Advisory Council
BS '68 at UT and Ph.D. '74 at the University of Kansas
Dan Acosta helped establish one of the first graduate programs in toxicology in the state of Texas by serving as its first director at The University of Texas College of Pharmacy. He was a professor of pharmacology & toxicology at UT’s College of Pharmacy from 1974 to 1996. He later became the first Hispanic dean of pharmacy among research-intensive universities across the country at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. He culminated his career by serving as Deputy Director for Research at the National Center for Toxicological Research, helping supervise over 200 scientists at FDA's major research center. He has received major honors over his career including: the College of Pharmacy's 2016 Distinguished Alumnus; the 2022 Inaugural Gradate Program Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Kansas School of Pharmacy; and elected President of the Society of Toxicology (2000-2001), the largest and most prestigious toxicology organization in the world. He and his wife helped endow the Daniel and Patricia Acosta Student Diversity Fund at the Society of Toxicology and the Daniel and Patricia Acosta Graduate Fellowship in Pharmacology & Toxicology at the UT College of Pharmacy.