Emergency Medicine

Section of Medical Toxicology

The Section of Medical Toxicology aims to further the care of patients with poisoning and toxicity from medications, drugs, plants, or animal envenomation. 

Medical Toxicology provides education for medical and pharmacy students as well as residents and fellows of all medical specialties. The rotation is available for visiting students and residents as well. The rotation is designed to give student, residents, and fellows a well-rounded education in the core principles of Medical Toxicology.  Learners develop skills in diagnosing and treating patients with adverse effects of medications and acute overdoses of medications.

Medical Toxicology provides bedside care to patients with poisoning or toxicity at OHSU and Doernbecher Children’s Hospital. More information is available here.

Medical Toxicology provides 24/7 physician call to the Oregon Poison Center (OPC). The OPC is an accredited Poison Center that manages 50,000 cases per year related to exposures to toxins, poisons, and medications. Calls are received from the general public as well as from healthcare workers, physicians in emergency departments and intensive care units, hazardous materials teams, and pre-hospital personnel. Medical Toxicology provides medical oversight for all cases called to Poison Centers in the states of Oregon and Alaska, and the territory of Guam.

The OHSU Section of Medical Toxicology continuously advances the science of Medical Toxicology by performing research on topics important to the field. The Division has generated greater than 200 manuscripts that have been cited >2500 times. Medical Toxicology is a site for several national multi-center studies and has several ongoing research investigations. A list of publications is available here.

The OHSU Medical Toxicology Fellowship is an ACGME-accredited, two-year training program that prepares fellows to be independent medical toxicologists, exceptional clinicians and researchers, and leaders in their field. The fellowship is available to physicians who have residency training in a U.S. emergency medicine residency. More information is here.