Medical Toxicology

The Division of Medical Toxicology at UCLA consists of Drs. Michael Levine, Evan Schwarz, Hannah Spungen, David Tanen (Harbor-UCLA), and Cynthia Koh (VA).  Drs. Levine, Schwarz, and Spungen provide an inpatient and outpatient consultation service at our Ronald Reagan, Santa Monica, and West Valley sites. This includes consultations for medical toxicology, addiction medicine, and pharmacogenomics. In our outpatient clinic at Ronald Reagan, 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 at Harbor-UCLA. Dr. Tanen provides in person toxicology consultations in the Harbor-UCLA emergency department as well as on the medical wards and intensive care units in the hospital. Dr. Koh evaluates patients at the VA and staffs a teleaddiction hotline. The Division also hosts a quarterly journal club. 

Our rotations for fellows, residents, and medical students are both busy and popular. We launched a fellowship in 2024 with our first fellow starting in July 2024. The fellow(s) performs bedside consultations with Drs. Levine, Spungen, and Schwarz. Additional faculty for our fellowship include Drs. Tanen and Koh, along with Dr. Paul Wax and Dr. Cy Rangen. The fellows 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 fellow(s) also have a virtual poison center rotation with the West Texas Poison Center, where they take assist with call. They also attend the North American Clinical Congress of Toxicology, the American College of Medical Toxicology’s Annual Scientific Meeting, and the All Fellows Conference in the spring. 

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).