Medical Toxicology in Industry Virtual Fellows Rotation Program
Quick Info
Next Application Deadline:
December 2, 2024
Number of Awards:
8-10 (4-5 for each rotation)
Nature of Rotation:
4-week virtual rotation
Upcoming Rotation Periods:
Rotation 7: February 2025
Past Rotations:
Rotation 1: Jan. 2022
Rotation 2: Oct. 2022
Rotation 3: Feb. 2023
Rotation 4: Oct. 2023
Rotation 5: Feb. 2024
Rotation 6: Oct. 2024
Webinar Series
Sponsored by Bayer and MTF, ACMT offers free quarterly webinars on unique and engaging topics.
Check out upcoming and previous webinars below!
Program Overview
The focus of this program is to create opportunities for fellows to experience another facet of medical toxicology during their fellowship and introduce them to the possibility of a career in industry. The goal is to teach the principles of product development from the R&D pipeline, through the regulatory process, to launch and post-market stewardship. The rotation will address the gap in understanding the role of industry and the regulatory oversight of bringing important technology from the academic arena to the public sphere.
Bayer will be responsible for developing objectives and a curriculum that provides fellows with experiential learning opportunities across the spectrum of medical toxicology within their organization.
Rotations will be four weeks long with dates varying based on the site. Currently, opportunities are virtual only. Post-rotation evaluations will be required.
For more information about the program (objectives, curriculum, terms, etc.), please view the RFA guidelines.
Program Eligibility and Schedule
For 2024-2025, the Medical Toxicology in Industry Fellow Rotation program will have Bayer hosting eight (8) to ten (10) fellows for a one-month virtual rotation. These fellows will be selected in two cohorts.
The first cohort of four (4) to five (5) fellows will be selected in the spring of 2024. These fellows will then participate in the October 2024 rotation.
The second cohort of four (4) to five (5) fellows will be selected in the fall of 2024. They will participate in the February 2025 rotation.
Application Procedures
The applicant is required to provide the following information:
- Letter of Interest stating why you are interested in the Medical Toxicology in Industry Fellows Rotation program, the value to your future career path, and what you hope to get from the rotation. Letters must contain the available rotation periods ranked by preference. Letters should be limited to one (1) page.
- Letter of Support from your Fellowship Director
- Current resume/CV
Selection Timeline
Timeline for the Winter 2025 Rotation:
- Applications are due by 12/2/2024
- Notifications will be made late December 2024
- Rotation: Dates TBD, February 2025
Questions
For questions regarding the program and application process, please contact Mimi Bajagich, at mimi.bajagich@acmt.net
Participant Feedback
"We felt truly supported during our time and know we will feel the same say after the rotation comes to a close.”
"I couldn't have asked for a better, and more well-rounded experience to gain a perspective into what it's like to work as a medical toxicologist in the industry"
"This was an excellent experience and I would highly recommend it to any medical toxicology fellow.”
“Learning from the top scientists leading their respective fields was very eye opening and seeing how much impact their products have on our world was inspiring.”
Medical Toxicology in Industry Program Fellows
Al Yaqdhan Al Atbi, MD
Emory University, Atlanta, GA
Al Yaqdhan Al Atbi, MD is an experienced emergency medicine physician who has been serving at the Royal Oman Police Hospital since 2014. He earned his Emergency Medicine Board from the Oman Medical Specialty Board in 2020. Currently, Dr. Al Atbi is a medical toxicology fellow at Emory University in the United States (2023-2025).
Duaa Al Lawati, MD
Emory University, Atlanta, GA
Duaa Al Lawati, MD was born and raised in Muscat, Sultanate of Oman. She completed her basic science and medical degree at Arabian Gulf University in the Kingdom of Bahrain and is board-certified in emergency medicine by the Oman Medical Specialty Board. Currently, Dr. Al Lawati is working in one of the busiest tertiary care hospitals in Oman and pursuing a medical toxicology fellowship at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. She is also working on projects focused on enhancing operations at the Oman Poison Center. Her professional interests lie more in occupational and environmental toxicology.
Kayla Kendric, MD
University of California, San Francisco
Kayla Kendric, MD, a San Diego native, began her academic journey with a focus on biology and chemistry at Point Loma Nazarene University. She pursued her medical degree at Creighton University, studying across both Omaha and Phoenix campuses, before returning to California for her emergency medicine residency at Loma Linda University. Following her residency, Dr. Kendric worked as an attending emergency medicine physician in various community hospitals in the Bay Area for three years. During this time, her interest in medical toxicology grew, inspiring her to pursue a medical toxicology fellowship position which she now holds at the University of California, San Francisco. Her professional interests span drug development and safety, forensic toxicology, and addiction medicine.
Kim-Long Nguyen, MD, MBA
Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, MO
Kim-Long Nguyen, MD 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).
Cassondra Paletta, MD
Schulich School of Medicine, Western University, Ontario, Canada
Cassondra Paletta MD, 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.
Fermin Suarez, MD
Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Safety, Denver, CO
Fermin Suarez, MD was born in Chicago but grew up in West Valley City, about 30 minutes away from Salt Lake City. He attended the University of Utah where he majored in biology and minored in chemistry, followed by medical school at Temple University in Philadelphia. After graduating from Temple, he completed his emergency medicine residency at Denver Health. He was able to stay in Denver after completing residency where he is currently a second-year medical toxicology fellow at the Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Safety Center. Current toxicology interests include performance enhancing drugs, drug testing for athletics, drug research and development and post marketing surveillance. Outside of medicine, Dr. Suarez enjoy spending time with his wife, daughter and dog, board games, video games, soccer, weightlifting, and stereotypical Colorado activities like skiing, snowboarding, and downhill mountain biking.
David Toomey, MD
University of Rochester, Rochester, NY
David Toomey, MD was born and raised in the greater Boston area, and completed his Bachelors of Science in Molecular Genetics at the University of Rochester in Western NY. He returned to Massachusetts for medical school at University of Massachusetts, and completed residency through the Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency Program at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. David previously worked as Emergency Medicine faculty at the University of Rochester, and is currently the inaugural fellow in Medical Toxicology at the same institution. His interests include safety in drug development, advanced resuscitation for severely poisoned patients, and fungal horticulture.
Josue Zozaya, MD
University of Texas Southwestern, Dallas, TX
Dr. Josue (Josh) Zozaya was born in Brownsville, at the southern tip of Texas. He completed his bachelor’s degree in biological sciences at the University of California Riverside. He had post graduate training at the Keck Graduate Institute, where he focused on drug discovery and development on biological toxins including those responsible for causing anthrax and botulism. He then returned to the University of California Riverside where he attended medical school. He completed residency training in Emergency Medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern, where he currently works as a Toxicology fellow. His first exposure to toxicology was out in the ranchos of Mexico where he grew up studying, as well as getting stung by, venomous creatures. Dr. Zozaya’s interests in toxicology include animal/plant toxins, pharmacogenomics, cardiac toxins, and forensic toxicology.
Axel Adams, MD
Toxikon Consortium, Chicago, IL
Dr Axel Adams grew up in rural Wisconsin and attended the University of Wisconsin where he studied potato genetics and molecular biology. He then attended the University of California - San Francisco for medical school while doing a masters at the University of California-Berkeley School of Public Health with a focus in clinical toxicology. During this time, his research was primarily regarding new psychoactive substance surveillance and biomonitoring and mass spectrometry method development. He completed emergency medicine residency at the University of Washington, and is currently a first year fellow at the Toxikon Consortium in Chicago. His interests include drug discovery from natural products, mass spectrometry, occupational toxicology of the semiconductor industry, bioremediation, botany, and lichenology.
Trevor Cerbini, MD
Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ
Dr. Trevor Cerbini completed his Emergency Medicine residency at Kings County Hospital center and University Hospital Brooklyn. He attended medical school at SUNY Downstate College of Medicine. His first exposure to toxicology was a medical toxicology elective as an MS4. His interests include adverse drug reactions and patient safety, tox history, and addiction medicine. Mithridates VI is his personal hero. In his spare time Trevor enjoys watching movies, entertaining his 2-year-old, playing with his dog, and trying to get his cat to stop hissing at him when he is disrobed.
Mayank Gupta, MD
Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA
Dr. Mayank Gupta completed his bachelor's degree in industrial operations engineering at University of Michigan and went on to medical school at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. He completed his emergency medicine residency at Beaumont Hospital - Royal Oak and is currently in the medical toxicology fellowship at Emory University. He has worked on various process improvement projects and is interested in further developing his operations management skills during the Medical Toxicology in Industry program. His interests include process improvement, medical education, patient safety, and addiction medicine.
Mohamed Jefri, MD
Cambridge Health Alliance, Boston, MA
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.
Miya Smith, MD
UT Southwestern Medical School, Dallas, TX
Dr. Miya Smith was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri. She attended undergrad at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, where she majored in Russian as well as Cognitive Disorders and Human Behavior. She remained in Nashville to attend medical school at Meharry Medical College. She completed Emergency Medicine residency at the University of Chicago, where she was also a chief resident. It was in residency, through her work with interpersonal violence and human trafficking, that she discovered an interest in Toxicology as an important part of forensic medicine. She further explored her interest in Toxicology and is currently in fellowship at UT Southwestern in Dallas, Texas. Her interests include forensic toxicology, addiction medicine, and unconventional applications of and non-clinical pathways in toxicology.
John Keller, MD
University California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
John Keller, MD is originally from the Los Angeles area. He studied biochemistry in undergrad at Brandeis University outside of Boston and went to medical school at Pitt. He returned back to LA for EM residency at the Ronald Reagan-Olive View program, and is currently completing a toxicology fellowship at UCSF. His areas of interest within toxicology are envenomations and drugs of abuse.
Alexander Lazar, MD
Washington University, St. Louis, MI
Alexander Lazar, MD was born and raised in the Hoosier state of Indiana, where he grew up in the town of Westfield. After graduating from high school, he attended Indiana University where he obtained degrees in Biochemistry and Neuroscience. After graduating, he studied medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, IN. Following medical school, he set off on a journey to Hartford, Connecticut where he completed his residency in Emergency Medicine. After his time in Connecticut, he returned to the Midwest for fellowship in Medical Toxicology at Washington University in St Louis. His interests in medicine include critical care, toxicology, addiction medicine, LGBTQIA health, and furthering medical education. Outside the hospital, Alex can be found at local St. Louis eateries (Gramophone particularly), attending bar trivia with friends, and walking his co-fellow’s dog Watson through Forest Park.
Serah Wambui Oyewole, MD
University of Texas Southwestern, Dallas, TX
Serah Wambui Oyewole, MD completed her early medical education in Tucson, Arizona including medical school at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, Tucson. She attended her emergency medicine residency at McGovern Medical school in Houston, Texas and is currently a medical toxicology fellow at the University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas, Texas. Dr. Wambui Oyewole is interested in the non-clinical pathways within toxicology.
Stephen Petrou, MD
Stephen Petrou, MD grew up in Toronto, Canada. He was a pharmacology major in University which sparked his early interest in toxicology including adverse effects of medications, genetic polymorphisms, and drugs of abuse. He attended St. George's University School of Medicine in Grenada, West Indies, and completed emergency medicine residency at Good Samaritan Hospital/Catholic Health in New York. A fun fact about Stephen is that he is an avid collector of succulents and cacti with a favourite plant: the ariocarpus.
Adiel Aizenberg, MD
University of Arizona and Banner University Medical System, Tucson, AZ
Adiel Aisenberg, MD earned his degrees in psychology and biochemistry from the University of Texas at Austin. He then attended the University of Texas Medical Branch and went on to complete his emergency medicine residency at Texas Tech El Paso. Currently, he is a medical toxicology fellow at the University of Arizona and Banner University Medical System in Tucson.
Juliana Chang, MD
Northwell Health, Manhasset, NY
Juliana Chang, MD is an emergency medicine physician and second year toxicology fellow at Northwell Health on Long Island, New York. She earned her degree in Biology from Cornell University and went on to work as a teacher before switching careers to medicine. She attended medical school at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine in Scranton, Pennsylvania and completed her residency in emergency medicine at North Shore University Hospital / Long Island Jewish Medical Center at Northwell Health, where she served as chief resident. Her interests include drug development and regulation, poison prevention, and patient education.
Frank Dicker, MD
Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO
Frank Dicker, MD is a first-year Medical Toxicology Fellow and Clinical Instructor of Emergency Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis / Barnes Jewish Hospital. He completed his undergraduate education at the University of Tennessee and his medical education at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. Dr. Dicker entered the U.S. Army as an Active Duty Physician upon graduation from medical school and completed his residency in Emergency Medicine at the Medical College of Georgia in a military-civilian partnership program. Following residency, he served as the Flight Surgeon for the Special Operations Aviation Training Battalion for 3 years and then spent a year as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of North Carolina in a military-civilian partnership while attached to a Forward Surgical Resuscitation Detachment. His interests include critical care toxicology, alcohol withdrawal, and illicit substance para-intoxicants.
Ryan Fuchs, MD
HealthPartners Institute, Minneapolis, MN
Ryan Fuchs, MD is a second-year medical toxicology fellow at HealthPartners Institute (Twin Cities) Program and is a board-certified emergency medicine physician at Hennepin Healthcare in Minneapolis Minnesota. He completed his medical education at the University of Minnesota Medical School and residency training in Emergency Medicine at Hennepin Healthcare in 2021. He additionally serves as the medical director for AICDC withdrawal management center in Minneapolis, MN. His academic interests include critical care toxicology, substances of abuse, and addiction medicine.
Abigail Kerns, MD
University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA
Abigail Kerns, MD is a first-year medical toxicology fellow at the University of Virginia. She completed her emergency medicine training at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Prior to that, she completed both her medical degree and undergraduate at West Virginia University.
Alexandra Hamelin, MD
University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Vita Mithi, BA
Center for Life Toxicology Data, Malawi
Vita Mithi, BA is the founder of Center for Life Toxicology Data (Formerly known as Armref Data for Action in Public Health Research Consultancy) in Malawi. He is a communication lead for the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco Genetics and Omics Network and a research scholar in the Leaders of Africa Institute 2022 research methods program. He is a Medical Toxicology in Industry fellow at the American College of Medical Toxicology, and Africa Oxford Health Innovation and Entrepreneurship Scheme2022 fellow and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Public Health from the University of Livingstonia, in Malawi. His part of the Council for Tobacco Treatment Training Programs Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee and Evaluation Subcommittee of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco Health Equity Network. He is also a toxicology and epidemiology enthusiast, to ensure people access and use essential medicines properly.
Shelby Randall, MD
UC Davis School of Medicine, Sacramento, CA
David Schaffer, MD
University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA
Ari Filip, MD
Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MI
Dr. Filip is a second-year medical toxicology fellow and board-certified emergency medicine physician at Washington University in St. Louis / Barnes Jewish Hospital. He received his medical degree at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and completed residency training in emergency medicine at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, Arkansas. Prior to starting fellowship, he worked as an emergency physician in the St. Louis area. His interests include healthcare policy and quality improvement as they relate to medical toxicology.
Powell Graham, MD
University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, Worcester, MA
Powell Graham, MD is a Medical Toxicology Fellow and Clinical Instructor of Emergency Medicine at University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School in Worcester, Massachusetts. He completed his undergraduate education at Harvard University and his medical education at Central Michigan University College of Medicine. Dr. Graham completed his residency training at University of Massachusetts Emergency Medicine Residency Program where he served as chief resident. He is currently in his second year of Medical Toxicology Fellowship at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. His academic interests lie in the effects of cannabis and population health, particularly with regard to pediatric exposures and elderly falls.
Sasha Kaiser, MD
Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Safety, Denver, CO
Sasha Kaiser, MD is a second-year medical toxicology fellow with Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Safety. Her career path in medicine began while working as a pharmacy technician. She then earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing before ultimately deciding to attend medical school at Florida State University. She completed her emergency medicine residency at Denver Health in Denver, Colorado. Her current research interests include acetaminophen toxicity, antidote therapies and critical care toxicology.
Shahnaz Sonya Rashid, MD
Toxikon Consortium, Chicago, IL
Sonya Rashid, MD, is an emergency medicine physician and first year medical toxicology fellow at Toxikon Consortium. She began her education at the University of South Florida where she majored in Biomedical Sciences. Dr. Rashid spent a year in AmeriCorps before attending medical school. She attended medical school at the University of South Carolina and completed her residency in emergency medicine at Jackson Memorial Hospital/University of Miami. Her clinical interests include drug development, cosmetic toxicology, and addiction medicine.