About
Dr. Schaffer is an emergency physician and medical toxicologist who serves as the Director of Medical Toxicology at Prisma Health–Upstate/USC School of Medicine Greenville. In addition to leading this clinical service, Dr. Schaffer supports statewide toxicology consultation through the Palmetto Poison Center and holds a clinical appointment in the USC College of Pharmacy.
Dr. Schaffer earned a B.S. in Biology of Global Health from Georgetown University and an M.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He completed his residency in Emergency Medicine at Harvard and a fellowship in Medical Toxicology at the University of Virginia.
Dr. Schaffer’s scholarship includes emerging drugs and toxicologic threats, drugs of abuse, and occupational/aerospace exposures. His work has spanned toxicokinetic modeling in collaboration with SpaceX, poisoning epidemiology, and improving diagnostics and analytical interpretation in drug testing. He is the Senior Editor-in-Chief (Toxicology) for StatPearls and serves on a National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Safety Monitoring Committee. He previously co-founded One Tent Health, an innovative nonprofit whose work has been featured in JAMA and presented to the Centers for Disease Control. He works daily with students and trainees, is a frequently invited lecturer, and is regularly sought by the media for expertise in toxicology and public health. He welcomes opportunities to collaborate with Clemson University investigators on toxic exposures, substance-use–related harms, and implementation science.
How their research is transforming health care
My research focuses on preventing harm from toxic exposures and substance use, aiming to improve diagnostics and test interpretation in both toxicology and emergency medicine. My work connects bedside medical toxicology with exposure science and implementation research.
I am helping to build guidance for the new field of spaceflight toxicology. My published work on toxicology considerations in spaceflight covers exposure risk, protocols, and mitigation strategies. I have worked with industry partners on toxicokinetic modeling work to support mission planning and tailor exposure limits and detection to unique environments. In clinical practice, I examine the application and misapplication of drug testing, developing guidance for medical review and interpretation. I have published on systems to avoid false conclusions and reduce unnecessary downstream testing and costs, seeking patient-centered decisions in emergency care, occupational medicine, and pain/addiction settings.
My work also extends to implementation science and the health-economic evaluation of community interventions. In 2015, I launched a new model for HIV screening and linkage to prevention services. This approach was presented to the Centers for Disease Control and was found to be a cost-effective method for future community-based screening programs. I look forward to collaborating with Clemson University faculty in data science, industrial engineering, public health, and bioengineering to advance exposure analytics, decision-support tools, and interventions.
Health research keywords
Toxicology, Carbon Monoxide, Poisoning, Drug Testing, Spaceflight, Cannabinoids, Heavy Metals, Driving Impairment
