Medical Toxicology

The Division of Medical Toxicology at UCLA consists of Drs. Michael Levine, Evan Schwarz, David Tanen (Harbor-UCLA), and Cynthia Koh (VA).  Drs. Levine and Schwarz provide an inpatient and outpatient consultation service at our Ronald Reagan and Santa Monica sites. This includes consultations for medical toxicology, addiction medicine, and pharmacogenomics. In our outpatient clinic we evaluate patients for a variety of conditions including envenomations, work exposures, heavy metal intoxications, and pharmacogenomic testing and counseling. We also perform telehealth evaluations. Dr. Tanen provides toxicology consultations in the Harbor-UCLA emergency department as well as on the medical wards and intensive care units in the hospital. The Division also hosts a quarterly journal club.

Our rotations for residents and medical students are both busy and popular. In 2024 we plan to launch a fellowship program in Medical Toxicology. The fellows will perform bedside consultations with Drs. Levine and Schwarz. Additional faculty for our fellowship will include Drs. Tanen and Koh, along with Dr. Paul Wax and Dr. Cy Rangen. The fellows will also participate in the twice a month California fellowship call where fellows and faculty from the four fellowships around the state of California present educational cases. The fellows will also be involved with taking call and educational activities with the poison center. They will also attend the North American Clinical Congress of Toxicology and the American College of Medical Toxicology’s Annual Scientific Meeting.

Our faculty are also engaged in multiple state and national organizations where they sit on committees, present at meetings, and serve on boards of directors. This includes the American College of Medical Toxicology, American Academy of Clinical Toxicology, American College of Emergency Medicine along with the California chapter, and the American Society of Addiction Medicine. They also serve as reviewers and on editorial boards for several journals including the Journal of Medical Toxicology, Journal of Wilderness Medicine, American Journal of Emergency Medicine, the Journal of Emergency Medicine, Annals of Emergency Medicine, Internal and Emergency Medicine, and JAMA Network Open. They are involved with multiple research projects, and participate in the American College of Medical Toxicology’s Toxicology Investigator’s Consortium (ToxIC).