The American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC) has recently named Jay L. Schauben, PharmD, DABAT, FAACT, as its new president-elect following a general membership vote among its 57 poison centers in the United States. He will serve as president-elect beginning October 2012 and take over as president of the organization October 2014. Schauben, who implemented the Florida/USVI Poison Information Center–Jacksonville in 1992, has served on the AAPCC Board of Directors for the last six years.

With more than 30 years of leadership in the field of poison centers and clinical toxicology, Schauben is board-certified in clinical toxicology by the American Board of Applied Toxicology, an organization in which he also held the elected position of president. He is currently the director of the Florida/USVI Poison Information Center at Shands Jacksonville and holds the rank of professor in the University of Florida College of Medicine–Jacksonville department of emergency medicine and the UF College of Pharmacy department of pharmacotherapy and translational research.

The AAPCC is a national organization providing the nation’s 57 poison control centers with accreditation, certification, continued education and support for its real-time national surveillance database (National Poison Data System). Poison Center members all utilize the nationwide Poison Help hotline (1-800-222-1222), providing expert medical advice 24 hours a day from toxicology specialists, including specially trained nurses, pharmacists and physicians.