Overview

The Medical Director of the poison center, Dr. F. Mazda Shirazi is a professor of emergency medicine, toxicology, pharmacology and pharmacy practice in the UA Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy and Co-Director of the Center for Toxicology, Pharmacology, Education and Research. Dr. Shirazi earned an MD at the University of Arizona and also a PhD in Pharmacology and Toxicology. He completed his emergency medicine residency at the University of Texas Southwestern (Parkland) and his subspecialty training in medical toxicology at the University of Arizona. He also has Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Engineering with an emphasis in biomedical engineering instrumentation and biocompatible materials.

An attending physician in emergency medicine and medical toxicology, Dr. Shirazi lists special interests in envenomations, drug-drug interactions and the public health implications of toxicology.  He was recently a principal investigator in a Phase 3 pit viper antivenom and a co-investigator for scorpion antivenom study. He continues to be involved in benchtop, clinical, and public health research to benefit the citizens of Arizona.

At the UA College of Medicine in Tucson, he is in charge of the medical students and residents for toxicology rotation, the Director for the Medical Toxicology Fellowship Program and the Medical Director for the toxicology clinic. He has lectured and presented internationally throughout the Middle East and Asia. An instructor for Advanced Hazmat Life Support, he has taught and participated in many disaster and preparedness training exercises throughout the United States and serves on the scientific advisory committee for AHLS.

The Director of the poison center, overseeing operations and personnel, is Dr. Steven Dudley. Dr. Dudley is a board-certified clinical toxicologist who graduated with a PharmD from the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy in 2015, and completed a toxicology fellowship with the Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center in 2017. His fellowship focused on the assessment and treatment of patients presenting with pharmacological toxicity, overdose, and venom poisoning. Previously, Steven spent nine years working in retail pharmacy. In addition to his director duties for the poison center, Steven serves as the director of the APDIC Clinical Toxicology Fellowship program and as a lead for the Opioid Assistance and Referral (OAR) Line for the state of Arizona.

The Community Outreach Coordinators of the poison center are Taylor Hedges, MPH, CHES and Heather Doss, MPH, MS. They provide community education and outreach on poison prevention, medication management, bites and stings safety, and more.

Taylor is a Certified Education Specialist (CHES) with a dual degree in Health Promotion & Education Psychology from Illinois State University. She has an MPH from the University of Arizona with a concentration in Health Behavior Health Promotion.

Heather earned a Masters in Public Health with a concentration in Health Behavior and Health Promotion from the University of Arizona in Spring 2022. She also holds a bachelor's degree in biology and a Master of Science in Biomedical Science.

The Clinical Education Director of the poison center is Dr. Geoffrey Smelski, PharmD. The majority of Geoffrey's time is divided between teaching toxicology at the poison center and working on a variety of research projects. A few days per month he serves as an attending toxicologist for the poison center, where he leads a diverse teaching service of physicians and pharmacists in the clinical management of acutely poisoned patients in approximately 60 different hospitals across Arizona. Originially from upstate New York, he moved with his family to Arizona in 2018 for fellowship training in clinical toxicology. His special interests are in the field of neuropharmacology, specifically with regards to studying how different interventions may influence the pathophysiology of ethanol dependence.

The Program Coordinator of MotherToBaby Arizona is Chris Stallman. Chris Stallman is a board certified genetic counselor with experience in cardiovascular and prenatal genetics, teratogen exposures, and pre-implantation genetic screening counseling. They joined MotherToBaby Arizona in 2015 as a Teratogen Information Specialist, and teaches teratology to medical students, residents and other health professionals. They received their Master's degree in 2011 from the Joan H. Marks Graduate Program in Human Genetics at Sarah Lawrence College. They served as Education Committee Chair for the Organization of Teratology Information Specialists (OTIS) from 2012 to 2016. In 2018, Ms. Stallman was appointed as Program Coordinator for MotherToBaby AZ.