Medical Toxicology

The Division of Medical Toxicology was established as a formal division at University of Mississippi Medical Center in 1996, under the Department of Emergency Medicine. UMMC now serves as the toxicology referral center for the state of Mississippi.

The Medical Toxicology Division serves as the medical toxicology consult service for all UMMC hospitals and clinics. The service assists in the management of approximately 300 patients each year. This includes the emergency department, inpatient, and outpatient clinical settings. The service provides a wide variety of clinical expertise involving the assessment of acute pharmaceutical overdoses, adverse drug reactions, envenomation, interpretation of toxicology labs, and addiction. Due to limited resources in the state, many poisoned or envenomed patients are referred to UMMC for further evaluation.

The division also is the primary medical resource for the Mississippi Poison Control Center. All physicians in Mississippi have access to medical specialists to help in the management of patients suffering from toxic exposures.

UMMC also has a state-of-the-art clinical toxicology laboratory that provides critical analyses, such as methanol or ethylene glycol levels 24 hours daily as well as having the capability to provide GC/MS and other analyses for more esoteric chemicals.

Teaching

The Medical Toxicology division is very active in education at UMMC. The resident rotation is also available to other medical specialties. There is a clinical rotation for fourth-year medical students, also.

For more information

• David Vearrier, MD, MPH; Professor of Emergency Medicine; Director, Division of Medical Toxicology; Associate Program Director, Preventative Medicine Residency

• Brett Marlin, MD; Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine; Co-Director, Division of Medical Toxicology