Drug Abuse Initiative Adds UB Emergency Medicine Professor
A new national drug abuse initiative has appointed a University at Buffalo emergency medicine specialist to a key leadership role. It’s a significant move. The National Emerging Threats Initiative, or NETI, has named Dr. David M. Jacobs as its first-ever medical director, aiming to bring clinical authority to a data-driven strategy for combating the overdose crisis.
NETI is not another task force. It’s structured as an intelligence-gathering and analysis center, a pilot program designed to become a national model. The core problem NETI seeks to solve is data fragmentation. Information about overdose spikes, contaminated drug supplies, and user trends currently exists in separate silos controlled by law enforcement, public health agencies, and hospital emergency departments. This separation creates a critical lag time, preventing officials from responding effectively to a rapidly changing threat.
So NETI’s mission is to integrate this fractured data ecosystem. The goal is to deploy a system that provides real-time, actionable intelligence to first responders and public health leadership on the ground.
Dr. Jacobs brings a specific and highly relevant skillset to this effort. He is a clinical associate professor of emergency medicine at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB. But his expertise extends beyond the emergency room. Dr. Jacobs is also a medical toxicologist, a physician who specializes in the effects of poisons and toxins on the body—a discipline directly applicable to the complex and often fatal chemical cocktails found in street drugs today.
His appointment is intended to bridge the gap between raw data and medical reality. As medical director, Dr. Jacobs will provide essential clinical expertise and medical oversight for all of NETI’s operations. He’ll be responsible for interpreting the data streams through a physician’s lens, ensuring that the intelligence NETI produces is not just fast, but medically sound.
This initiative requires a deep understanding of medicine and public health, according to NETI Executive Director Dr. Joshua Lynch. The organization’s work, Lynch stated, is designed to give leaders the “best available intelligence so they can make better decisions, faster” when facing a crisis. Dr. Lynch emphasized that Dr. Jacobs’ background in emergency medicine and toxicology makes him uniquely suited to guide an organization focused on public health emergencies.
“Dr. Jacobs is a brilliant physician and a nationally recognized expert in emergency medicine and toxicology,” Dr. Lynch said in a statement. “His expertise will be a tremendous asset to our organization.”
The appointment, however, won’t pull Dr. Jacobs entirely away from his existing duties. He will maintain his faculty position at the Jacobs School and will continue his work as an attending physician and medical toxicologist with UBMD Emergency Medicine. This dual role allows him to remain connected to the front lines of the crisis while simultaneously helping to shape the high-level strategy designed to mitigate it.
