Barry Rumack

Barry H. Rumack (born November 1, 1942) is an American medical toxicologist and pediatrician. His primary clinical and research interest has been in clinical toxicology with a special interest in acetaminophen poisoning. Since 2014 he is emeritus professor of emergency medicine and pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

Early years and education Rumack was born in Chicago, Illinois, on November 1, 1942. He grew up in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, and graduated from Whitefish Bay High School in 1960. In 1964, he graduated from the University of Chicago with a Bachelor of Science in microbiology in 1964.

In 1971 he returned to the University of Colorado to complete a pediatric residency and then did a fellowship at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in clinical pharmacology and toxicology.

Academic career In January 1973, Rumack joined the faculty of the University of Colorado School of Medicine as assistant professor of pediatrics. He has been with the university ever since and was named emeritus professor of emergency medicine and pediatrics in 2014. Published first on microfiche and later on CD-ROM it became the standard software used by the majority of poison control centers in the US and globally.

In January 1974, he became the director of the Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center (now Denver Health Medical Center) and served in this role until his retirement in 1992. His early work at the center was focused on developing a regional resource for poison information and treatment. Part of that work involved the development of Poisindex. Within that system an international mushroom toxicology classification system was developed. Similar systems for plants and snakes were also incorporated. Having such technical advantage, Rumack established a hotline at the Rocky Mountain Poison & Drug Center Rumack, where every poison enquiry could be answered within 30 to 50 seconds. The Kansas City Star 1978 feature story noted that the center "has become a technical prototype for similar operations around the country". In September 1976, he began a protocol and was the principal investigator of the use of n-acetylcysteine for the treatment of acetaminophen overdose as part of a National Multiclinic Study which collected and published the largest series of acetaminophen cases ever collected in The New England Journal of Medicine in 1988. This treatment, now given intravenously, has been the standard approach to this overdose to this day worldwide.

In 1978, together with Emanuel Salzman Rumack co-authored Mushroom Poisoning:diagnosis and treatment, which had a second edition in 1994 with David Spoerke as a co-author. In 1980, he was portrayed in the movie Airplane! (1980) as Dr. Rumack (played by Leslie Nielsen), who took care of passengers on the plane with food poisoning. In 2008, in a testimony at court he explained that he used to live in Milwaukee next door to filmmakers David and Jerry Zucker and they took his name for the movie role.

In May 1989, Rumack visited Georgia as part of a three experts team commissioned by Physicians for Human Rights to investigate a possible use of toxic gas during the April 9 tragedy. He was able to identify the gas as chloropicrin, which is an illegal war gas, utilizing a mass spectrometer at the Tbilisi State Medical University.

In 1999, he was doing a sabbatical at the Food and Drug Administration when he was asked to evaluate safe levels for exposure to methylmercury in pediatric vaccines. Rumack developed a pharmacokinetic model to analyze the amount of mercury to which infants were being exposed and found that mercury levels at Thiomersal-containing vaccines were far exceeding safety guidelines established by United States Environmental Protection Agency, Food and Drug Administration and Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. .

Selected publications Bateman DN, Dart RC, Dear JW, Prescott LF, Rumack BH. Fifty years of paracetamol (acetaminophen) poisoning: the development of risk assessment and treatment 1973-2023 with particular focus on contributions published from Edinburgh and Denver. Clinical Toxicology (Philadelphia). 2023 December;61(12): pages 1020-1031. doi: 10.1080/15563650.2023.2293452. Epub 2024 January 25. PMID: 38197864. Akakpo JY, Ramachandran A, Rumack BH, Wallace DP, Jaeschke H. Lack of mitochondrial Cyp2E1 drives acetaminophen-induced ER stress-mediated apoptosis in mouse and human kidneys: Inhibition by 4-methylpyrazole but not N-acetylcysteine. Toxicology. 2023 December;500:153692. doi: 10.1016/j.tox.2023.153692. Epub 2023 November 30. PMID: 38042273.

Selected books

Awards and recognition Rumack received three highest American career achievement awards in the field of clinical toxicology: an Annual Recognition Award from the American Association of Poison Control Centers (1985), and the Career Achievement Award from the American Academy of Clinical Toxicology (2011). His work was also recognized by the Clinton Thienes, M.D., Award from the American Academy of Clinical Toxicology (1991) and by Honorary Doctorate from the Jagiellonian University (1995). Prince Mahidol Award 2023 in Bangkok Thailand https://www.princemahidolaward.org/the-presentation-ceremony-of-prince-mahidol-award-2023/ https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2730049/royal-honours-for-medical-innovators