October 07, 2011
One of the nation’s leading clinical toxicologists, MaryAnn
Howland, Pharm.D, DABAT, FAACT, Clinical Professor in the College
of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions at St. John’s, is the
recipient of the 2011 Distinguished Service Award from the American
Academy of Clinical Toxicology, Inc (AACT).
Dr. Howland received the award at the AACT’s annual meeting
on September 24 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C.
Founded in 1968, the AACT is a national, interdisciplinary
association of clinicians and scientists dedicated to research,
education, prevention and treatment of human and animal
poisoning.
The award recognizes Dr. Howland’s “great contributions to our
profession of clinical toxicology,” said Alan Woolf, M.D.,
President of AACT. “This accolade,” he said, “is given each year to
a single member of the Academy who has given outstanding and
extraordinary service” to the organization’s work, and that of the
affiliated American
Board of Applied Toxicology (ABAT).
“I was thrilled to receive this award, which recognizes service
to an organization that embodies the values of St. John’s
University,” said Dr. Howland. “The objectives of the AACT stress a
passion for education and research — and for using one’s education
to make a positive difference on behalf of those in need.”
“We are all proud of the honor Dr. Howland has received,” said
Robert Mangione, Ed.D., R.Ph., Dean of the College of Pharmacy and
Allied Health Professions. “Throughout her 30 years as a faculty
member at St. John’s, she has been recognized as an outstanding
teacher, scholar and clinical toxicologist.”
Dr. Howland joined St. John’s faculty in 1979. Since then, her
expertise in clinical toxicology — and her work at a local teaching
hospital and a regional poison control center — has benefited
scores of pharmacy students. Dr. Howland is affiliated with the New
York City Poison Control Center and the Bellevue Hospital Emergency
Department in Manhattan. She mentors St. John’s pharmacy students
who attend their clinical rotations at both institutions.
“It’s an ideal way to learn,” said Dr. Howland. “In class at St.
John’s, our students learn the fundamentals in the basic science of
toxicology. Then they apply what they learn with me at the Poison
Control Center and the ED.” At the New York City Poison Control
Center — one of the largest in the nation—students serve as
consultants during call backs to physicians treating patients who
have been poisoned. The center receives more than 70,000 calls a
year — up to 300 a day.
Dr. Howland has been a member of AACT since 1980. She became
board certified and a diplomate of ABAT in 1986, the first year the
exam was administered. Dr. Howland is also an adjunct professor of
emergency medicine at the New York University School of Medicine,
Bellevue Hospital Center and New York University/Langone Medical
Center. She is an editor of
Goldfrank’s Toxicologic Emergencies, one of the world’s
leading toxicology textbooks.