Dr. Toner is a Senior Associate with the Center for Biosecurity of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). He is a physician board certified in internal medicine and emergency medicine. Dr. Toner is a widely cited author on a range of biosecurity issues, including hospital preparedness, pandemic influenza response, and clinical issues related to bioterrorism response. He is a managing editor of the Clinicians’ Biosecurity Network, an online network for clinicians that regularly sends clinical biosecurity reports to thousands of clinicians across the country and around the world. He is an associate editor of the journal Biosecurity and Bioterrorism: Biodefense Strategy, Practice, and Science, the leading peer-reviewed journal in this field. Dr. Toner has authored numerous articles on hospital and pandemic preparedness, and has organized several meetings of national leaders on the topic of hospital preparedness for pandemic influenza and mass casualty disasters. He has spoken at numerous national and international conferences on a range of biosecurity topics and appeared on a number of high profile national television news features on pandemic flu and bioterrorism preparedness. Currently, he is leading a high profile project, under contract with HHS, to evaluate the achievements of the HHS Hospital Preparedness Program to date and to propose an official definition of hospital preparedness for the future. Dr. Toner has been involved in hospital disaster planning since the mid-1980s. Prior to joining the Center, Dr. Toner was Medical Director of Disaster Preparedness at St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson, Maryland, and practiced emergency medicine for 23 years. During this time he also served as CEO and CFO of a large group practice and as associate Head of the Department of Emergency Medicine. He founded and directed one of the first Chest Pain Centers in Maryland. Dr. Toner also co-founded and managed a large primary care group practice and an independent urgent care center. After September 2001, he was appointed to the newly created position of Medical Director of Disaster Preparedness. He developed policies and procedures for decontamination, defense against respiratory pathogens, and surge capacity, and he had responsibility for biological, chemical, radiological, and nuclear preparedness issues, including preparedness and response for smallpox, SARS, and pandemic flu. He helped create a coalition of disaster preparedness personnel from the five Baltimore County hospitals, Health Department, and Office of Emergency Management. Dr. Toner received his BA and MD from the University of Virginia. He trained in Internal Medicine at the Medical College of Virginia. He is board certified in Internal Medicine and Emergency Medicine.
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