Director, Medical Toxicology

Academic Rank: Professor Academic Titles: Adjunct Professor, Division of Toxicology & Emergency Response, Department of Neurological Sciences, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha. Former Professor & Division Director, Toxicology, Departments of Pediatrics, Internal Medicine, Surgery, Saint Louis University (SLU) School of Medicine Education: • Secondary: Stuyvesant High School, Class of 1971, Academic Rank = 6 of 586. • Undergraduate: Syracuse University 1971-December 1974 graduated with BS Biology in 3.5 years. Honors: Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Beta Phi • Biochemistry Graduate Assistant with Dr. John Vornakis, PhD, researching messenger RNA, January 1975 to May 1975 • Medical School: Saint Louis University School of Medicine 1975 to 1979 • Residency: Department of Pediatrics, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, Pediatrics categorical 1979 to 1982 • Other Training: Toxicology Mini-Fellowship, 1988-1989, Toxicology Mentors Dr. William Banner, MD, PhD, Salt Lake City, Utah and Dr. Gary Wasserman, DO, Kansas City, Missouri Academic, Research, and Service History: • Dr. Scalzo was promoted to full Professor at SLU, Division Director of Medical Toxicology in 1995 and has served in that role to present. • Dr. Scalzo served as Medical Director of the Missouri Poison Center from 1986 to 2013. Since 1995 he has been active in community service by speaking with over 15,000 middle and high school students about not starting smoking cigarettes, nicotine addiction and not using drugs. • Dr. Scalzo has been a member of the American Academy of Clinical Toxicology (AACT) for 33 years and served as Chair and Co-Chair of the AACT Acute & Intensive Care Section for 16 years. Dr. Scalzo served 2 terms on the AACT Board of Trustees. • Dr. Scalzo first detected synthetic drug release to the Midwest and the US in the form of a synthetic cannabinoid product K2 in 2010 and reported it to the CDC. His efforts led to alerting the entire country to the proliferation of these dangerous synthetic drugs with interviews on CBS Evening News, The Early Show, CNN, ABC News, and by the Washington Post and New York Times about the dangers of synthetic cannabinoids. • Dr. Scalzo’s research and publication interests have included acetaminophen overdose toxicology and risk reduction for hepatotoxicity, toxic and systemic effects of the Brown recluse spider and loxoscelism, synthetic cannabinoids, nicotine addiction and smoking prevention, carbon monoxide poisoning in children, cardiac resuscitation medications and resuscitation medical simulation. • Dr. Scalzo was Co-PI with EM colleague Dr. James Gerard, MD, for a grant funded project of $541,807 through the Office of Naval Research, Department of Defense (DoD) to develop a Virtual Pediatric Simulator for resuscitation training. • Dr. Scalzo worked in Emergency Medicine for 34 years. He has board certifications in Pediatrics, Emergency Medicine and Medical Toxicology. During the last full academic year (FY20-21) he personally saw 1,178 toxicology consult patients. Awards: • Outstanding Clinical Educator for the Pediatric Clerkship in 202, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, September 2021 • Inducted into Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) Honor Society, October 2021 • Golden Apple Award from the SLU School of Medicine graduating class of 2018 (highest teaching award). • Outstanding Clinical Educator for a Faculty Member in Elective Rotation, 2018 • AACT Distinguished Service Award, 2014. Recent publications: • Riley SB, Garbutt K, Crow C, Isbell TS, Scalzo AJ. Gabapentin prevalence: clinical and forensic experience in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. Forensic Sciences Research, 2021;6:3, 218-223.https://doi.org/10.1080/20961790.2021.1991075 • Link SL, Rampon G, Osmon S, Scalzo AJ, Rumack BH. Fomepizole as an adjunct in acetylcysteine treated acetaminophen overdose patients: a case series. Clin Toxicol (Phila). 2021. https://doi.org/10.1080/15563650.2021.1996591 • Khattab M, Frisell K, MacKinnon R, Chang T, Raymond T, Lofton L, Tofil N, Forrester K, Gohel C, Aitken D, Scalzo A, Morre-Clingenpeel M, Auerbach M. INSPIRE (International Network for Simulation-based Pediatric Innovation, Research and Education) Network QCPR Leaderboard Investigators. Healthcare provider characteristics and cardiopulmonary resuscitation quality during infant resuscitation: A simulation study. Simul Healthc. 2021 Aug 31. • Du EY, Nellore A, Pfeifer C, Norfleet G, Scalzo A, Riley SB. Dying to be yew. Toxicology Communications 2021;5(1):109-111. • Ho A, Go A, Barrios C, Scalzo AJ. Severe noncardiogenic pulmonary edema secondary to massive verapamil overdose and treatment with venovenous Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation. Case Rep Critical Care. 2020 Dec 24;8842303. https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/8842303 • Schmid KM, Treaster MR, Barrios C, Zhang C, Scalzo AJ. Heightened immune response to presumed Loxosceles reclusa envenomation. Wilderness Environ Med 2019 Nov 1. pii: S1080-6032(19)30124-3.