Forensic Toxicology Drug Abuse Medical Expert Witness

Education

University of Bucharest Medical School
M.D., 1977

Professional Experience

2009 to Present              Owner of A PRIVATE COMPANY
MD with toxicology and consulting experience. Areas of expertise include drug of abuse testing,litigation support, expert testimony in civil and criminal cases, and interpretation of clinical and forensic
toxicological tests in urine, blood, oral fluid, and hair.

August 2009 to Present   A PRIVATE COMPANY, West Hills, CA
Director College of American Pathologists (CAP)
Forensic Operations Director

• Responsible for the overall operation of the Substance Abuse Testing Laboratory which is certified by the Department of Health and Human Services and the College of American Pathologists to perform forensic urine drug testing in urine, oral fluid, blood ,and hair.
• Responsibilities include the assurance of accurate results and reports, method development and validation, quality assurance, and maintaining the level of competence of a staff of 50.
• The Laboratory performs drug analysis on more than 5000 specimens/day.
• Implemented a wide variety of GC/MS analyses for drugs of abuse in urine, oral fluid and hair.
• Implemented a wide variety of GC/MS analyses for medical professional panels.
• Responsible for the hiring, training, and evaluation of the laboratory staff.  Responsible for continuing education for both laboratory toxicology employees and for presenting talks to the clients.
• SAMHSA Certified as a Responsible Person and CAP Certified as a
• Forensic  Director.
• Responsible for depositions and court testimony.

August  1991 to July 2009    Quest Diagnostic Clinical Laboratories Van Nuys, CA

NIDA Laboratory Director, Alternate Responsible Person, Co-Director – College of American Pathologists (CAP).

• Responsible for the overall technical supervision of SAMHSA Certified Laboratory. SAMHSA Certified as alternate Responsible Person.  This laboratory performs analytical toxicology testing on more than 7000 specimens/day.
• Duties include the supervision of Quality Control, Chain of Custody, Immunoassay and Gas Chromatography/ Mass Spectrometer (GC/MS) testing.
• Responsible for the interpretation of analytical toxicology data. Responsible for the maintenance and performance of thirty-six GC/MS systems and six Olympus  Analyzers.
• Responsible for litigation packages and primary alternate for courtroom testimony.
• Responsible for validation and improvements of methods (GC/MS, Immunoassay).

January 1989 to August 1991        SmithKline Beecham Clinical Laboratories Van Nuys, CA
Research Chemist

• Responsible for test development of new toxicology assays and the
• Implementation of a wide variety of projects in toxicology, including:
• Quantitative analysis by GC/MS for Benzoylecgonine, Opiates, Barbiturates and Benzodiazepines; Separation of Optical isomers of Amphetamine by GC/MS; The analysis of anabolic steroids in urine by GC/MS; Enhancement of Syva EMIT reagents for the analysis of substances of abuse in urine; Evaluation of Chem 1 Analyzer for substances of abuse testing; Quantitative analysis of LSD in urine by RIA and GC/MS; Quantitative analysis of Clomipramine and Norclomipramine in serum by HPLC; Screening and confirmatory procedure for detection of antihypertensive agents, nicotine and diabetes medication, in urine, using a variety of techniques, including high performance thin layer chromatography, gas  chromatography, HPLC, and GC/MS.

1986-1988 International Clinical Laboratories, Santa Fe Springs, CA
GC/MS Specialist

• Responsible for the interpretation and review of diagnostic data, Chain of Custody documentation, Quality Controls.  Trained personnel, handled silent inquiries and testified as an expert witness.  Responsible for STAT and routine forensic tests for drugs of abuse using immunoassay, thin layer chromatography, gas chromatography and GC/MS.  Responsible
• for maintenance and performance of instrumentation, including TDX, MONARCH, COBASBIO, GC/MS, HPLC, GC/MS, GAMMA COUNTER.

Professional Societies

California Association of Toxicologists-1990

American  Association for Clinical Chemistry-1991.

Society of Forensic Toxicology -2004

College of American Pathologists (CAP) inspector.

Areas of Expertise

Analysis of drugs in biological fluids (blood, urine, oral fluid and hair) by Gas
Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS), GC/MS/MS,LC/MS/MS, Enzymatic Immunoassay, Solid Phase Extraction.

The interpretation of analytical toxicology data.
Over 20 years of experience as expert witness for depositions and court testimony.

PUBLICATIONS PRESENTED: Upon Request

CERTIFICATIONS:

Expert testimony for the Prosecutor and Scientist: NIJ (National Institute of Justice) & RTI International.

Expert testimony for the Prosecutor and Scientist II: NIJ (National Institute of Justice) & RTI International.

Toxicological Analysis of Drug-Facilitated Crimes for Dummies…and Smarties, Too SOFT October,15th,2007

Critical Flicker Fusion Confusion: Society of Forensic Toxicologists, Inc  2008

Effects of Drugs on Humans Performance and Behavior- a Borkenstein Sampler: Society of Forensic Toxicologists, Inc 2008

The Ten Biggest Mistakes Made By Experts-Society of Forensic Toxicologists, Inc October,20th 2009, Annual meeting Oklahoma City.

NLCP Manual and Checklist Changes Effective October 1,2010. RTI course ,Certificate Number:1008110457.09/27/2010.

Use Of Pharmacogenetics in Personalized pain management. Society of Forensic Toxicologists
October 18,2010 Richmond ,Virginia.

A Stroll Through the Cannabinoid Field:Pharmacology,Therapeutics and Untoward Effects. Society of Forensic Toxicologists: October 19,2010 Richmond ,Virginia.

Introduction to the NLCP RTI on line course.12-15-2010