2024 ACMT Annual Scientific Meeting - On-Demand

Elizabeth Barksdale Boyle is a Senior Program Officer in the Health and Medicine Division’s Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice after serving for several years as a Program Officer with the Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology. Formerly, she was an Environmental Health scientist at Westat, where she supported the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Institute of Child Health and Development, and the National Cancer Institute. Before her tenure at Westat, Ms. Boyle was a Student Epidemiologist at the Minnesota Department of Health and an Industrial Hygienist at a consulting firm in Cincinnati. She is a Fellow of the Bloomberg American Health Initiative at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where she is pursuing a Doctor of Public Health in environmental health. Ms. Boyle has an MPH in environmental health from the University of Minnesota, a certificate in risk sciences and public policy from Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health and is a Certified Industrial Hygienist.

Albert Burgess-Hull is a Data Scientist and Machine Learning Researcher at MATClinics, an outpatient addiction treatment center in Maryland that specializes in Opioid Addiction Treatment. He received his PhD from the University of Wisconsin - Madison and completed postdoctoral fellowship training at the National Institute on Drug Abuse’s Intramural Research Program. Albert’s research focuses on the development and validation of digital diagnostic and prognostic frameworks for the classification and prediction of treatment related outcomes in addiction medicine. He is also interested in how the use of advanced clustering/segmentation methodologies can be used for the development of precision medicine frameworks to deliver the optimal treatment to the right patient at the right time.

Senior Advisor for Medical Toxicology in the Division of Applied Regulatory Science in the Office of Clinical Pharmacology in the Office of Translational Science in the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). He received his medical toxicology training at the Rocky Mountain Poison Center in Denver (1988-1990). Emergency Medicine training was at the University of Cincinnati (1982-1985, Chief Resident). His Medical Degree (1982) is from the Medical College of Pennsylvania, now Drexel University. His B.S. (1978) is from Ursinus College in Biology (valedictorian). He is a Past-President and Fellow of the American College of Medical Toxicology. He is a co-editor of Critical Care Toxicology. He is the former Medical Director of the Penn State Poison Center (1990-2002) associated with an inpatient toxicology admitting service. Research interests include antidotes and treatment of the poisoned patients. At the FDA he started a biological plausibility consult service that would analyze for potential mechanisms as supportive evidence for an emerging drug safety signal. Bioinformatic tools were evaluated and studied to support these analyses. Research has also been done to predict adverse events. He currently is the Medical Monitor for FDA sponsored clinical trials performed to inform regulatory decision making.

Joseph A. Cocciardi, PhD, MS, CSP, CIH, REHS/RS, has practiced professionally and held academic and instructional positions for more than 35 years. Dr. Cocciardi's breadth of education, experience, and professional certifications have served the public, industrial and commercial sectors in the health, safety, emergency response and environmental protection disciplines.

This service has included the development, management and evaluation of public and occupational health/safety programs, including those with an environmental protection emphasis. Epidemiological study, research and investigation have been conducted over the 35-year period. He has been the Principal Investigator/Project Manager on key environmental protection programs dealing with highly hazardous chemicals and toxic materials and performed multiple hazard and risk assessments in this area. He has also evaluated current and proposed safety and environmental technologies and legislation. 

He holds instructional licenses for work with specialized toxic materials (Asbestos Containing Materials; Lead) and was instrumental in the development of the first EPA licensed training site and public employee education center for the removal of Asbestos Containing Materials within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He assisted with the establishment of a similar public lead poison prevention training center for the Pennsylvania Department of Health/US EPA. He has developed and taught safety and environmental protection programs and seminars at the collegiate level.

In addition to consulting activities, Dr. Cocciardi remains an employee of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and is designated a TYPE 1 Safety Officer assigned to the HHS Incident Response Coordination Team (IRCT), with both response and planning responsibilities for large scale disaster events. He has deployed nationally and internationally as a member of the Type I HHS Incident Response Coordination Team (IRCT).

John W. Downs MD MPH is a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute and served two years as a US Army infantry officer, prior to attending medical school at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU). Dr. Downs completed residency training in internal medicine at Tripler Army Medical Center, Honolulu, Hawaii, and in occupational & environmental medicine at USU, where he also completed a Master of Public Health degree. Dr. Downs later completed a fellowship in medical toxicology at the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Health System. Dr. Downs was a US Army officer for more than 20 years and recently joined VCU as medical toxicology faculty. His final active-duty tour was at the Uniformed Services University where he was an Associate Professor and the Associate Program Director for the Occupational and Environmental Medicine residency, and an attending physician at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. His military medical experience includes multiple tours as senior medical officer to special operations and light infantry units to include deployments to operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Dr. Downs’s public health experience includes service as Chief of the Department of Preventive Medicine at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and Chief, Occupational & Environmental Medicine Service, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Downs is board certified as a physician in internal medicine, occupational & environmental medicine, and medical toxicology. Dr. Downs also holds allied health certifications as a certified public health professional (CPH), and Diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology (DABT). Dr. Downs is a recipient of the Army Surgeon General’s 9A Proficiency Designation in occupational and environmental medicine. He has authored more than 25 peer-reviewed publications. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, and the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

Dr. Hamilton is Professor and Chair, Emergency Medicine, Drexel University College of Medicine. He is the Chief Academic Officer, DIO, and Regional Associate Dean for the Crozer Keystone Campus and EM System Chair of the Crozer Keystone Health System. Dr. Hamilton's research interests include PFAS and Manganese drinking water standards. He has received awards for his teaching and research and is a widely published author of manuscripts, textbooks, and book chapters, and patents.

Dr. Holland is Clinical Professor of Emergency Medicine at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, NY where he is on the faculty of the Medical Toxicology Fellowship Training Program and is a Consulting Medical Toxicologist at the Upstate New York Poison Center and the Onondaga County Medical Examiner’s Office-both in Syracuse, NY. Dr. Holland is also the Director of Occupational Medicine for the Saratoga Hospital Medical Group, and is the Saratoga Hospital Employee Health Medical Director, where he oversees the health and safety of over 3100 employees and staff. He also serves as Employee Health Medical Director at Glens Falls Hospital in Glens Falls, NY, covering 2500 employees. He is also Principal Medical Toxicologist at the Center for Toxicology and Environmental Health (CTEH) in Little Rock, AR.    

Dr. Johnson attended medical school at Loyola Stritch School of Medicine Chicago, and completed his Residency at UMASS Emergency Medicine. He is currently a senior fellow in Medical Toxicology. His major interests are interdisciplinary education, environmental toxicology/public health and intersection of climate science.

Dr. Kiernan is an Assistant Professor at Emory University School of Medicine. She is a board-certified Emergency Medicine physician who recently completed a medical toxicology fellowship at Emory University/CDC. She has served as the fellow co-chair for the AACT Radiation Special Interest Section group as well as a chair in the ACMT Fellow-in-training association.

Michael J. Kosnett, MD, MPH, FACMT has 34 years of experience as a physician specializing in medical toxicology and occupational and environmental health. He is board certified in internal medicine, medical toxicology, and preventive medicine (occupational medicine). He has served in a leadership and advisory capacity to multiple national and international medical and public health organizations. This includes service as past president of the American College of Medical Toxicology and a member of the Committee on Toxicology of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. In addition, Dr. Kosnett has served as a consultant and temporary advisor to the World Health Organization; EPA Science Advisory Board expert panels; and advisory committees of the CDC National Center for Environmental Health and ATSDR. He has also served as a medical toxicology consultant to the US Army Public Health Command, the US Air Force Science Advisory Board, and the US Navy Naval Air Systems Command. In 2016, the American College of Medical Toxicology awarded Dr. Kosnett the Matthew J. Ellenhorn Award, a career achievement award that recognizes “extraordinary contributions to the field of medical toxicology.”

Jeffrey Lai, MD, is an emergency physician and medical toxicologist at UMass Chan Medical School and UMass Memorial Health. He is the medical toxicology fellowship director and the clerkship director for the Introduction to Medical Toxicology elective at UMass Chan Medical School. His academic interests include medical education, the application of novel technologies to the treatment of substance use disorder, and the surveillance of impairing substances in patients with severe traumatic injuries.

Brian Linde is the Chief of Occupational Health Services at VA Palo Alto Healthcare System (VAPAHCS) and faculty physician at Stanford Workforce Health and Wellness. Prior to joining VAPAHCS and Stanford Health Care last year, Dr. Linde was Associate Program Director of the Yale Occupational and Environmental Medicine Program (YOEMP) and Chief of Occupational Health Services at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System (VACHS). As Associate Program Director of YOEMP, he oversaw the medical education and training for the physicians in training in Occupational and Environmental Medicine. He has also designed curricula to train Internal Medicine residents in core aspects of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. As Chief of Occupational Health Services at VAPAHCS, he oversees the Medical Center Occupational Health Services for over 5,000 employees in the VA Palo Alto Healthcare System. Services include medical surveillance, work injury evaluation and management, infection prevention, and employee health and well-being. As a Board Certified Occupational and Environmental physician, he also provides patient consultations to evaluate health effects of occupational and environmental exposures. Dr. Linde received his M.P.H. in Occupational and Environmental Medicine from Yale School of Public Health, and his M.D. from Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University.

Dr. Maskell is board certified in emergency medicine, medical toxicology, and addiction medicine.  He has an appointment as Assistant Professor of Military and Emergency Medicine at Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences and currently serves as the Medical Director of the Tactical Medicine Readiness Division at the US Army Medical Department Medical Center of Excellence, Ft. Sam Houston, Texas.  He also serves as guest faculty at Brooke Army Medical Center and as a Consulting Toxicologist for the Washington Poison Center.  He graduated from Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, completed his Emergency Medicine residency at Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, Washington, and his Medical Toxicology fellowship at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia.  

Dr. McKay was trained in Anatomic and Surgical Pathology, Internal Medicine, Emergency Medicine, Medical Toxicology and was a Medical Director of Occupational Health and Medical Review Officer for a hospital system during more than 30 years of clinical practice, during which he provided toxicology consultation at 3 hospitals, directed a medical toxicology fellowship training program, and provided medical oversight of a regional poison control center. He provides medical legal consultation across the country on toxicology-related issues, and has testified in nearly 100 cases, many related to questions of alcohol- and -drug-induced impairment.

Nicholas E. Nacca, MD, FACMT is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, Director of Medical Toxicology, and Associate Fellowship Director of the Medical Toxicology Fellowship Program at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC). In addition to his role within the Department of Emergency Medicine, Dr. Nacca holds a secondary appointment in the Department of Environmental Medicine. As Director of Medical Toxicology, Dr. Nacca oversees the educational and clinical operations of the medical toxicology consultation service, where he is actively involved in training medical toxicology fellows, as well as mentoring multidisciplinary teams that include medical residents, pharmacy residents, and medical students. He also staffs and directs a referral-based outpatient Medical Toxicology Clinic, where he provides specialized care to patients requiring toxicological evaluation and treatment. Dr. Nacca’s work bridges clinical practice and education, emphasizing the development of the next generation of toxicology professionals while providing expert consultation in both inpatient and outpatient settings.

Dr. Mindy Richlen is a Senior Research Specialist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, specializing in harmful algal blooms (HABs) and Oceans and Human Health (OHH). Her expertise encompasses field and laboratory studies on the ecology, diversity, and molecular biology of HABs. As Project Lead for the Woods Hole Center for Oceans and Human Health (WHCOHH) Community Engagement Core (CEC), Dr. Richlen focuses on fostering collaboration with stakeholder and public health communities. She is also dedicated to community and classroom outreach, having developed K-12 activities based on WHCOHH research. In the national HAB community, Dr. Richlen serves as the Assistant Director of the U.S. National Office for Harmful Algal Blooms. This office, established by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, aims to improve engagement and coordination within the HAB research and management community, industry, and the public. Dr. Richlen brings a wealth of experience and a versatile skill set to her work. She is well-versed in planning, executing, and publishing research on HABs, translating findings, and effectively engaging diverse audiences in OHH research.

Dr. Joshua Shulman is the Medical Director of the Pittsburgh Poison Center. He completed his undergraduate Summa Cum Laude at the University of Pittsburgh with a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Sciences (B.A./B.S.) in History and Neuroscience. He completed his Medical Doctorate (MD) degree at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in 2012. He trained as a resident physician at UPMC Medical Education in Emergency Medicine from 2012 to 2015, and as a fellow in Medical Toxicology between 2015 and 2017. He was appointed a position of Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine and Medical Toxicology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He also holds an appointment as an Assistant Professor of Pharmacy and Therapeutics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy. He is a diplomate of the American Board of Emergency Medicine, American Board of Medical Toxicology, and the American Board of Preventative Medicine in Addiction Medicine. He is currently practicing in UPMC Hospitals in the fields of Emergency Medicine, Medical Toxicology and Addiction Medicine.

Dr. Twiner has studied environmental toxicology for over 20 years earning his PhD from Western University (Ontario, Canada). The main focus of his early research career involved identifying and characterizing the toxicological mechanisms of marine and freshwater algal toxins with applications towards the development of molecular and biochemical detection methods as well as assessing the health effects of these toxins on marine mammals and humans. He spent several years working at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Center for Coastal Environmental Health and Biomolecular Research in Charleston, SC before developing his own research laboratory at the University of Michigan. He continued to carry on his research program while completing his medical degree and then residency in Emergency Medicine at Detroit Receiving Hospital, Detroit, MI USA. He is now an attending physician at Detroit Medical Center, Detroit, Michigan.  He holds an academic position with Wayne State University where he continues his algal toxin research but has also branched out to work on research projects involving hypertension and heart failure in the underserved communities within and around Detroit. To date, he has published over 40 research papers. 

Nora D. Volkow, M.D., is Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) at the National Institutes of Health. NIDA is the world’s largest funder of scientific research on the health aspects of drug use and addiction.

Dr. Volkow's work has been instrumental in demonstrating that drug addiction is a brain disorder. As a research psychiatrist, Dr. Volkow pioneered the use of brain imaging to investigate how substance use affects brain functions. In particular, her studies have documented how changes in the dopamine system affect the functions of brain regions involved with reward and self-control in addiction. She has also made important contributions to the neurobiology of obesity, ADHD, and aging. 

Dr. Volkow was born in Mexico and earned her medical degree from the National University of Mexico in Mexico City, where she received the Robins Award for best medical student of her generation. Her psychiatric residency was at New York University, where she earned a Laughlin Fellowship from The American College of Psychiatrists as one of 10 outstanding psychiatric residents in the United States.

Much of her professional career was spent at the Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York, where she held several leadership positions including Director of Nuclear Medicine, Chairman of the Medical Department, and Associate Laboratory Director for Life Sciences. Dr. Volkow was also a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Associate Dean of the Medical School at The State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Dr. Volkow has published almost a thousand peer-reviewed articles, written 113 book chapters, manuscripts and articles, co-edited "Neuroscience in the 21st Century" and edited four books on neuroscience and brain imaging for mental and substance use disorders.

She received a Nathan Davis Award for Outstanding Government Service, was a Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal (Sammies) finalist and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Association of American Physicians. Dr. Volkow received the International Prize from the French Institute of Health and Medical Research for her pioneering work in brain imaging and addiction science; was awarded the Carnegie Prize in Mind and Brain Sciences from Carnegie Mellon University; and was inducted into the Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD) Hall of Fame. She was named one of Time magazine's "Top 100 People Who Shape Our World"; one of "20 People to Watch" by Newsweek magazine; Washingtonian magazine’s "100 Most Powerful Women"; "Innovator of the Year" by U.S. News & World Report; and one of "34 Leaders Who Are Changing Health Care" by Fortune magazine.

Dr. Hassan is an Emergency Medicne Consultant and Medical Toxicologist From Oman, Completed his Medical Degree at Sultan Qaboos University Medical School in Oman in 2013. Completed his Emergency Residency Program and Board at Oman Medical Specialty Board (OMSB), Oman. Completed a 2 year fellowship program in Medical Toxicology at Emory University, Georgea, USA. Dr. Al Balushi is an active member of Middle East and North Africa Medical Toxicology Association (MENATOX), as well as a board member and the secretary of Oman Society of Emergency Medicine (OSEM).

I am a Professor and NHMRC Senior Research Fellow at the University of Newcastle. I am a consultant clinical toxicologist and emergency physician, Director of the Department of Clinical Toxicology, Calvary Mater Hospital and consultant toxicologist to the NSW Poisons Information Centre. I was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2019 for my contribution to toxicology. I am President Elect of the Asia Pacific Assocation of Medical Toxicologists. My major area of research is snake bite. I have published over 375 papers and received $20 million in research funds.

Ophir Lavon is a Doctor of Medicine (MD) at the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion–Israel Institute of Technology. He is a Board-Certified Expert in Internal Medicine, Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology. Dr. Lavon is the current chair of the Israel Society of Toxicology. He is a Fellow and a board member of the European Association of Poisons Centres and Clinical Toxicologists. He is heading the Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology Unit, Carmel Medical Center in Haifa, Israel. Dr. Lavon is a Clinical Senior Lecturer at the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine. He also serves as the Chair of the National Antidote Stockpiling Committee. He is a board member of the Israel Association for Clinical Pharmacology, and a member of the American College of Medical Toxicology. He is the Former Head of the Patient Safety and Risk Management Unit, Carmel Medical Center in Haifa, Israel.

Dr. Pérez Tuñón currently holds the position of Chief at the Centro Toxicológico del Hospital Angeles Lomas (Poison Control Center at Angeles Lomas Hospital) and serves as the Head Professor of Clinical Toxicology at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (National Autonomous University of Mexico). He is a certified Pediatrician and holds a Master degree on Pharmacology. Dr. Pérez Tuñón has been professor for over 12 years and participated on more of 30 publications. Finally, he is blessed with a loving wife, Sandra, and three incredible children.