Faculty Expert Profile

Eric Toner has been widely quoted by national media for his expertise related to the implications of the coronavirus COVID-19. An internist and emergency physician, Toner's primary areas of interest are healthcare preparedness for catastrophic events, pandemic influenza, and medical response to bioterrorism. He is a senior scholar at the Center for Health Security and a senior scientist at the Bloomberg School of Public Health's department of environmental health and engineering, a joint program with the Whiting School of Engineering. Toner has convened numerous meetings of national leaders to study hospital preparedness, pandemic influenza, emerging infectious diseases, mass casualty disasters, biosecurity, biosurveillance, and nuclear preparedness. He has appeared on a number of high-profile national TV broadcasts on pandemic and bioterrorism preparedness.

Toner has been involved in hospital disaster planning since the mid-1980's. In addition, he spearheaded the creation of a coalition of disaster planning personnel from five Baltimore County hospitals and local health and emergency management officials.

Toner is managing editor of Clinicians' Biosecurity News and an associate editor for Health Security journal. He has authored numerous papers and government reports on healthcare ad pandemic preparedness. He has been the principal investigator of several projects to assess healthcare emergency planning.