LAKE FOREST, Ill. — For his work in medical toxicology, public health and medical education, Dr. Jerrold B. Leikin is the most recent winner of the Harm Reduction Award presented by the GPF Foundation (GPFF), a not-for-profit based in Lake Forest, Illinois that is dedicated to saving lives through awareness about the dangers and risks of recreational drugs.
The award was presented by Michael G. Nerheim, former States Attorney for Lake County (IL) and the 2020 recipient of the GPFF Harm Reduction Award. This month the Illinois Supreme Court appointed him to be a judge in the 19th Judicial Circuit, Second Subcircuit.
In presenting the award, Nerheim said of Dr. Leikin: “Your passion for preventative medicine and education allows people who may find themselves endangered from recreational drugs to avoid harm and helps guide medical professionals in providing critical diagnoses and treatment.”
“We know our efforts can only realize their full potential when people can put awareness into action,” Nerheim said. “Jerry, you have accomplished this.”
Currently, Dr. Leikin is a Clinical Professor of Medicine at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine & Science in North Chicago, IL, and Adjunct Clinical Professor in the Division of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences and the Occupational and Environmental Medicine Service of UI Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a Senior Clinical Educator at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine.
In 1980, he received his medical degree from the Chicago Medical School followed by a combined residency in Internal Medicine and Emergency Medicine at Evanston Hospital with Northwestern University and a three-year preceptorship/fellowship training in Medical Toxicology at Cook County Hospital and University of Illinois Hospital in Chicago. Dr. Leikin is currently Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Emergency Medicine, Medical Toxicology and Addiction Medicine.
He has presented more than 200 research abstracts at national meetings (primarily to the North American Congress of Clinical Toxicology) and published more than 200 articles in peer-reviewed medical journals along with 80+ book chapters. He has also been an editor in 10 book publications and served on the Illinois State Board of Health from 2016 through 2019.
In accepting his award, Dr. Leikin said that he looks forward to the day “when we and the Illinois Poison Center and medical toxicology are literally put out of business. I hope that day comes soon.”
Dr. Leikin is the senior editor for the monthly primary care journal, “Disease-A-Month” published by Elsevier. Later this year a cohort of GPFF Fellows will contribute original scholarly work for publication by “Disease-A-Month.” The article’s forward will be written by Nancy and Ross Friedman (GPFF Treasurer and President, respectively) to contextualize the foundation’s work for thousands of medical professionals who subscribe to the journal.
About The GPF Foundation
The GPF Foundation was founded in 2018 to save lives by supporting education, appropriate treatment and overall awareness of the dangers related to recreational drug use. In pursuit of this mission, GPFF focuses its work in two interrelated areas: 1) Educational Initiatives to mitigate the dangers of playing a modern day version of “Russian Roulette” with street drugs, including peer-to-peer outreach on the risks of MDMA (Ecstasy or Molly), particularly adulteration with other substances, and effective harm reduction strategies; and 2) Medical Initiatives that include development and dissemination of innovative clinical training tools for front line medical providers that address a critical “blind spot” in the accurate diagnosis and effective treatment of those experiencing adverse effects of psychostimulant use.
Learn more at https://www.gpffoundation.org/.
Related link: https://www.gpffoundation.org/
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