Medical Toxicology in Industry Webinar: 2024 Fellows' Program Experience

S. Eliza Lockwood, MD, FACMT is an emergency medicine physician and medical toxicologist with a strong commitment to global health. After completing her Medical Toxicology fellowship at NYU in 2006, she returned to Washington University in St. Louis, where she established an ACGME-accredited fellowship in Medical Toxicology. Over the next decade, Dr. Lockwood became deeply engaged in global health and humanitarian efforts. She organized a relief mission to Haiti following the 2010 earthquake, founded the Global Health Scholar Track within the Washington University Division of Emergency Medicine, and serves as one of the Global Health Scholars for the Department of Internal Medicine. Recognizing the need for sustainable solutions in global health, particularly around malnutrition and insect-borne diseases—two prevalent public health issues in developing countries—Dr. Lockwood began working as the Medical Affairs Lead for Bayer. In this role, she focuses on leveraging innovative agricultural and chemical technologies to address these critical challenges. Dr. Lockwood has lectured extensively, both nationally and internationally, on a wide array of topics in medical toxicology and global health.

Dr. Mohamed Jefri was born in State College, Pennsylvania, and raised in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He decided to travel for college and while completing a Bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience and Physiology at Flinders University in South Australia, he enjoyed working in the lab and got his first test of research. After graduating, he returned to his home country and completed medical school at King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences. He then spent a year at Kennedy Krieger Institute working on research after which he was accepted in residency at Central Michigan University. He was interested in Medical Toxicology during residency and was accepted at Rutgers NJMS where he completed his fellowship. Dr. Jefri’s interests included research, pharmaceutical R&D, medical affairs and clinical research.

Dr. Kim-Long Nguyen was born in California but grew up in a suburb of Dallas, Texas. He had attended the University of Texas at Austin for his undergraduate studies majoring in both biochemistry and chemistry. He attended the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine for his medical education, during which he had obtained an additional masters of business administration at the Rawls College of Business. He finally made it out of Texas and completed his emergency medicine residency training at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis prior to starting Toxicology fellowship at Washington University. Outside of work, he enjoys food experiences and breweries and the occasional surprised look when someone witnesses the volume of food he regularly eats in a sitting (even he doesn’t know where it all goes).

Dr. Cassondra Paletta was born in Hamilton Ontario Canada. She obtained a bachelors in science from Texas A&M University- Commerce where she majored in biology, followed by medical school at Saba University School of Medicine. She moved to Providence RI and completed her residency in internal medicine at a Boston University affiliated program at Roger Williams Medical Center. Following her training in the US, she moved back to her home country of Canada to pursue fellowship in clinical pharmacology and toxicology at the Schulich School of Medicine at Western University in London Ontario, Canada. She is currently a second year fellow in the program. Her toxicology interests include drug-drug interactions, complex therapeutic regimens, drug R&D and pharmacogenomics. Outside of medicine, Dr. Paletta’s hobbies include fitness, running, hiking and skiing.

Dr. Miya Smith, a Kansas City, Missouri native, pursued her undergraduate studies at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, where she majored in Russian and Cognitive Disorders & Human Behavior. She remained in Nashville for medical school at Meharry Medical College before completing her Emergency Medicine residency at the University of Chicago, where she also served as chief resident. During residency, Dr. Smith developed a strong interest in toxicology through her work with interpersonal violence and human trafficking, recognizing its critical role in forensic medicine. She went on to complete a fellowship in Medical Toxicology at UT Southwestern in Dallas, Texas. Her professional interests include forensic toxicology, addiction medicine, and exploring unconventional applications and non-clinical pathways within the field of toxicology. Dr. Smith is currently an Assistant Professor at Washington University School of Medicine.