Poison and Drug Information Center Welcomes New Director
Timothy Wiegand, M.D., has taken on the role of director for the Ruth A. Lawrence Poison and Drug Information Center. Wiegand will also serve as medical director, coordinating physician coverage and working closely with the center’s new managing director, Norma Barton. Among his goals, Wiegand hopes to strengthen the poison center’s status as a valuable, cost-effective resource for the community and health care professionals.
“Dr. Wiegand brings enthusiasm, energy and ambitious goals to his new position,” said Michael Kamali, M.D., acting chair of Emergency Medicine for the University of Rochester Medical Center. “We look forward to working with Dr. Wiegand to increase the center’s involvement in the education of our residents, medical students and health care professionals.”
Wiegand previously served as the associate medical director for the Northern New England Poison Center, which provided service for Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. Prior to his position there, Wiegand was assistant medical director at the San Francisco Division of the California Poison Control System, where he also held the role of assistant professor of Medicine and Clinical Pharmacology at University of California San Francisco (UCSF) with appointments in the Department of Medicine, Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics and Clinical and Laboratory Medicine.
Wiegand earned his degree in medicine at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, School of Medicine and Public Health, and completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Wiegand went on to complete a toxicology fellowship and training in clinical pharmacology at UCSF. He also received his certification in toxicology by the American Board of Emergency Medicine.
In his graduate and post-graduate work, Wiegand took on a number of leadership roles in the field of toxicology. He served as medical director for one of the local alcohol detoxification units associated with HCMC and provided physician support for a local methadone clinic affiliated with the hospital’s Addiction Medicine and Toxicology program. Wiegand helped develop teaching curriculum for the medical toxicology fellowship program at UCSF and served as director for inpatient Toxicology/Detoxification unit in San Francisco as well. During his fellowship at UCSF, Wiegand conducted research funded by the National Institutes of Health on the negative effects of the chemicals gamma-hydroxy butyric acid and its analogues, which were frequently associated with overdoses when used recreationally and also used as commonly identified as date-rape drugs in the San Francisco Bay area.
“I am excited and honored to have the opportunity to step in as director for a center with such a legacy and I look forward to serving the population of the Greater Rochester area and the 12-county Finger Lakes region,” Wiegand said.
To learn more about the Ruth A. Lawrence Poison and Drug Information Center, visit http://www.fingerlakespoison.org/ or call the hotline at (585) 273-4155.