability to handle criticism. More than a mentor,
he was a fatherly figure to all of us. I cherish a lot of memories
with him but the one that strikes me the most was how he and
Mrs Rekha Mehendale always made us feel at home. He
always walked his talk. He was a role model to all of us with
his generosity, dedication, and fighting attitude. Anyone who
had the privilege of knowing him has imbibed a part of him in
their lives and I’m fortunate to be one among them.
Prathibha Rao, PhD
Senior Director, Regulatory Affairs
Verona Pharma, Inc.
PhD Student (1993–1996)
After completing my master’s thesis, I was looking for that
next opportunity to enhance my scientific journey. My master’s
PI, Dr Ferguson recognized my academic goals and encouraged
me to meet Dr Mehendale, the new endowed professor at NLU to
discuss the opportunity to join his lab. The enthusiasm and the
encouragement were infectious, and I knew I was embarking on a
journey to become a wholesome professional. All through Dr
Mehendale took a keen interest in ensuring that we learned to ask
the right questions, deeply query our results, and take the next
step. Preparing for meetings was always interesting. I remember
the first time he said, “we will meet in the lab after dinner tonight
to practice our posters”! The thought around the room was “Why
do we need to practice posters”? Sure, enough when we pre-
sented at the meeting, one of the drug metabolism “Gurus”
walked up and asked, “Can you give me a 3-min presentation”? I
could only gasp at that point. Dr Mehendale in his true mentoring
spirit taught us many skills including grant writing, publishing,
presentations that provided many of us a springboard to succeed
in our professional life. It wasn’t always “all work and no play”.
Some of the fond memories include road trips in a 14-seater van
to attend meetings across the country, the numerous trips to New
Hampshire for Gordon Research Conferences and the fun stories
and anecdotes (along with the driving adventures in Dallas and
Boston traffic). I cannot end my memories without highlighting
the love and support of Mrs Rekha Mehendale and for providing
us a “home away from home”!
Sharmilee Sawant, PhD, DABT, RAC
Director, Toxicology
BD, Inc
PhD Student (2000–2005)
I joined Dr Mehendale’s laboratory as a PhD student in
August 2000. The five years at University of Louisiana at
Monroe and Dr Mehendale’s lab has shaped my career sig-
nificantly. While he trained us to conduct good science, he also
spent considerable time training us on how to present our work
effectively. The one example I would like to highlight is my
first scientific meeting in 2001. I feared public speaking and
requested Dr Mehendale that I would do a poster presentation
since it my first time attending a professional society meeting.
Dr Mehendale told me that I can only attend the meeting if I do
a platform presentation. I didn’t understand why he wouldn’t
allow but then practiced several times to give my best. To my
surprise, I received my first best platform presentation award.
Dr Mehendale smiled and said that he had full confidence that
I will do a good job. The training and the encouragement as a
graduate student I received to do the best and to overcome our
fears has helped me make career decisions as well. For ex-
ample, considering management responsibilities along with
my current technical role. Another important aspect of his
training was for graduate students to attend professional so-
ciety meetings including SOT and ACT. Dr Mehendale would
tell us to volunteer and network and not just attend the
meetings. This is so engrained in me that even today, I feel like
it is my duty to volunteer on committees or activities at
meetings and give back to the Societies. I want to thank Dr
Mehendale for coaching and always setting stretch goals for
me that helped me expand my boundaries and explore op-
portunities that I wouldn’t have considered.
Kartik Shankar, PhD, DABT
Professor
Department of Pediatrics
University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver
PhD Student (1998–2003)
Dr Mehendale left a deep imprint on most people he in-
teracted with, and this was especially true for his students. He
was a shining example of a compassionate, caring mentor
ceaselessly focused on his students. He showed unwavering
support and encouragement, always willing to go above and
beyond with truly inspiring selflessness. As a young first year
graduate student who had little experience in research, my
experiences were no different. One of the lessons Dr Me-
hendale instilled in me was the importance of making
Apte et al.
mistakes. He believed that mistakes were an essential part of
the learning process and encouraged us to embrace them as
opportunities for growth. I will never forget his reaction when
I met with him after much trepidation following a gaping error.
His reaction was one of calm and assurance that while ev-
eryone makes mistakes, it is better to make them early on. His
composure gave me confidence and support that really ap-
preciated. He was patient, understanding, and always willing
to offer words of wisdom when they were needed most. I will
always remember the time he spent with us, helping us to
navigate the ups and downs of our careers, and guiding each
and every one of us towards success. Dr Mehendale’s legacy
which lives with us and was much more than his scientific
research findings. His contributions shaped my value system
and made really focus on the things that makes work re-
warding. His legacy as a mentor will live on through the many
lives you touched. His kindness, selflessness, and devotion to
teaching will always be remembered as one to be emulated and
I am very grateful for the time I spent with him.
Vishal Vaidya, PhD, ATS
Vice President and Chief Toxicology Scientist
Pfizer, Inc.
PhD Student (1998–2003)
“Do you want me to give you a project, or do you want to
find one yourself?” Dr Mehendale asked me in our first
regularly scheduled 1:1 Friday meeting after I arrived from
Mumbai, India, to Monroe, Louisiana, for my PhD in 1998. I
chose the latter, and after 2.5 years and 9 failed projects, I
found my thesis project to investigate mechanisms of kidney
regeneration. Dr Mehendale used these initial years and my
entire training as an opportunity to teach multiple work/life
lessons, some of which include:
1. Take risks; that is the best way to learn and break new
ground.
2. Nurture scientific curiosity and destigmatize failures.
3. Always have a “science-first” attitude with an eye on
disruptive innovation.
4. Challenge the status quo, and do not hesitate to experiment.
5. Be passionate about mentoring and growing leaders.
6. Effective communication of scientific findings is as im-
portant as rigorous and reproducible scientific conduct.
Thus far, my fulfilling life is owed to many mentors and
colleagues I continue to have the honor of associating with.
However, without Dr Mehendale providing the initial impetus
followed by his priceless and foundational coaching, I would
not be who I am personally and professionally.
Tao Wang, MD, PhD, DABT
Executive Director of Preclinical Development
Coherus BioScience, Inc.
PhD Student (1997–2000)
7
It is a testament to how impactful Dr Mehendale was on my
life that so many things remind me of him. While attending the
Author Furst Best Poster Award competition at the 2022 ACT
meeting in Denver, Colorado, recently, I found myself lost in
memories of my time spent in Dr Mehendale’s lab under his
watchful eye. Recollections of how my lab mates and I at-
tended the ACT annual meeting every year with Dr Mehendale
brought tears to my eyes, and how we eagerly competed for
the very same Arthur Furst Best Poster Award. Dr Mehendale
was like a father to me. The training in his lab was strict and
rigorous, but always based on the goal of shaping his students
into the best scientist he knew they could become. We attended
several meetings each year, and the rule was that each student
had to present new data. Dr Mehendale not only trained us on
how to present a poster or give a platform presentation, but
patiently took the time to drill us on how to properly answer
questions. I remember how he made corrections to my answers
or helped me organize my answers into a clear order “first of
all….., secondly…., and at last……”. I laughed remembering
how normal it seemed to routinely attend our lab meetings on
Saturdays from 9 AM and 1 PM Many of these meetings were
used to practice presentations. Dr Mehendale invested his
time, wisdom, and love for the betterment of his students.
During scientific meetings, Dr Mehendale stood with each
student by his or her poster and pulled “big shots” over and
asked the student to present. Nowadays I find myself teaching
my son everything I learned from Dr Mehendale, including
color schemes to use on his slides, the proper speech to use,
and how to answer questions in an organized manner. Dr
Mehendale was keenly interested in the career choices of his
students and helped each one well beyond the years in his
laboratory. When I applied for my first industry job, Dr
Mehendale not only helped me prepare for the interview but
taught me how to negotiate offers. He was always aware of
career development opportunities for us, no matter how long it
seemed from the time we left the lab. For example, it was a full
13 years after I graduated from his lab that Dr Mehendale
called me and asked me whether I would like to apply for the
Achievement Award at Society of Toxicology.
Dr Mehendale understood the power of service also, and he
was insistent that each of his students do volunteer work in
professional societies. When I attended the SOT annual
meeting for the first time, Dr Mehendale directed me to the
meeting registration desk, and told me to ask if there was
anything I could do to help at the meeting. It turned out there
was a lot I could help with. It is because of Dr Mehendale that I
came to understand the privilege of serving toxicology so-
cieties. It is no accident that many of his students have gone on
to serve in leadership positions at SOT and ACT. Of course,
much of Dr Mehendale’s greatness and patience was made
possible by his wife, Mrs Mehendale. In truth, both she and Dr
Mehendale were deeply involved in well-being of the graduate
students. I remember, each Christmas, they would carefully
select useful and practical gifts for the students to make their
life just a bit easier. I will always remember the profound toast
8 International Journal of Toxicology 0(0)
he gave at my wedding. Sometimes I wonder what that poor
young boy from a central-western coast farming village in
Colonial India would think if he knew just how important he
would be to the lives of so many? I believe he may not be all
that surprised, actually. Dr Mehendale was and continues to be
a truly great person: his iron will, strong moral code, and zest
for life lives on in all his students.
ORCID iD
Udayan Apte  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6741-7164
References
1. Potts G. Form Mysore to Monroe: The journey of a lifetime. Res
Scholaris. 1995;3-10.
2. Mehendale HM. Tissue repair: An important determinant of final
outcome of toxicant-induced injury. Toxicol Pathol. 2005;33:41-51.
3. Ramachandran A, Umbaugh DS, Jaeschke H. Mitochondrial
dynamics in drug-induced liver injury. Livers. 2021;1:102-115.
4. Bhushan B, Apte U. Liver regeneration after acetaminophen
hepatotoxicity: Mechanisms and therapeutic opportunities. Am J
Pathol. 2019;189:719-729.