Addiction Medicine Expert Witnesses: 7

John Budny, PhD, provides expert Toxicology opinions based on recognized and accepted medical knowledge to determine if prescriptions, over-the-counter medications, and drugs of abuse that cause adverse medical events. With a PhD in basic medical science and a 40-year career as a practicing toxicologist, Dr. Budny combines the science of toxicology with medical knowledge to fully understand the ramifications of an adverse medical event caused by prescribing errors, faulty medications, or failure in the health care delivery process.

Dr. Budny has conducted scientific investigations in toxicology and has published the results of his research. In addition to being as an expert witness, Dr. Budny provides scientific contributions by writing book reviews of relevant topics related to toxicology and forensics. He is also on the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Toxicology. In his position on the Editorial Board, Dr. Budny reviews manuscripts on general toxicology and forensic topics that are submitted and proposed for publication in the journal. He also writes book reviews that cover the entire breadth of toxicology. 

Litigation Support - Dr. Budny has over 25 years of experience as an expert witness. He has been retained in over 300 cases in which he has opined in reports, depositions, and in court testimony about cause and effect relationships between chemicals and adverse reactions and toxicities. While his forensic toxicology practice is not limited to any specific type of chemical, most of his retention as an expert has been for prescription drugs, illicit drugs, dietary supplements and nutritional products.  

Successfully resolved complex medical issues involving pharmaceuticals and drugs:

Dr. James C. Norris, Ph.D., DABT, EURT is an Expert Witness in Toxicology and Pharmacology. He has Litigation and Arbitration experience in the United States, United Kingdom and Hong Kong. Dr. Norris has given testimony to government agencies, has acted as a consultant for the media (BBC) and is an Industrial Site Crisis Team Member. He is avaliable for both Plaintiff and Defense.

Areas Of Expertise:

• Carcinogenicity and Chemicals
• Combustion or Fire Toxicolog
• General and Inhalation Toxicology
• Pesticides, and Pharmaceuticals (pharmacology)

Professional Affiliations:

• American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists
• British Toxicology Society
• Society of Toxicology
• Editorial Boards of Inhalation Toxicology and Journal of Fire Sciences

Dr. Nicholas Ladikos is a Clinical Pharmacist and Drug Regimen Error expert. He is a subject matter expert and serve as expert witness in determining the standard of care and breaches of that standard on matters such as medical chart reviews, medication preparation and prescribing, drug side effect management, and errors in drug dispensing, dosing, and administration. 

Dr. Ladikos also serves as a Professor at both Texas Tech University and Arizona College of Nursing. He co-authored numerous papers in the areas of infectious diseases and antimicrobial stewardship, pharmacoeconomics, pharmacogenomics, geriatrics, and therapies in the lung transplant population. He conducts physician training and clinical staff education regarding medication trends and utilization, identification and mitigation for potential medication fraud, waste and abuse, and collaborates in disease management and population health programs.

Litigation Support - Dr. Ladikos is a subject matter expert in several pharmacy-related areas and serves as an expert witness on a number of Pharmaceutical litigation matters. Numerous hospitals have used his skillset and expertise in medical chart reviews to identify errors in medication preparation and prescribing, drug side effect management, standard of care compliance, continuing education delivery, and personnel assessments.

Areas of Expertise:

Dr. Ladikos currently develops and leads clinical programs that help stakeholders use and advance medication management tools (e.g., formularies, pharmacy, therapeutics committees and medication therapy management), quality metrics, research methodologies, and health information technology. He has experience in medication utilization statistical analyses to demonstrate adherence to evidence-based practice guidelines and inform health program policies.

Dr. Ladikos examines pharmacoeconomic trends to ensure that a cost-effective pharmacy benefit is administered to members, and consults with care management team to provide guidance regarding member goals. 

William Santoro, MD is board certified in Addiction Medicine and board eligible in Family Medicine. He is the Chief of the Section of Addiction Medicine at Tower Health and was the Medical Director at the Reading Hospital & Medical Center detoxification/rehabilitation program. Dr. Santoro was also the Medical Director at a Methadone Treatment center  for 22 years, until 2021, where he is responsible for prescribing methadone to approximately 950 opiate dependent patients.

Dr. Santoro is the Addictionist on staff at The Reading Hospital & Medical Center within the Department of Family and Community Medicine. He is consulted by hospitalists to care for patients admitted to the hospital with addiction complicating their condition. Dr. Santoro runs an outpatient program treating over the 300 patients with buprenorphine (Suboxone/Sublocade) or Vivitrol maintenance. With an interest in Sports Medicine in 2001, he served as a volunteer physician for the U.S. Olympic Training Team in Lake Placid, New York.

Dr. Santoro has been deposed more than a dozen times in the past several years. He has testified in court numerous times on behalf of the plaintiff as well as for the defense. He has testified in Federal Court and been involved in cases concerning the pharmaceutical industry.

Areas of Expertise:

• All aspects of Addiction Medicine
• Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT)
  • Buprenorphine
  • Naltrexone
  • Methadone
• Dual Diagnosis Pain/Addiction

View Dr. Santoro's Consulting Profile.

Joel L. Kent, MD, is an expert in all realms of Pain Medicine and has focused expertise in the prescribing and oversight of opioid analgesics. His specialties include acute and chronic pain management, opioid analgesics, interventional pain management therapies, spinal cord stimulation, intrathecal drug delivery, RSD/CRPS and low back pain.

Dr. Kent has provided expert case reviews and testimony for over twenty years.  The majority of his expert work has focused on the standard of care in the practice of Pain Medicine and the use of opioid analgesics.  Dr. Kent has provided expert case opinions in Federal and State civil courts.  He has provided defense support to the US Department of Justice in two cases.  He has served as an expert witness and case reviewer for both Maryland and New York State.  Dr. Kent assisted the District Attorney of New Jersey in prosecuting a case of unlawful prescribing of controlled substances.  He has provided expert case review and litigation support to health insurance carriers seeking restitution for fraudulent expenses related to opioid therapy.  

Over the course of his career, Dr. Kent has developed particular expertise surrounding the use of opioid analgesics.  He has provided over 50 lectures to other physicians regarding the safe and proper use of these medications.   He has been recognized as an expert in both State and Federal Court in cases related to opioid therapy.  He has served on advisory boards helping craft regulatory policies related to opioid medication.  All these accomplishments attest to Dr. Kent’s high level of expertise in the complex and evolving realm of opioid therapy. 

Primary area of expertise: Pain Medicine

Expert consulting experience:

• Authored over 50 expert case reports
• Participated in over 25 depositions
• Testimony experience in civil trials and professional hearings
• Provides litigation support and expert testimony in plaintiff and defense cases

Professional experience:

• Over 25 years of experience in Pain Medicine
• Triple Board Certified
• Practice Director of University Multi-Disciplinary Pain Management Practices from 1998 to 2017
• Program Director of a Multi-Disciplinary Pain Management Fellowship Training Programs from 1998 to 2015
• Professor of Anesthesiology, Palliative Care, and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at University of Rochester School of Medicine
• Lectures extensively and published 

Bankole A. Johnson, DSc, MD, MBChB, MPhil, FRCPsych, DFAPA, Dip-ABAM, Dip-ABDA, FACFEI, is a leading Neuroscientist and respected global authority in both Psychiatry and Neuroscience. His considerable education and expertise dates to the 1970s, when he received his first general studies diplomas.

Dr. Johnson earned his Medicinae Baccalaureum et Chirurgiae Baccalaureum (an M.D. equivalent) from the University of Glasgow in Scotland. He also received his UK Board Certification in Psychiatry from the Royal College of Psychiatrists, his Master of Philosophy in Neuropsychiatry at the University of London, his Ph.D. in Biomedical Studies from Oxford University and the University of Glasgow, and his Doctor of Medicine degree, also from the University of Glasgow (coursework at the University of Oxford).

In addition to these qualifications, Dr. Johnson has also received United States certifications from both the American College of Forensic Examiners Institute, the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, and the American Board of Addiction Medicine. Today, Bankole Johnson is a board-certified psychiatrist and physician throughout both Europe and the United States. He serves as a respected collegiate authority in his field at a leading university in the United States.

Dr. Johnson is a leading authority on the effects of abused drugs including alcohol on the brain and how this affects behavior, especially that related to the commission of a crime. He is a national expert on the treatment of opioid addiction as well as on assessing medical malpractice and insurance claims. Dr. Johnson also is a national expert on the effects of diseases of the brain, mental illness, mental disorder, and aberrant behaviors on testamentary capacity. He also is a national expert on assessing disability as a result of mental disorder, mental illness, and alcohol and drug abuse. Along the way, Bankole Johnson has also been the recipient of numerous high-profile awards in his fields and industries of specialty.

Litigation Support - Dr. Johnson provides expert witness services for cases involving all aspects of Addiction Medicine. He is experienced as an expert witness not only for medical malpractice but also for capital cases and major crimes. Dr. Johnson's services are available to attorneys for plaintiff and defendant and include medical record review, written reports, depositions, and trial testimony when needed.

Areas of Expertise:

View Dr. Johnson's Business Consultant Profile

James H. Reich, MD, MPH, is a board-certified Forensic Psychiatrist with extensive civil psychiatry experience who has done hundreds of evaluations.

After getting his MD from the University of Colorado Medical Center in Denver, Dr. Reich earned his MPH at Yale University and did his psychiatric residency at UC Davis. Dr. Reich has held academic positions at Yale, Iowa, Harvard, and Brown Universities.  Currently, he has teaching appointments at the professor level at both UCSF and Stanford University. Throughout his career, he has published over a hundred peer-reviewed publications. 

Litigation Support - Dr. Reich’s services are available for civil and some criminal law cases. Clients are assured of his personal dedication to each case. He does high quality research, expert evaluations, writes a solid report, and will testify well. Dr. Reich has been deposed over 50 times.

Areas of Expertise:

Presentations - As faculty at the Stanford Forensic Fellowship program, Dr. Reich has given two talks to the group. On October 27, 2023, he presented, "What Gets Psychiatrists and other Medical Professionals into Problems with the Law or Regulators." On January 19, 2024, he presented a talk on Psychiatric Disability to the same group. Dr. Reich is also supervising a fellow on his project on competency issues in older physicians.