The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced the appointment of 25 individuals to serve on the newly established National Emergency Medical Services Advisory Council (NEMSAC).
The purpose of NEMSAC is to provide advice and counsel to the Department of Transportation on national EMS initiatives, while offering a forum for the non-Federal deliberation of national EMS issues.
The names of the NEMSAC members appointed today are:
- Thomas Judge -- Executive Director of LifeFlight of Maine.
- Aarron Reinert -- Executive Director of Lakes Region EMS in Minnesota.
- Robert Oenning -- Enhanced 9-1-1 Program Administrator for the State of Washington.
- Jose Salazar -- Training Officer and EMS Battalion Chief for the Loudoun County (VA) Fire and Rescue Department.
- Matthew Tatum -- EMS Coordinator and Emergency Manager for Henry County, Virginia.
- Patricia Kunz Howard, PhD -- Operations Manager of Emergency and Trauma Services at the University of Kentucky Hospital and EMS Training Coordinator for the Lexington, Kentucky Division of Fire and Emergency Medical Services.
- John Sacra, MD -- Emergency Physician and Medical Director for the Medical Control Board serving Tulsa and Oklahoma City.
- Ritu Sahni, MD, MPH -- Medical Director for the Lake Oswego Fire Department and for the regional OHSU Emergency Communications Center and Oregon State EMS Medical Director.
- Joseph Wright, MD, MPH -- Pediatric Emergency Physician at the Children’s National Medical Center in the District of Columbia and Professor of Pediatrics, Emergency Medicine and Prevention & Community Health at the George Washington University Schools of Medicine and Public Health.
- Baxter Larmon, PhD, MICP -- Professor of Emergency Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and the founding Director of the UCLA Center for Prehospital Care.
- Dia Gainor, MPA -- Idaho’s State Emergency Medical Services Director.
- Kevin Staley, MPA -- Director of Medical Services for the Mecklenberg EMS Agency in Charlotte, North Carolina.
- Charles Abbott -- Chief of the Nevada Office of Traffic Safety and Western Region representative on the Executive Board of the Governors Highway Safety Association.
- Joseph Heck, DO -- Practicing emergency physician and an EMS Medical Director for Clark County (NV) and Senator in the Nevada State Senate where he serves as vice-chair of the Transportation and Homeland Security Committee.
- Jeffrey P. Salomone, MD, FACS -- Associate Professor of Surgery at Emory University School of Medicine and Deputy Chief of Surgery at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia.
- Linda K. Squirrel -- EMS Special Projects Coordinator for the Cherokee Nation and the Founding President of the National Native American EMS Association and currently its Treasurer.
- Kenneth R. Knipper -- Represents Kentucky’s volunteer fire and EMS personnel on the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) and has chaired their EMS Committee since 1995.
- Jeffrey T. Lindsey, PhD -- Fire Chief of Estero (Florida) Fire Rescue and serves as adjunct faculty in the Bachelor of EMS program at St. Petersburg College.
- Kurt M. Krumperman, MS -- Senior Vice President of Federal Affairs and Strategic Initiatives for Rural/Metro Corporation -- a large national ambulance service provider.
- Daniel E. Meisels, MPA -- Manager of the EMS Program Planning and Special Projects at New York-Presbyterian Emergency Medical Services in New York City.
- Kyle R. Gorman, MBA, EMT-P -- Executive Officer of the Clackamas County
(Oregon) Fire District #1. - Gary L. Wingrove -- Government Relations and Strategic Affairs at Gold Cross Mayo Clinic Medical Transportation, Minnesota.
- Chris D. Tilden, PhD -- Director of the Office of Local and Rural Health in the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
- Richard A. Serino -- Chief of the Boston (Mass.) EMS Department.
- J. Thomas Willis -- Full time fire fighter/paramedic, providing both fire suppression and EMS response.