Eric S. Toner

Eric S. Toner, MD is a Senior Scientist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a Senior Associate with the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. He holds a primary appointment in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering and serves as Managing Editor of Clinicians' Biosecurity News and Associate Editor of the journal Health Security.

Dr. Toner received his BS and MD degrees from the University of Virginia in 1974 and 1978, respectively, followed by internal medicine training at the Medical College of Virginia. With over three decades of experience in emergency medicine and disaster preparedness, including 23 years as Medical Director of Disaster Preparedness at St. Joseph Medical Center, he has established himself as a leading expert in health security.

His research spans health security, biosecurity, healthcare preparedness for catastrophic events, pandemic influenza, bioterrorism, emerging infectious diseases, and crisis standards of care. Dr. Toner has been instrumental in developing community-level responses to disasters, notably creating a coalition of disaster preparedness personnel across Baltimore County hospitals in 2003. His work bridges clinical practice, public health policy, and emergency management, with increasing attention to equity considerations in recent publications.

Analysis of Dr. Toner's publication history reveals a consistent focus on practical implementation strategies for healthcare systems facing public health emergencies, evolving from specific disease responses (Ebola, influenza) to broader systems approaches and equity considerations in disaster planning. His work demonstrates a progression from clinical guidance to comprehensive health security frameworks.

• Principal investigator on multiple US government-funded projects to assess and advance healthcare preparedness
• Organizer of numerous meetings with national leaders on hospital preparedness and pandemic response
• Frequent speaker at national and international conferences on biosecurity topics
• Featured expert on national television and news features regarding pandemic flu and bioterrorism preparedness

Dr. Toner collaborates with a multidisciplinary team at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, working across clinical medicine, public health, emergency management, and policy development. His current research focuses on systems approaches to preparedness, health security leadership in academic medical centers, and integrating equity considerations into disaster response frameworks.