Durham, North Carolina NIH Office of the Director
Ricardo Scheufen Tieghi
I work on replacing animal testing with machine learning
Program Analyst, Guidehouse — supporting the Office of the NIH Director
- NEJM AI
- NIH Replication Prize
- Complement-ARIE Challenge
- SOT Paper of the Year
- NIEHS Paper of the Month ×2
- Chancellor's Award
- $1.8M project funding
- UNC Chapel Hill
About
From structure to prediction to policy.
I work at the intersection of computational toxicology, machine learning, and federal science policy. My research builds models that predict chemical toxicity from structure, so that questions once answered with animal tests can be answered computationally instead.
At NIH I support the Office of the Director on AI strategy: co-leading the $5M AI and Biomedical Foundation Model Challenge, running portfolio analysis for the $1.2B Bio Genesis Mission, and co-authoring the NIH AI Strategic Plan for 2026 to 2029. Before that I spent two years at NIEHS in the NICEATM group and two years in the UNC Molecular Modeling Lab, where our work drew more than $1.8M in project funding.
I graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2025 with a BS in Biology and minors in Chemistry and Medical Anthropology, and I review for ACS Chemical Research in Toxicology and JCIM.
- Aug 2021 – May 2025
- BS Biology — minors in Chemistry and Medical Anthropology University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill GPA 3.9 · Highest Distinction · Dean's List · Carolina Research Scholar
- Domains
- Tools
Featured research n=4
Four papers that carry the argument.
Each one replaces an animal test with a model a regulator can actually use — or explains to policymakers why that matters.
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NEJM AI 2025
The Promise of Animal Testing Alternatives at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health
Read in NEJM AI -
Toxics (MDPI) 2024
A Novel Machine Learning Model and a Web Portal for Predicting the Human Skin Sensitization Effects of Chemical Agents
- Editor's Choice
- SOT Paper of the Year
- NIEHS Paper of the Month
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Environmental Health Perspectives 2026
DeTox: an In Silico Alternative to Animal Testing for Predicting Developmental Toxicity Potential
View DOI -
Environmental Health Perspectives 2025
External Validation of STopTox as an in Silico Alternative to Animal Toxicity Testing
View on PubMed
Publications n=13
Everything, including the work still in flight.
Peer-reviewed papers first, then the preprint and the manuscripts under review or in preparation. Citation counts come from Google Scholar.
Published 8
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The Promise of Animal Testing Alternatives at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health
Written with the FDA Commissioner, the FDA CDER Director, and the NIH Deputy Director.
11 citations
Read in NEJM AI -
A Novel Machine Learning Model and a Web Portal for Predicting the Human Skin Sensitization Effects of Chemical Agents
- Editor's Choice
- SOT Paper of the Year
- NIEHS Paper of the Month
10 citations
View DOI -
4 citations
View DOI -
3 citations
View on PubMed -
9 citations
View DOI -
7 citations
View DOI
Preprint 1
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4 citations
View DOI
Under review 1
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Importance and Challenges of Computational Modeling of Pesticides and Chemical Mixtures in Environmental Health: A Review
In preparation 3
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AI Agents as Collaborators in Drug Discovery and Development
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CAMERA: A Centralized Public Resource for Validated Alternative Methods to Support Regulatory Decision-Making
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Elucidation of Adverse Outcome Pathways for Compound-induced Developmental Neurotoxicity using Knowledge Graphs
No publications match that topic yet.
Talks & workshops n=18
Where the work gets argued in person.
13 invited talks and 5 conference posters, from Salt Lake City to Rio de Janeiro. Two continuing-education courses are already booked for 2026 and 2027.
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Continuing Education Course — Speaker & Co-Chair
SOT 66th Annual Meeting San Antonio, Texas
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Continuing Education Course — Speaker & Co-Chair
ACT Annual Meeting San Antonio, Texas
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Brown Paper Bag Seminar
Dynanet Corporation Virtual
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Comprehensive Toxicity Assessment with Agentic AI — CE Course Speaker & Co-Chair
ASCCT 13th Annual Meeting Durham, North Carolina
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Two presentations on in silico alternatives to animal testing
13th World Congress on Alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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Innovator Award Finalist presentation
Society for Birth Defects Research & Prevention Annual Meeting Denver, Colorado
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Division of Translational Toxicology Science Forum
NIEHS Virtual
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Annual Symposium presentation
NIEHS Scholars Connect Program Durham, North Carolina
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A Novel Machine Learning Model and a Web Portal for Predicting the Human Skin Sensitization Effects of Chemical Agents
SOT 64th Annual Meeting Orlando, Florida
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Symposium Speaker & Co-Chair
SOT 64th Annual Meeting Orlando, Florida
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Three Minute Thesis Competition — NIEHS Fall Connection
NIEHS Durham, North Carolina
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HuSSPred: an in-silico HPPT-based tool for Human Skin Sensitization Prediction & the DeTox Project
ASCCT 13th Annual Meeting Durham, North Carolina
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Flash Talk
ASCCT 13th Annual Meeting Durham, North Carolina
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HuSSPred: an in-silico HPPT-based tool for Human Skin Sensitization Prediction
NCSOT Annual Meeting Durham, North Carolina
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Endothelial Nuclear Proteins SUN1 & SUN2 regulate Microtubule Organization in Endothelial Cells
UNC Celebration of Undergraduate Research Chapel Hill, North Carolina
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PregPred: A Novel Web-Accessible Computational Tool for Predicting Developmental Toxicity
SOT 63rd Annual Meeting Salt Lake City, Utah
Nothing matches that combination. Try widening the filters.
Awards n=18
What the field has recognized.
Prize challenges and research honors first, then presentation and institutional awards. Amounts are as awarded.
Research awards 5
- Prize Winner ~$55,000 2026
Recognized in both Track 1 (Replication Ideas) and Track 2 (Replication Exemplars).
- Prize Winner ~$50,000
- Winner 2025
Best Paper of the Year — SOT In Vitro and Alternatives Section
- Winner ×2
- Winner ~$4,000 2023
Presentation & institutional 13
- Recipient 2025
UNC Chancellor's Walter S. Spearman Award
Awarded to the senior whose academic achievement, leadership, and strength of character are judged most outstanding.
- Winner ~$1,500 2025
SOT Undergraduate Research Award
- Winner ~$500 2025
Best Oral Presentation, Early Career — 13th World Congress
Sponsored by AIVT.
- Winner ~$1,000 2025
Travel Award — 13th World Congress
- 2nd Prize ~$300 2025
BDRP Innovator Award
- 1st Prize ~$400
RDTSS Poster Competition
Sponsored by Pfizer and Elsevier.
- Winner ~$500 2025
Society for Birth Defects Research Travel Award
- Winner ~$1,000
SOT Diversity Initiatives Career Development Award
- 1st Prize ~$300 2024
NCSOT Undergraduate Student Poster Competition
- Winner ~$1,000 2024
- 1st Prize 2024
NIEHS Scholars Connect Elevator Pitch Competition
- Winner ~$300
UNC Office of Undergraduate Research Travel Award
- Finalist 2024
SOT 63rd Annual Meeting Biological Modeling Specialty Section Abstract Award
News & media n=13
Where the work turned up elsewhere.
Coverage from NIH, NIEHS, the Society of Toxicology, and ESTIV — plus one piece written for a data science audience.
- Announcing the Winners of the NIH Replication Prize NIH Common Fund commonfund.nih.gov
- Grouping Chemicals Automatically with KNIME Medium — Low Code for Data Science medium.com
- 2025 Annual Meeting Report: NAMs Hit the Bullseye in DART Assessments SOT ToXchange toxchange.toxicology.org
- Scientific Journeys: From avid reader to toxicity tool developer NIEHS Environmental Factor niehs.nih.gov
- SOT meeting summary — News in Brief NIEHS Environmental Factor niehs.nih.gov
- Outstanding undergraduate researchers recognized by SOT SOT ToXchange toxchange.toxicology.org
- ESTIV–ASCCT Award Winners Series European Society of Toxicology In Vitro estiv.org
- Intramural Papers of the Month NIEHS Environmental Factor niehs.nih.gov
- Undergrads test science communication skills at fall event NIEHS Environmental Factor niehs.nih.gov
- Microplastics and trainee development headline toxicology meeting NIEHS Environmental Factor niehs.nih.gov
- Undergrads share research projects from NIEHS summer internship NIEHS Environmental Factor niehs.nih.gov
- Complement-ARIE Challenge Prize Winner Summaries NIH Common Fund commonfund.nih.gov
- Undergraduate student receives 2023 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship from NIST UNC McAllister Heart Institute med.unc.edu
Contact
Get in touch
I'm always glad to talk about computational toxicology, new approach methodologies, or AI in federal biomedical research.
The contact form isn't connected yet. LinkedIn is the fastest way to reach me in the meantime.