Professional Profile
Dr. Allison Franzen is a Supervising Scientist in the ToxStrategies’ Health practice with 15 years of experience in toxicology and human health risk assessment, specializing in food safety. She has a Ph.D. in Toxicology and brings a diverse and dynamic background to supporting global clients across regulatory, technical, and strategic domains.
Dr. Franzen has deep expertise in European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and UK Food Standards Agency evaluations, including flavors, food additives, novel foods, and food contact materials. Her work spans gap assessments, dossier preparation and submission, study notification management, compliance with EFSA’s sector-specific and cross-cutting guidance documents, and complex mixture and nanoparticle assessments.
She is highly skilled in mechanistic data evaluation, including developing chemical-specific modes of action and adverse outcome pathways. Her experience includes conducting systematic reviews and applying study reliability and relevance frameworks such as OHAT, USEPA IRIS, SciRAP, and others. She also leads quantitative risk assessments, toxicokinetic evaluations, weight-of-evidence analyses, and exposure assessments for both United States and European Union regulatory contexts.
Dr. Franzen successfully led a multi-million dollar international project involving a team of 20 scientists overseeing in vitro and in vivo genotoxicity testing, reproductive and developmental toxicity studies, and advanced characterization. She is passionate about integrating new approach methodologies (NAMs) into regulatory science to improve transparency, confidence, and innovation in chemical safety evaluations.