2023 AACT Symposium | DEI in Toxicology: What it Means for Patients and Learners

Dr Akpunonu is an associate professor of emergency medicine and medical toxicology at the University of Kentucky. His professional interests are CBRNE, novel psychoactive substances and health disaparities in poisoning. He enjoys hands on practical lectures. He has participated in multiple clinical trials and is an active member of MENATOX, ACMT and AAEM Dr Akpunonu is the medical director of the inpatient toxicology consultation service at the University of Kentucky. He also is the medical director of the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine service. Dr Akpunonu is also the medical director of the Kentucky Poison Control Center. 

 As an emergency physician and toxicologist, Dr. Akpunonu specializes in the recognition, triage, and management of poisonings and holds a deep interest in the areas of novel psychoactive substances of abuse, envenomations and prescribed patterns.

Dr. Druck went to medical school at Baylor College of Medicine, followed by residency at Denver Health.  He currently serves as the Vice Chair of Faculty Advancement, DEI, and Wellbeing for the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Utah, as well as serving on the board of SAEM. His interests include mentorship, wellbeing, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), medical education, and the intersection of education and clinical care. He has been involved in medical education at the undergraduate level, graduate level, and CME level.  From a DEI perspective, he has been involved in DEI efforts on an undergraduate, graduate, and national level.

Research interests: mentoring, medical education, wellbeing, DEI

Dr. Kevin Mercer is originally from Louisville, KY. He received PharmD and MPH degrees from the University of Kentucky and pursued pharmacy residency training at The University of Chicago Medicine and The Johns Hopkins Hospital. His professional interests within the realm of emergency medicine include toxicology, cardiac arrest, and global health. In his spare time, he enjoys traveling, SCUBA diving, and cooking.

Adam is the managing director of the Indiana Poison Center. After earning his PharmD from UNC in 2010, he practiced in a variety of settings before finding a home in the world of toxicology and poison centers. He is a Diplomate of ABAT and is active on multiple committees through ABAT, AACT, America’s Poison Centers, and other organizations, and maintains an active precepting schedule for two schools of pharmacy and numerous PGY1 and PGY2 pharmacy residency programs. His interests include acetaminophen poisoning, novel psychoactive substances, and institutional and organizational psychology, but what he loves most of all is spending every minute he can with his "threenager" and wife, collecting and using fountain pens, and watching soccer.

Dr. Justin Seltzer was born and raised in San Diego, CA. He did both his undergraduate studies and medical school at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, CA. He completed residency training in emergency medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago, IL. Within toxicology, his interests include pharmaceutical drug toxicity, antidote development and drug repurposing, and hazardous materials such as chemical warfare agents, pesticides, industrial chemicals, and radiation exposure.

Haylee Veazey is a faculty physician who is dual board certified in Emergency Medicine and Internal Medicine. She practices at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis and is an Assistant Professor in both EM and IM at the University of Minnesota School of medicine. She is the medical director of the Adult Gender and Sexual Health clinic at Hennepin Healthcare and splits her time evenly between Gender and Sexual Health and Emergency Medicine.  She came out of the closet as a trans woman early in her residency and has been active in educating on diversity and gender and sexual health since then.

Garry Winkler, M.D. is a Board Certified Medical Toxicologist and Emergency Medicine physician based out of Houston, Texas. He is at the University of Texas Health Houston practicing Emergency Medicine and Toxicology and is the Section Chief of Medical Toxicology. Garry serves as the current co-chair for the American Academy of Clinical Toxicology’s (AACT) Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity section.

He graduated from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas with a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 2008. After receiving his Medical Degree at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, he completed his Surgical Internship at Boston Medical Center in Boston, MA. He completed his Emergency Medicine Residency at the University of Arizona Tucson University Campus and received a distinction in Medical Education. He completed his Medical Toxicology fellowship at the University of California San Diego.

Michael Yeh, MD, MS, is a medical officer at the National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in Atlanta, Georgia, and a Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. Michael obtained a B.S. in biology from SUNY Stony Brook, an M.S. in journalism from Columbia University, as well as an M.S. in epidemiology and M.D. from the University at Buffalo. He completed a combined internal medicine / emergency medicine residency at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh. Michael worked as an emergency physician in community hospitals on Long Island and Rhode Island before completing the Emory University/CDC fellowship in medical toxicology in 2021. His current activities at CDC include working with America’s Poison Centers on surveillance of chemical exposures and public health hazards, acute outbreak investigations, emergency preparedness for chemical and radiological disasters, and medical toxicology fellow education.