Ahna Brutlag
Dr. Brutlag is the Senior Director of Veterinary Services and a partner at SafetyCall International/Pet Poison Helpline, a 24/7 animal and human poison control center that both directly serves the public and also partners with industry for medical and adverse event management, regulatory compliance, and product safety consultation to more than 225 commercial goods, pharmaceutical (human and veterinary), dietary supplement, personal care product, agricultural/chemical product, and animal health companies. She is a board-certified veterinary toxicologist and current President of the American Board of Veterinary Toxicology (ABVT). Her academic involvement includes serving as an adjunct assistant professor at the University of Minnesota’s (UMN) College of Veterinary Medicine where she teaches veterinary toxicology. She has personally managed over 40,000 cases involving potentially poisoned pets, authored dozens of textbook chapters and scientific articles, edited three scientific textbooks, and has given more than 150 lectures nationwide on the subject of small animal clinical toxicology. Her areas of expertise include clinical toxicology, adverse event management, post-market product/drug safety, and regulatory compliance.
Tuesday June 24
Joint Antimicrobial & Cleaning Products Division Program
Innovation with Care: Data, AI, and the Future of Safer Cleaning and Floor Care Products
Innovation thrives on good data and thoughtful execution. This session will explore how organizations can embrace cutting-edge tools – like generative AI – while also staying grounded in safety, ethics, and real-world impact. The session will begin with insights from a veterinary toxicologist at Pet Poison Helpline, where pet exposure data reveals unexpected risks tied to household products and guides safer product development. Then, we will zoom out to examine how generative AI can amplify this kind of data-driven innovation – accelerating insight generation, reducing time to market, and identifying risk before it reaches consumers. Drawing on case studies, including pet safety data used in cleaning product formulation, this session will explore how gen AI adoption is less about technology and more about the thoughtful use of knowledge – both human and machine – to drive safer, smarter outcomes.
Key Takeaways:
- Understand how toxicology data helps shape safer consumer products.
- Learn practical ways to adopt gen AI to improve collaboration, speed, and insight.
- See how AI can augment—not replace—human expertise in risk management.
- Explore what responsible innovation looks like at the intersection of data, safety, and technology.
Speakers:
- Ahna Brutlag, Vice President of Veterinary Services and Partner, SafetyCall International & Poison Helpline
- Jacob Smith, Innovation Advisor and Digital Lead, RTI International