Fellows

M.J. Menendez, JD

M.J. Menendez became a fellow of the Foundation when she joined NMS labs in July of 2019.  A courtroom attorney by training and practice, Ms Menendez has been litigating in federal and state courts for twenty-six years.  She began her prosecution career in the District Attorney’s Office in Gilpin and Jefferson Counties, Colorado and returned to the jurisdiction to serve as a District Court Judge in Jefferson County, presiding over criminal, and civil, proceedings from 2006 to 2009. She was responsible for creation and implementation of Jefferson County’s Controlled Substance Recovery Court.

MJ is an instructor and subject matter expert in state and federal case and statutory law, an outstanding instructor, and has research interests in the area of drug delivery homicide, drug scheduling, and driving workforce improvements in the field of forensic pathology.

Frederick G. Strathmann, PhD, MBA

Dr. Strathmann is currently the Vice President of Quality Assurance, Vice President of Operations, Director of New Technology and Innovation, and Assistant Laboratory Director at NMS Labs in Horsham, Pennsylvania. As the Vice President of Quality Assurance, Dr. Strathmann oversees the Quality Assurance team members and helps plot the quality core mission of the company. As the Director of New Technology & Innovation, Dr. Strathmann manages the Innovation Team charged with growing and managing the innovation portfolio at NMS Labs.

As an Assistant Laboratory Director, Dr. Strathmann is responsible for the overall clinical operation of the laboratory functional unit. As the Vice President of Operations, Dr. Strathmann oversees the day-to-day operations to support the growth of NMS Labs through a focus on strategic planning and goal-setting. Dr. Strathmann received his MS and PhD from the University of Rochester in NY, his MBA from the University of Utah, and completed a ComACC accredited clinical chemistry fellowship at the University of Washington. Dr. Strathmann is board certified in Clinical Chemistry and Toxicological Chemistry from the American Board of Clinical Chemistry.

Pat Harding, BS

Patrick Harding retired as supervisor of the Toxicology Section of the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene (WSLH) on December 30, 2012 after working 35 years at the WSLH. For more than 30 years Patrick functioned as a technical expert for WSLH alcohol testing programs and as an analyst for alcohol and other substances in biological specimens. Besides administrative duties related to the general operation of the Toxicology Section, his duties included coordinating the laboratory’s blood alcohol testing program, overseeing the administration of Wisconsin’s blood alcohol proficiency testing program and providing scientific support for Wisconsin’s breath alcohol testing program. Expert testimony in blood and breath alcohol cases (over 750), analysis of blood specimens, employee training and outreach activities were included in these duties.

Patrick has a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry and has completed numerous courses covering alcohol-related topics. He is a former chair of the National Safety Council Committee on Alcohol and Other Drugs, on the Board of Directors of the International Association for Chemical Testing, is a member of the Canadian Society of Forensic Science, a member of the Society of Forensic Toxicologists and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. He has co-authored papers on breath alcohol testing for the Journal of Forensic Sciences and co-authored a breath alcohol testing chapter in Medicolegal Aspects of Alcohol, as well as a special topic monograph for American Prosecutors Research Institute entitled “Alcohol Toxicology for Prosecutors.”

Donna Papsun, MS, FTS-ABFT

Donna Papsun is a forensic toxicologist at NMS Labs in Willow Grove, PA.  She has dual Bachelor of Science degrees from West Virginia University in Chemistry and Forensic & Investigative Science and a Master of Science degree in Pharmacology from Thomas Jefferson University.  She is also certified as a Forensic Toxicology Specialist through the American Board of Forensic Toxicology and is a member of both the Society of Forensic Toxicologists (SOFT) and the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS).

Ms. Papsun has been with NMS Labs since 2008 and began employment in the laboratory as a bench analyst.  Her laboratory experience includes many different types of techniques and instrumentation, including ELISA, EMIT, FAAS/FAES, ICP-MS, GFAAS, ICP-OES, and GC-FID.  Through her Master’s thesis work, she has also gained experience with LC-TOF/MS and LC-MS/MS while developing and validating a panel for the detection of 10 designer drugs of the pyrrolidinophenone class, including naphyrone, alpha PVP, and alpha PBP.

Ms. Papsun’s main areas of interest are drug-impaired driving and NPS (novel psychoactive substances).  As one of the two leaders of NMS’s NPS strategy team, she continuously works to help maintain NMS’s leadership in identifying the newest trends in the changing landscape of the designer drug market and developing tests for their detection in forensic toxicology casework.

Aya Chan HosoKawa, MS

Ayako (Aya) Chan-Hosokawa is a forensic toxicologist with NMS Labs in Willow Grove, PA.  She earned her Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Stockton University in 2004 and her Master of Science in Chemistry from University of Minnesota in 2006.  Ms. Chan-Hosokawa is also certified as a Diplomate through the American Board of Forensic Toxicology (ABFT) and is a member of the Society of Forensic Toxicologists (SOFT), the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS), and the International Association of Forensic Toxicologists (TIAFT).

Ms. Chan-Hosokawa received specialized training at The Robert F. Borkenstein Courses on Alcohol & Highway Safety and DUID, The Center for Forensic Sciences Research and Education certificate programs on analytical toxicology, postmortem interpretive toxicology, and forensic pharmacology and Thomas Jefferson Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences class on general pharmacology.

Professionally, Ms. Chan-Hosokawa’s primary area of interest is drug-impaired driving; she evaluates positivity data, the changes in drug trends and observed blood drug concentrations. Her focus is to help maintain NMS’s leadership role in forensic toxicology testing by developing appropriate scope of analysis at the sensitivity required for purpose of DUID investigations. She also serves as a faculty member for The Pennsylvania District Attorneys Institute for their annual training of prosecutors and investigators.

Marilyn Huestis, PhD

Professor Dr. Dr. (h.c.) Marilyn A. Huestis recently retired as a tenured senior investigator and Chief, Chemistry and Drug Metabolism Section, IRP, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, after 23 years of conducting controlled drug administration studies. She is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Maryland Baltimore. She thoroughly enjoys mentoring doctoral students in Toxicology, has to date directly overseen the research of 16 distinguished new toxicologists, and currently has 2 students pursuing their dissertation research. Her research program focused on discovering mechanisms of action of cannabinoid agonists and antagonists, effects of in utero drug exposure, and the neurobiology and pharmacokinetics of novel psychoactive substances, the emerging face of drug abuse.

Rob Middleberg, PhD, F-ABFT, DABCC-TC

Robert A. Middleberg is the Laboratory Director and Senior VP of Laboratory Operations of Operations and Quality Assurance at NMS Labs.  He is a Fellow of the American Board of Forensic Toxicology and a Diplomate of the American Board of Clinical Chemistry, and currently sits as a Director on both Boards.  He served as Toxicology Section Chair within AAFS, and was Chair of the Scientific Working Group in Toxicology from its beginning to its end in 2014.  He currently is a member of CAP’s Toxicology Resource Committee, and sits on the Toxicology Subcommittee within the NIST OSAC.  In 2013, Dr. Middleberg was awarded the Rolla N. Harger Award by the Toxicology section of AAFS for his contributions to the field and profession of forensic toxicology.

Karen Scott, PhD

Dr. Karen Scott is the Director of Forensic Science at Arcadia University and an Assistant Professor in Arcadia’s MSFS program. Prior to this, she held the position of senior lecturer and consultant forensic toxicologist at Forensic Medicine and Science, University of Glasgow, where she carried out post-mortem Forensic Toxicology casework and directed a MSc program in Forensic Toxicology. She has over 20 years experience in the fields of forensic and clinical toxicology. She is published in the areas of post-mortem toxicology and hair and alternative matrix testing and is a reviewer for three of the main Forensic Toxicology journals.

Dr. Scott has a Bachelor of Science (honours) degree in Forensic & Analytical Chemistry from the University of Strathclyde (Glasgow, UK, 1994) and a PhD in Forensic Toxicology from the University of Glasgow (UK, 1998)). On completion of her degrees she carried out postdoctoral research in Tokyo, Japan investigating incorporation rates of drugs into hair. She is a Chartered Scientist, a Chartered Chemist and an Authorised Analyst for the purposes of Section 16 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act (UK). She is actively involved with SOFT and AAFS and was recently elected to the National Safety Council, Alcohol Drugs and Impairment Division.

Daniel Isenschmid, PhD, D-ABFT

Dr. Dan Isenschmid is a forensic toxicologist at NMS Labs. Prior to joining NMS he was the Chief Toxicologist at the Office of the Wayne County Medical Examiner for over 17 years. Dr. Isenschmid received his B.S. degree in Biology from Adelphi University and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in pathology and forensic toxicology, respectively, from the University of Maryland at Baltimore, School of Medicine.  Dr. Isenschmid was the recipient of several Educational Research Awards from the Society of Forensic Toxicologists. In addition, he received the Irving Sunshine Award and Alexander O. Gettler Award from the Toxicology Section of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Dr. Isenschmid is Diplomate and Vice President of the American Board of Forensic Toxicology. In addition to being Secretary and former Treasurer of TIAFT, he is a member and Past President of the Society of Forensic Toxicologists and a Fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences where he also served on its Board of Directors.

He has published and/or presented many papers on topics related to postmortem forensic drug testing including medical examiner case reports, the interpretation of postmortem cocaine concentrations, the stability and analysis of cocaine and its metabolites, and the effects of cocaine on human performance. Dr. Isenschmid has provided lectures in various topics related to forensic toxicology to graduate and undergraduate students, pathologists, law enforcement personnel and attorneys. He regularly gives lectures on the forensic toxicology of cocaine including at the Borkenstein course on the Effects of Drugs on Human Performance.

Lionel Raymon, PhD, PharmD

Lionel Raymon received his Doctorate in Pharmacy in 1989 from the University of Bourgogne, School of Medicine and Pharmacy in Dijon France. After an internship in Internal Medicine and Endocrinology, he joined the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Addiction Research Center where he studied brain imaging in AIDS dementia as a Research Associate in the Department of Neuropharmacology with Dr. E. London. He then joined the University of Maryland at Baltimore School of Medicine, Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. Under the mentoring of Dr. M. Eldefrawi, he graduated with a Ph.D. in 1994, studying cocaine binding sites, dopamine reuptake inhibition and possible leading chemicals to treat dependency states.

As a post-doctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. D. Mash at the National Parkinson Foundation, University of Miami School of Medicine, he worked on preclinical and clinical studies related to ibogaine, a potential anti-addictive drug. It is during the pharmacokinetic characterization of this drug (Phase I trial) that Dr. Raymon was introduced to the field of Forensic Toxicology, thanks to the support and help of Dr. W. Hearn’s laboratory at the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner Office. Dr. Raymon joined Chip Walls’ laboratory where he worked as a Program Specialist from July 1996 to January 2003. He developed analytical methods related to drug monitoring in biological specimens, forensic testing and epidemiological studies. His interest is in the understanding of impairment related to drug use, in driving under the influence and sexual assault cases. Dr. Raymon is now Clinical Associate Professor of Pathology at NOVA Southeastern School of Osteopathic Medicine.

Dr. Raymon is also chair of Pharmacology for Kaplan Medical and teaches Pathology, Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Medical Genetics in a number of US medical school programs and abroad.
He accepted a consulting position with The Forensic Panel in New York in January 2007.
Dr. Raymon has published in peer-reviewed journals, is the author/editor of several books or book chapters and has presented and chaired multiple symposia for SOFT, AAFS, TIAFT.

Britton Morin

Britton is an experienced DNA analyst and laboratory manager. She currently serves as the Laboratory Director at the Union County Prosecutor’s Office Forensic Laboratory, where she supervises Forensic Biology and Controlled Dangerous Substances sections. She has been in that role for over two years. During this time, she has managed the validation and implementation of several new technologies, including both STRmix and Y-STR analysis. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry from the University of Delaware and a Master of Science in Forensic Science from Pace University.

Prior to joining UCPO, she was a criminalist for the NYC Office of the Chief Medical Examiner Department of Forensic Biology, working in both the Homicide/Sex Crimes and Property Crimes Groups. She was also the DNA Technical Leader at NMS Labs, a private forensic testing agency. In addition to supervising casework there, she was responsible for the validation and implementation of a number of new technologies. She also served as an adjunct professor at Arcadia University, giving graduate level lectures and serving as an advisor on graduate thesis projects.

Phil Danielson, PhD

Dr. Phillip B. Danielson is a University of Denver Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences; an adjunct in the Sturm College of Law and a Fellow at the Center for Forensic Science Research and Education . He studied at the University of Tokyo’s Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics and the University of Colorado at Boulder’s Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology. He oversees a forensic research and development program, serves as a forensic DNA expert in criminal proceedings and is a member the Organization of Scientific Area Committees for Biology and DNA which promulgates standards for the US forensic community. In addition to forensic science, he teaches courses in Molecular Diagnostics, Infectious Disease and Immunology.

Dr. Danielson specializes in the application of genomic and proteomic technologies to real world challenges. His research has been funded by the National Institute of Justice, the US Army, The National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and the Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Dr. Danielson’s research has been featured in books, academic and professional journals as well as the popular press including the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Forensic Science International, The Scientist magazine, Law Enforcement Technology magazine and USA Today

Stephen Donovan, PhD

Dr. Stephen F. Donovan recently retired as a Senior Chemist, most recently working at NMS Laboratories.  He has worked at the Pennsylvania Department of Health in conjunction with the chemical terrorism preparedness program of the LRN-C, a division of the CDC.  He also has been an Adjunct Professor of Chemistry at the College of New Jersey, and a Principle Research Chemist at the agrochemical divisions of American Cyanamid, BASF and FMC.  He received his PhD from the University of California with John McMurry.

His current main area of interest is in detecting toxic pesticides used to kill wildlife in Africa.  A program has been set up at the Foundation to analyze samples extracted from poisoned animals to determine the identity of the toxic pesticide(s) via the use of LC/MS/MS. He is also interested in the contamination of groundwater by PFAS compounds

Alana J. Balogh, BFA, AA

Alana Balogh is a liaison for the Southern Africa Wildlife Poisoning Prevention Project. Alana has worked with an extensive network of wildlife advocates and conservation partners in the US and Africa to promote conservation and environmental protection.

After attaining her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Syracuse University she focused her studies on environmental science and conservation graduating from Bucks County Community College with an Associate of Arts degree in Environmental Science.

She worked for the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources for 20 years in various positions including Artist/Illustrator II and Park Ranger II after graduating from the Montgomery County Police Academy. She has been a member of the Environmental Advisory Council of her town for over 20 years.