Forensic Toxicologist I
Bella is a Forensic Toxicologist on CFSRE's NPS Discovery team. Her work focuses on the detection of novel psychoactive substances (NPS) through the analysis of toxicological samples across clinical, research, and forensic initiatives. In addition to postmortem casework, she monitors recreational drug use through oral fluid testing, investigates suspected NPS-related overdoses, and analyzes various other authentic samples under public health studies.
Bella also performs method development/validation for detection and quantitation of NPS via LC-QQQ-MS. She has experience across multiple drug classes, including fentanyl analogues, orphine analogues, NPS benzodiazepines, and chiral isomers.
Bella graduated from the University of Central Florida in 2024 with a Bachelor of Science in Forensic Science-Chemistry. During her undergraduate career, she completed internships in both the toxicology and seized drugs units of the Orange County Crime Lab in Santa Ana, California. In May of 2026, Bella earned a Master of Science in Forensic Toxicology from Thomas Jefferson University, where she received the Jefferson College of Life Sciences Academic Achievement Award. Her thesis research evaluated the comprehensive screening capacity of DART-QQQ-MS for toxicology samples. During her graduate studies, she also worked at the CFSRE as a graduate research assistant on the NPS Toxicology team
