Tucker A. Patterson, Ph.D., was appointed as Acting Director of the FDA’s National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR) in March 2022. He has served as the Deputy Director for Research in the Office of the Center Director/Office of Research since December 2020. Previously, he served two years as the Associate Director for Science & Policy and seven years as the Associate Director and Health Science Program Manager in Regulatory Compliance & Risk Management at NCTR.

Prior to his current appointment, Dr. Patterson served as a primary advisor to the NCTR Center Director for internal and external matters affecting general directions of the NCTR research program. Dr. Patterson’s major responsibilities include directing the NCTR Office of Research, which oversees six research divisions, and serving as NCTR's primary representative on several internal FDA committees and working groups. Additional responsibilities include primary representation of NCTR and FDA in extramural activities including research interactions with the State of Arkansas and the NIEHS/National Toxicology Program. 

Dr. Patterson received a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and a doctorate in pharmacology from the University of South Carolina. He completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship with the Center for the Neurobiology of Aging at the University of Florida and continued his postdoctoral training at NCTR through a postgraduate research appointment with the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education and as a staff fellow. Dr. Patterson worked for three years as a toxicologist for the State of Arkansas at the Livestock and Poultry Commission prior to returning to NCTR in 2001, when he worked in the Division of Neurotoxicology as a senior scientist. 

Dr. Patterson has been involved in neuroscience and neurotoxicology research for more than thirty years and has authored or co-authored more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific articles and book chapters.

Resources For You

• FDA Leadership Profiles
• NCTR Principal Investigators
• About the National Center for Toxicological Research

Select Publications

Machine Learning Models for Predicting Liver Toxicity. (Book Chapter)
Liu J., Guo W., Sakkiah S., Ji Z., Yavas G., Zou W., Chen M., Tong W., Patterson T.A., and Hong H. 
In: Benfenati E. (Ed.) In Silico Methods for Predicting Drug Toxicity. Methods in Molecular Biology. 2022, vol. 2425, Humana, New York, NY. 

Machine Learning Models for Predicting Cytotoxicity of Nanomaterials. 
Ji Z., Guo W., Wood E.L., Liu J., Sakkiah S., Xu X., Patterson T.A., and Hong H. 
Chem. Res. Toxicol. 2022, 35:125-139.

Application of Nonhuman Primate Models in the Studies of Pediatric Anesthesia Neurotoxicity.  
Wang C., Liu S., Liu F., Bhutta A., Patterson T.A., and Slikker Jr. W. 
Anesth. Analg. 2022.

Elucidation of Agonist and Antagonist Binding Mechanisms of ER-α by Integration of Molecular Docking, Molecular Dynamics Simulations and Quantum Mechanical Calculations.
Sakkiah S., Selvaraj C., Guo W., Liu J., Ge W., Patterson T.A. and Hong, H.
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22, 9371.

The NMDA Receptor System and Developmental Neurotoxicity. (Book Chapter)
Wang C., Liu S., Liu F., Patterson T.A., and Slikker W. 
In: Kostrzewa, R.M. (Ed.) Handbook of Neurotoxicity. 2021, Springer, Cham.

Informing Selection of Drugs for COVID-19 Treatment Through Adverse Events Analysis.
Guo W., Pan B., Sakkiah S., Ji Z., Yavas G., Lu Y., Komatsu T., Lal-Nag M., Tong W., Patterson T.A., and Hong H.
Sci. Rep. 2021, 11:14022.

Nanomaterial Databases: Data Sources for Promoting Design and Risk Assessment of Nanomaterials.
Ji Z., Guo W., Sakkiah S., Liu J., Patterson T.A. and Hong, H.
Nanomaterials. 2021, 11(6), 1599.

Identification of Epidemiological Traits by Analysis of SARS-CoV-2 Sequences.
Pan B., Ji Z., Sakkiah S., Guo W., Liu J., Patterson T.A. and Hong H.
Viruses. 2021, 13, 764.

Neuroprotective Effects of Carnitine and its Potential Application to Ameliorate Neurotoxicity.
Latham L.E., Wang C., Patterson T.A., Slikker Jr. W., and Liu F.
Chem. Res. Toxicol. 2021, 34, 1208-1222.

Elucidating Interactions Between SARS-CoV-2 Trimeric Spike Protein and ACE2 Using Homology Modeling and Molecular Dynamics Simulations. 
Sakkiah S., Guo W., Pan B., Ji Z., Yavas G., Azevedo M., Hawes J., and Patterson T.A. and Hong H.
Front. Chem. 2021, 8:622632.