2023 ACMT Annual Scientific Meeting - On-Demand

Dr. Brandehoff is board certified in emergency medicine, medical toxicology, and addiction medicine with a focus on envenomation research. He has an appointment as Assistant Clinical Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and is faculty at the Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center. He is also the President and Medical Director for the Asclepius Snakebite Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit, that focuses on improving snakebite education and management in West Africa.

Dr. Joshua (Josh) DeBord is a Senior Scientist at the CFSRE working in the areas of forensic toxicology and forensic chemistry. Dr. DeBord joined the CFSRE in early 2022 and performs R&D on challenging toxicological casework and profiles physical drug evidence on projects related to the CFSRE’s drug characterization initiatives, including CFSRE’s NPS Discovery program.

Dr. DeBord graduated with a B.S., M.S., and Ph.D., each in Chemistry, from Florida International University (FIU) in Miami, FL. Dr. DeBord’s doctoral research was conducted under the mentorship of Professor José Almirall on profiling and geographic provenance determination of heroin. Before joining CFSRE, Dr. DeBord was employed at the North Louisiana Crime Lab in Shreveport, LA, as a forensic chemist and toxicologist. Beginning there in 2018, Dr. DeBord and two colleagues started the toxicology section from only blood ethanol analysis to ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accreditation for qualitative determination and quantitative measurement of most drugs by March 2020. He also assisted with the development and implementation of the North Louisiana Crime Lab’s statistical sampling procedure to reduce backlog in the large-seizure drug casework. He continued to perform casework analysis and expert testimony before joining CFSRE in 2022.

Dr. DeBord is passionate about teaching, research, and mentorship. His research interests focus on applied research for increasing the capabilities of publicly funded forensic labs and improving the work experience for forensic professionals.

Leslie R. Dye, MD is triple board certified in emergency medicine, medical toxicology, and addiction medicine. She has worked in the fields of medical toxicology and addiction medicine for 30 years. In addition to her clinical expertise, she has academic and business content expertise from experiences as an editor-in-chief (EIC) of a peer-reviewed medical journal (Journal of Medical Toxicology) and EIC of physician and pharmacist content production for a leading international medical digital content provider. Her deep subject matter expertise is demonstrated in her role as senior editor of the textbook, Case Studies in Medical Toxicology, author of 18 peer reviewed publications and 16 textbook chapters, 66 national and 11 international presentations, 10 various commentaries, interviews, and podcasts. Her leadership skills have been proven in both corporate and academic environments, as professor at a medical school, long-term board member and past president of the American College of Medical Toxicology, Chair of the Addiction Medicine Committee, former co-chair, and co-moderator of the AACT Acute and Intensive Care Symposium, and as the manager of as many as 30 team members at an international corporation. She received a funded grant that enabled her to start the first poison control center in mainland China and trained 6 Chinese physicians in the field of medical toxicology over 3 years in the US. Dr. Dye is experienced in and continues to provide medical care in remote polar regions with no access to advanced medical facilities.

Dr. Tharwat El Zahran is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine and the Medical director for the emergency department at the American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC)

She completed a fellowship training in medical toxicology at Emory University and CDC, and currently co-directs the medical toxicology service at AUBMC.

Dr. Brenna Farmer is Chief of Emergency Medicine at NY Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital and Vice Chair in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine's Department of Emergency Medicine. She trained in Emergency Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and in toxicology at NYU/Bellevue and the New York City Poison Control Center. She earned her medical degree from East Carolina University's Brody School of Medicine and her executive MBA from Cornell and MS in Healthcare Leadership from Cornell's Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences. Her major academic interests are medication safety, patient safety, and acute bedside care of the toxicologic patient.

Dr. Hendrickson graduated from the State University of New York, Downstate College of Medicine, and completed training in Emergency Medicine and Medical Toxicology at the Medical College of Pennsylvania. He is a Professor of Emergency Medicine at Oregon Health and Sciences University where he is Chief of the Section of Medical Toxicology, Program Director for the fellowship in medical toxicology, and the Medical Director of the Oregon Poison Center.

Dr. B. Zane Horowitz served as the medical director of the Oregon-Alaska-Guam Poison Center for 22 years. He also served as the medical director for the Utah Poison Control Center for 7 of those years. He currently continues to teach at Oregon Health and Science University in medical toxicology, and has authored over 90 publications.

Katherine Katzung, MD is an attending physician in the emergency department at Abbott Northwestern, where she serves as chair of the department.  Additionally, she is the medical director of the hospital’s addiction medicine and toxicology program, which began in 2020 after she received grant funding to initiate a hospital-based toxicology/addiction medicine consult service as well as an  emergency department-based addiction medicine "bridge" clinic to provide continuity of care for patients initiated on Suboxone.  This innovative program allows patients evaluated at Abbott Northwestern in the emergency department or inpatient units continuity of care, while focusing on harm-reduction strategies, until they can be given a warm hand-off to community providers.

A graduate of the University of Minnesota School of Medicine, she completed emergency medicine training at Regions Hospital in St. Paul and additional fellowship training in medical toxicology.  She is board certified in emergency medicine, medical toxicology, and addiction medicine.  Her clinical interests surround the intersection of these 3 specialties, with special focus on early ED & hospital-based interventions to evaluate and treat substance use disorder, including initiation of medication assisted therapies.

She volunteers as a consultant for the Minnesota Poison Control System in addition to serving on the board of the Steve Rummler HOPE Network and acts as medical director of its overdose prevention program.

Born in 1975 and raised in Beirut, Lebanon, Dr. Kazzi trained in Emergency Medicine at Emory University in Atlanta (2000-03) where he served as a chief resident before completing a subspecialty fellowship in Medical Toxicology at Emory University, Georgia Poison Center and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta. He is board certified in both Emergency Medicine and Medical Toxicology. Dr. Kazzi joined the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) between 2005 and 2008 where he served as a Medical Toxicologist for the Regional Poison Control Center in Birmingham and the Alabama Poison Center. Currently, he is an associate professor at the department of Emergency Medicine at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia as well as the director of the International Toxicology Postdoctoral Fellowship Program at Emory University (http://www.em.emory.edu/services/toxicology/international_postdoc_training.html). He is also the assistant medical director of the Georgia Poison Center (www.georgiapoisoncenter.org) and a medical toxicologist at the Radiation Studies Branch of the National Center for Environmental Health at the CDC (https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/radiation/) where he participates in emergency preparedness and response activities in radiation. As an emergency physician and toxicologist, Dr. Kazzi specializes in the recognition, triage, and management of poisonings and holds a deep interest in the areas of Radiation and International Toxicology. Over the past decade, he developed strong ties to India in the areas of medical toxicology, mass gathering medical preparedness, radiation emergency medicine, blast injuries and hazmat. Through his collaboration with the CDC, AIIMS, and PGIMER Chandigarh, he has delivered and co-directed the first Advanced Hazmat Life Support trainings in Ahmedabad and Delhi. He organized a number of training conferences in Nashik, Pune, Ujjain and Delhi and has been an invited speaker at the annual INDUS EM world congress. He is an active and founding board member of the Middle East North Africa Toxicology Association (www.menatox.org) and currently serves as its President. He is also a board member and chairs the International Committee of the American College of Medical Toxicology (www.acmt.net).

JoAn Laes, MD, DFASAM, FACMT is an addiction medicine physician in Minneapolis, Minnesota, focusing on inpatient addiction medicine and toxicology consultation as well as experience in outpatient treatment of opioid and other substance use disorders. She is also a core medical toxicology faculty for the Minnesota Poison Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and medical director for Missions Inc. Detox facility in Plymouth, Minnesota. She is board certified in Internal Medicine, Medical Toxicology, and Addiction Medicine. She completed internal medicine residency at Hennepin County Medical Center and medical toxicology fellowship at Regions Hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota.

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. Lorenzo Leggio is a Senior Investigator in the NIH Intramural Research Program (IRP) with faculty appointments both at NIDA and NIAAA. He serves as Chief of the Clinical Psychoneuroendocrinology and Neuropsychopharmacology Section, a joint NIDA and NIAAA laboratory. He also serves as the NIDA Deputy Scientific Director, NIDA Acting Clinical Director, and Chief of the NIDA IRP Translational Addiction Medicine Branch. He also serves as a NIH Senior Attending Medical Staff and as senior medical advisor to the NIAAA Director. Dr. Leggio received his M.D. and Ph.D. from the Catholic University of Rome and ‘Agostino Gemelli’ hospital, where he also completed residency and received Board Certification in Internal Medicine. He was a visiting research associate, then postdoctoral research associate in Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University, Providence, RI. In 2010, he joined the faculty of the Brown University Medical School as Assistant Professor at the Brown University Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, where he still holds an adjunct appointment as Professor in Behavioral and Social Sciences. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Addiction Medicine at Johns Hopkins University and Adjunct Professor of Neuroscience at Georgetown University. 

Dr. Leggio’s clinical research has been primarily focused on the treatment of alcohol and substance use disorders, with a special emphasis on the role of microbiome-gut-liver-brain and neuroendocrine pathways as well as GABAergic pathways; and on the medical consequences of alcohol use disorder, focusing on alcohol-associated liver disease. As a Principal Investigator at Brown University, Dr. Leggio received extramural research funding from NIAAA and NIDA, as well as from Brown University, the European Foundation for Alcohol Research, ABMRF/The Foundation for Alcohol Research, and the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation (NARSAD Young Investigator Award). At Brown University first, and at the NIH since 2012, Dr. Leggio, together with his team, colleagues and collaborators have pioneered and conducted work on medication development, on the role of the microbiome-gut-liver-brain axis and on the role of neuroendocrine pathways in addictive behaviors via human laboratory studies and clinical trials as well as via translational and reverse translational experimental medicine approaches. 

In 2022, Dr. Leggio was elected Fellow of the American College on Neuropsychopharmacology. Among other awards, Dr. Leggio received the 2008 Nordmann Award from the European Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism, the 2016 Early Career Investigator Award from the Research Society on Alcoholism, the 2018 Eva King Killam Award from the American College on Neuropsychopharmacology and the 2020 Jacob P. Waletzky Award from the Society for Neuroscience.

Michael Levine is a Los Angeles native, who completed his emergency medicine residency at the Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine program, based out of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital. After residency, he completed his medical toxicology fellowship at Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center in Phoenix, AZ. After staying as faculty for a year in Phoenix, he moved back to Los Angeles, where he joined the faculty at USC. He is currently the division chief of medical toxicology. He is actively involved in patient care, research, and serves on numerous hospital and university committees. He is an active member of American College of Emergency Physicians, the American College of Medical Toxicology, and is a member of the Toxicology Investigator's Consortium.

Ryan Marino, MD is a medical toxicologist, emergency physician and addiction medicine specialist in Cleveland, OH. He currently practices at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Drug and Poison Information Center, and is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Emergency Medicine and Psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. He is the Medical Director for the Toxicology & Addiction Bridge Clinic at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center. Outside of work he can often be found spending way too much time on social media.

Dr. Dan McCabe is a Clinical Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Pharmacy at the University of Iowa, Division Director of Medical Toxicology at the University of Iowa, and Medical Director for Iowa Poison Control Center.

Matthew Salzman received his Bachelor of Arts in Music from the University of Rochester and his Medical Degree from the Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University.  He trained in Emergency Medicine and Medical Toxicology at Drexel University College of Medicine.  Currently, he is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine in the Division of Medical Toxicology and Addiction Medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University.  He is the Medical Director for the In-patient Addiction Medicine Consult service as well as Medical Director for Research for Addiction Medicine at Cooper.  He is also a volunteer consultant in toxicology for the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Poison Control Center.

Dr. Spyres received her MD from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City and stayed in New York to complete an Emergency Medicine residency at Bellevue/New York University. She completed her Medical Toxicology fellowship training in 2016 at Banner—University Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona. She is currently Associate Professor of Clinical Emergency Medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine Phoenix and faculty in the department of Medical Toxicology at Banner—University Medical Center Phoenix. Her research interests include envenomations, emerging drugs of abuse, gender in medicine, and the intersection of critical care and toxicology. She is co-founder of Women in Toxicology, a subgroup of ACMT that promotes women in academic medicine. Additionally, she is part the leadership team for ACMT’s Toxicology Investigators Consortium Registry (ToxIC), focusing on detecting trends in novel drugs of abuse.

Jeffrey Suchard is an Emergency Physician and Medical Toxicologist at the University of California, Irvine.  After undergraduate studies in Biochemistry at UC Berkeley, he attended medical school at UCLA, EM residency at UConn, then completed medical toxicology fellowship in Phoenix, AZ.  Dr. Suchard has worked clinically at UC Irvine since 1999 and began his current involvement in medical student education in 2010.  He teaches Epidemiology & Biostatistics to the MS1 class (since 2010), is the course director for MS2 Medical Pharmacology (since 2011), and serves as Associate Dean for Basic Science Education (since 2014).

Andrew Stolbach is currently Chair of the American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) Medical Toxicology Subboard. ABEM writes and administers board certification materials including MyToxCert.

Josh Trebach is an emergency medicine physician and medical toxicologist at the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics. He completed his undergraduate training at Virginia Tech, medical school training and residency at Johns Hopkins, and toxicology fellowship at New York University/New York City Poison Control Center. Josh is currently the Director of Resident Medical Toxicology Education at the University of Iowa and is passionate about all things toxicology, medical education, social media, LGBTQ health, and animal rescue.

James Watson is a board certified medical toxicologist and emergency medicine physician practicing at Maine Medical Center and the Northern New England Poison Center, and is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine. James graduated from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine in 2017 before completing residency training at the Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and fellowship training at the Harvard Medical Toxicology Program at Boston Children’s Hospital; both in Boston, Massachusetts. His academic interests include medical education, resource utilization within medical toxicology, and critical care toxicology. James is a Portland native, and lives in Southern Maine with his wife, son, and rescue dog Mowgli.

Jim Whitledge is an emergency physician and medical toxicologist at the University of Vermont Medical Center. He is also a Co-Chair of the AACT Herbs & Dietary Supplements Section, and enjoys taking call for the Northern New England Poison Center. Jim has a particular interest in drug and antidotal shortages, novel treatments for antimuscarinic delirium, and pediatric toxicology. He also very much enjoys interesting case reports. Jim spends his free time skiing, biking, and hiking with his family, and is excited when he finds mushrooms in the woods.

Timothy J. Wiegand, MD, FACMT, FAACT, DFASAM is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Public Health Sciences at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) in Rochester, New York. Board-certified in both Medical Toxicology and Addiction Medicine, Dr. Wiegand specializes in Addiction Toxicology, combining clinical practice with research, teaching, and leadership roles. He has served two terms on the Board of Directors for the American College of Medical Toxicology (ACMT) and is currently on the Board of Directors for the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM). In 2023, he began a two-year term as Treasurer of ASAM, having previously served as Vice President on the Executive Council. Dr. Wiegand founded and led the Toxicology Service at URMC until 2022, when he transitioned to Director of Addiction Medicine and Director of Addiction Medicine Consults in the Department of Emergency Medicine. He also serves as Fellowship Director for the URMC Combined Addiction Medicine Fellowship and is leading efforts to launch the URMC Medical Toxicology Fellowship, which is expected to be formally accredited by July 2023.

Dr. Alan D. Woolf is a pediatrician and medical toxicologist. He is the Associate Chief Medical Education Officer at Boston Children’s Hospital and a Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. He is Medical Director of the Pediatric Environmental Health Center at Boston Children’s Hospital, Director of the Pediatric Environmental Health Fellowship Training Program, and Principal Investigator of the Region 1 New England Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit. He is currently a member of the Executive Committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Council on Environmental Health & Climate Change and a member of the PFAS Subcommittee of the National PEHSU Program. Dr. Woolf has served as a consultant regarding PFAS water contamination to both the New Hampshire and Massachusetts Departments of Public Health since 2014. He co-authored one of the first papers to describe the PFAS water contamination event in Portsmouth NH and was a ‘Community Liaison’ giving input to the NASEM Report on PFAS published in 2022. He is currently a member of the New Hampshire State Advisory Committee on PFAS and cancer. 

Dr. Woolf is a past-president of both the American Academy of Clinical Toxicology and the American Association of Poison Control Centers. In 2018, Dr. Woolf received the Career Achievement Award from the AACT and, in 2019, he was named the Louis Roche Lecturer by the European Association of Poisons Centers and Clinical Toxicologists. He is the Editor of the recent book The History of Modern Clinical Toxicology published by Elsevier Publishers in 2021.

Nasim Zamani graduated from Azad University of Medical Sciences in Tehran, Iran in 2004. She started residency in Forensic Medicine and Clinical Toxicology in 2008 and finished the course with the first rank of the national board followed by fellowship program in clinical toxicology in Loghman Hakim Hospital- one of the largest in-patient clinical toxicology centers in the world- in affiliation with Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. After graduation, She started to work in the same setting as attending physician in 2014 where she was responsible for patient treatment, teaching, and research in the field. She has won three international grants in the field of clinical toxicology and is currently a board member of APAMT and a member of EAPCCT.

Dr. Matt Zuckerman is an medical toxicologist at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and Rocky Mountain Poison & Drug Safety. He is the pharmacology content director for the CU School of Medicine curriculum.