Professional Staff
Ronald E. Gots, MD, PhD
Ronald E. Gots, MD, PhD received his A.B. in chemistry and his M.D. degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He received his Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Southern California School of Medicine. Since 1975, he has devoted his professional activities to solving clients’ problems in environmental medicine, toxicology, causation analysis, and risk communication.
Dr. Gots has focused on the scientific methods for assessing causation of diseases allegedly associated with chemical and biological agents. He has assisted hundreds of clients in analysis, strategy and testimony in chemical and mold injury claims, regulatory matters, mass tort claims, environmental and workplace exposure issues, and risk communication. He has provided medical oversight for chemically exposed and mold-exposed individuals and has overseen numerous mold remediation projects.
He has shared his expertise with workers and community groups in dozens of toxic exposure matters across the country. He has been consulted for indoor environmental and air quality assessments for numerous office buildings, schools, and manufacturing facilities. He has lectured at numerous national meetings of claims executives, attorneys, policy makers, and physicians in the fields of medicine and science, toxicology, regulation, and claims resolution. He has testified in congressional subcommittee hearings concerning victim compensation legislation.
Dr. Gots has chaired two international symposia on "Multiple Chemical Sensitivities: the State of The Science." He sat on a committee convened by the International Programme on Chemical Safety (UNEP-ILO-WHO) to evaluate the "chemical sensitivity" issue (Berlin, Germany, February 1996).
He is the author of six books, chapters in six books and more than 70 articles on biochemistry, toxicology, mold and mold toxins in insurance and legal literature. Recent book chapters include: "Toxic Risks: Science, Regulation, and Perception;" "Risk Analysis and Communication" in Occupational, Industrial, and Environmental Toxicology, and "Applying Principles of Science to Daubert Motions in Toxic Tort Claims" in 2000 Wiley Expert Witness Update. His most recent books are Chemical Sensitivity: The Truth About Environmental Illness and Keeping Buildings Healthy.
Debra J. O'Connell, RN, BSN, CLNC
Debra J. O'Connell RN, BSN, CLNC, is a member of the legal nurse consultant group. She received her BSN degree from York College of Pennsylvania and earned certification as a legal nurse consultant through the National Alliance of Legal Nurse Consultants. Ms. O'Connell has experience in review and analysis of medical records.
Prior to joining NMAS, Ms. O'Connell worked as an independent legal nurse consultant, and clinically in school health and emergency care. She has experience managing multiple projects and medical record reviews and abstracts in several litigation matters ranging from personal injury to wrongful death for both plaintiff and defense. As a project analyst, Ms. O'Connell is involved in conducting and facilitating medical records review with focus on areas such as medical records abstraction, chronology development, identification of pre-existing conditions, creation of timelines and other charts / tables, analysis of medication use and effects, and summary of medical / scientific literature.
For more information on ICTM's staff and capabilities, please click on the staff links found above or contact us.
ICTM's principals are proud of over 30 years of successful, highly-regarded biomedical consulting in litigation, regulation, environmental/occupational medicine, indoor environmental matters and toxicology. Our experience in thousands of matters, particularly toxic tort, mass tort, and specialized chemical regulatory and indoor environmental issues, brings a wealth of experience to and rapid understanding of our clients' needs. That knowledge translated into action generates focused, cost-effective and successful solutions. Because we have "been there and done that," our clients benefit from our breadth of accumulated knowledge, information and data.
Our experienced team recognizes that every client has unique, specialized needs. To accommodate those needs, we combine our knowledge and data with targeted approaches tailored to your particular requirements. Our depth of experience enables us to provide efficient expert assistance. The nature of that experience was discussed by Dr. Ronald Gots, our founder, in a recent interview with Metropolitan Corporate Counsel. For the full text of that interview, click here.
Whether your need involves IEAQ services, single claimant to complex multi-claimant litigation, or regulatory arguments to state or federal agencies, we can help. Our expert understanding of the scientific issues in medicine, toxicology, pharmacology, and numerous related areas complements an intimate understanding of the arena in which we are applying that knowledge.
We offer a highly unique combination of expertise:
- Mitigating liability;
- Managing complex mass tort data;
- Preparing courtroom presentations;
- Providing health risk communicating;
- Integrating law, science, and medicine;
- Performing regulatory risk assessment, and
- Investigating indoor environmental issues.
Information not clearly communicated is ineffective and costly. ICTM translates complex knowledge into focused, understandable, and persuasive approaches for the desired audience. Reducing financial risk through sound, provable science is the core of ICTM's approach.
