Rate My Professor Stephen Safe

Stephen H. Safe is University Distinguished Professor and holds the Syd Kyle Chair in Veterinary Medicine at Texas A&M University. He serves as Professor in the Department of Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology and in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics. Safe earned a B.S. in 1962 and an M.Sc. in 1963 from Queen’s University, followed by a DPhil from Oxford University in 1965. He completed postdoctoral research at Oxford University and Harvard University from 1966 to 1968. He joined the faculty at Texas A&M University in 1981 and has held joint appointments including with the Institute of Biosciences and Technology since 2002, where he directs the Center for Translational Environmental Health Research, and in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Medicine since 2009.

Safe’s research focuses on molecular toxicology and oncology, including the aryl hydrocarbon receptor, NR4A orphan nuclear receptors, specificity protein transcription factors, and the development of mechanism-based drugs targeting cancer and other diseases. He has received the 2026 Southeastern Conference Faculty Achievement Award and the 2019 Society of Toxicology Merit Award. Safe has mentored more than 100 doctoral students and his work has been cited over 100,000 times. Key publications include studies on NR4A1 antagonists in Cancer Immunology Immunotherapy (2023) and on specificity proteins in cancer in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences (2023). He has contributed to editorial roles, including as founding editor-in-chief of a journal, and maintains active collaborations on projects involving endometriosis, glioblastoma, and intestinal health.