Steven Seifert


Steven A. Seifert is an American medical toxicologist. He is a professor of emergency medicine at the University of New Mexico, as well as the medical director of the New Mexico Poison and Drug Information Center. Since 2017, he has been the editor-in-chief of Clinical Toxicology. He is also a jazz tenor saxophonist.

Education

Seifert received his B.S., with Honors and with Distinction, from Cornell University in 1972 and his M.D. from the University of Cincinnati in 1976. He completed his internship in family medicine at the University of Arizona, his fellowship in medical toxicology at the University of Colorado and received an advanced certificate in medical writing and editing from the University of Chicago.

Medical Career

After his initial training, Seifert practiced emergency medicine from 1977 to 2001 and was certified by the American Board of Emergency Medicine, maintaining that certification for 30 years. After completing his Medical Toxicology fellowship, Seifert served on the staff of the Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center in Tucson, after which he served as the medical director of the Nebraska Regional Poison Center in Omaha for six years. In 2005, he developed and chaired “Snakebites in the New Millennium,” a progenitor meeting of the Venom Week Symposiums. He also chaired Venom Week III in 2009 and co-chaired the combined Venom Week IV/International Society on Toxinology meeting in 2012. In 2006, under a DHHS/HRSA Grant, he was part of the team that created the web-based Antivenom Index, a resource for zoos to document their holdings of antivenoms to non-native species and for clinicians to locate those antivenoms to treat exotic envenomations. In 2007, he became the medical director of the New Mexico Poison and Drug Information Center. He has over 200 peer-reviewed, scientific publications and contributed numerous chapters in medical texts, including Goldman-Cecil Medicine, Critical Care Toxicology, Conn's Current Therapy, UpToDate, and Medical Toxicology, 3e. He co-edited Clinical Toxinology in Australia, Europe and Americas. He also served on the New Mexico Prescription Drug Misuse and Overdose Prevention and Pain Management Advisory Council, from its inception in 2012 through 2018, as the statutory representative of the University of New Mexico. Seifert was appointed to the Senior Editorial Board of Clinical Toxicology in 2008, as an Associate Editor in 2014, and as Editor in Chief in 2017.

Honors and Awards

Seifert is a fellow of the American Academy of Clinical Toxicology and of the American College of Medical Toxicology. He previously was elected a fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians. He has served on the Boards of Directors of the American College of Medical Toxicology, the American Association of Poison Control Centers, and the North American Society of Toxinology, including as NAST's inaugural Board President. In 1996 he received a J.C. Penny Golden Rule Finalist Award and a subsequent U.S. Presidential Service Award nomination for his work with victims of sexual assault. He received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in 2011, the Presidential Merit Award from the American Academy of Clinical Toxicology in 2018, and the Volunteer Faculty Award of the University of New Mexico College of Pharmacy in 2019.

Selected peer-reviewed medical publications

Seifert has published non-medical works of scientific research, as well as humor and fiction, including: "On Batting Order" in the Baseball Research Journal, "Sherlock Holmes: Academic Toxicologist" in the Baker Street Journal: An Irregular Quarterly of Sherlockiana, "The Cheap Romantic" in the Tucson Weekly, and "For the Birds" in Tucson Lifestyle Magazine, among others.

Music Career

Seifert is also a jazz, tenor saxophonist who, since 2012, has performed regularly in the "Arts-in-Medicine" concert series at the University of New Mexico Hospital and other venues with his combo. In 2020, he became a founding member of "The Steve Seifert Project," a virtual music group whose members are all named, "Steve Seifert" including the notable, Nashville dulcimer player, Steve Seifert and the Los Angeles bassist, Steve Seifert.