WASHINGTON — U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today announced the appointment of 23 leaders in the emergency medical services field to serve on the National Emergency Medical Services Advisory Council.
The council, first chartered by the U.S Department of Transportation in 2007, provides expert emergency medical services (EMS) advice to the department and its federal partners. It makes recommendations on key issues in the EMS field, including recruitment and retention of emergency medical service personnel, quality assurance, federal grants for emergency services, and preparation for multi-casualty incidents.
“Experts who serve on the National EMS Advisory Council provide invaluable guidance to our National Highway Traffic Safety Administration,” said Secretary LaHood. “We are grateful for the service of our new appointees.”
Secretary LaHood’s appointments are:
- Dia Gainor. Gainor is Idaho’s state emergency medical services director and past
president of the National Association of State EMS Officials. She has worked
actively with the Public Safety Advisory Group to the Intelligent Transportation
System and with the Strategic Highway Safety Plan Peer Exchange. - Jeffrey P. Salomone, MD. Dr. Salomone, a trauma surgeon, is associate
professor of surgery at the Emory University School of Medicine and deputy chief
of surgery at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. - Linda K. Squirrel. Squirrel is the EMS special projects coordinator for the
Cherokee Nation. She is the founding president of the National Native American
EMS Association. - Kenneth R. Knipper. Knipper has been a prominent and outspoken advocate for
volunteer EMS providers, both in Kentucky and nationally, for more than 25
years. - Gary G. Ludwig. Ludwig is the deputy fire chief for the city of Memphis, TN.
He is currently chair of the EMS Section of the International Association of Fire
Chiefs. - James McPartlon. McPartlon is the general manager of the Mohawk Ambulance
Service in Schenectady, NY. He is as past president of the American Ambulance
Association. - Gary L. Wingrove. Wingrove specializes in government relations and strategic
affairs for Mayo Medical Transportation. He has served as director of emergency
medical services for the State of Minnesota. - Kyle R. Gorman. Gorman is the executive officer of the Clackamas County Fire
District One in Oregon. He has been active in the International Association of Fire
Chiefs and the National Fire Protection Association’s Technical Committee on
EMS. - Marc Goldstone. Goldstone, who served 14 years as a paramedic, is currently the
vice president and associate general counsel for the Community Health Systems
of Tennessee. He was the founding chair of the Emergency Medical
Services/Medical Transportation Attorneys Group of the American Health
Lawyers Association. - Daniel Patterson, PhD. Dr. Patterson is an assistant professor at the University
of Pittsburgh School of Medicine’s Department of Emergency Medicine. He also
serves as director of research for the Center for Emergency Medicine of Western
Pennsylvania. - Troy M. Hagen. Hagen is director of the Ada County, Idaho, Paramedics and
oversees all aspects of the countywide ambulance taxing district which covers
1,055 miles and 400,000 residents who live in both urban and rural areas. - Arthur Cooper, MD. Dr. Cooper is a professor of surgery and director of trauma
and pediatric surgical services at Columbia University’s Medical Center in
affiliation with the Harlem Hospital Center. - Thomas Judge. Judge is executive director of LifeFlight of Maine and the
immediate past president of the Association of Air Medical Services, which
represents 300 air medical services. - Aarron Reinert. Reinert is executive director of the Lakes Region EMS in
Minnesota. He served as the data manager for Minnesota’s EMS system from
2001 to 2004, focusing on the use of data to improve EMS services. - Robert Oenning. Oenning is the Enhanced 9-1-1 program administrator for the
State of Washington. He also holds several national positions in 9-1-1-focused
user groups and organizations. - Leaugeay Barnes. Barnes is the program director for emergency medical services
at Oklahoma City Community College. She is also an active member of the
National Association of EMS Educators. - Matthew Tatum. Tatum has served as the EMS coordinator and emergency
manager for Henry County, Virginia, since 2002. He is also a former local
government police officer and Virginia state trooper. - Sherri-Lynne Almeida, MSN. Almeida serves as the chief nursing officer for
CareFusion and as EMS administrator, as well as the infection control officer for
the Houston Fire Department. She formerly served as president of the Emergency
Nurses Association. - Kenneth Miller, M.D., Ph.D. Dr. Miller, an emergency physician, serves as the
medical director of the Orange County Fire Authority in California, as well as the
assistant medical director of the Orange County Healthcare Agency/EMS. He is
co-director of the EMS and Disaster Medical Services Fellowship at the UCIrvine
School of Medicine. - Ritu Sahni, M.D. Dr. Sahni, an emergency physician, is on the faculty of Oregon
Health and Science University (OHSU). He serves as medical director for the
Lake Oswego Fire Department and for the OHSU Emergency Communications
Center. He is also the Oregon State EMS medical director. - Joseph Wright, M.D. Dr. Wright is a pediatric emergency physician who has
practiced for 17 years at the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington,
D.C. He is also a professor of prevention and community health, emergency
medicine and pediatrics at the George Washington University Schools of
Medicine and Public Health. - Baxter Larmon, M.D., PhD. Dr. Larmon is 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. He founded the Prehospital Care Research Forum, which has published
more than 400 EMS-related studies. - Scott Somers, Ph.D. As member of the Mesa City Council in Arizona, Dr.
Somers has extensive experience setting public policy for emergency medical
services and public health. He has also conducted emergency medical services
research and lectured on EMS and disaster management topics.