Advisors
- Lance Becker, MD, University of Chicago Hospitals, Chicago, IL
- Allan Braslow, PhD, Braslow and Associates, Greenwich, CT
- Jim Christenson, MD, St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, BC
- Mickey Eisenburg, MD, PhD, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
- Keith Griffiths, KG Communications, Inc., Delmar, CA
- Richard Lazar, Fios, Inc., Portland, OR
- Joan Mellor, The Medtronic Foundation, Minneapolis, MN
- Joseph P. Ornato, MD, Medical College of Virginia, Richmond, VA
- Roger White, MD, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
Lance Becker, MD
Lance B. Becker, MD, is Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Chicago Deaprtment of Medicine, Section of Emergency Medicine and Director of the Emergency Resuscitation Research Center at the University of Chicago in Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL. He is board certified in internal medicine, emergency medicine and critical care medicine. He has received numerous awards including Internal Medicine Award to the outstanding senior student at the University of Illinois College of Medicine, attending physician of the year in 1997, and leadership and outstanding volunteer awards from the American Heart Association.
Dr. Becker was National Conference Director for the American Heart Association Emergency Cardiac Care Evidence Evaluation Conference in September 1999 and currently serves on the American Heart Association Emergency Cardiovascular Committee. He also served on the American Heart Association Task Force on the Safety and Effectiveness of Automated External Defibrillators.
Dr. Becker was appointed co-chairman of the Basic Life Support Committee on the Fifth International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) in 1994. He has served since 1998 as a member of the Food and Drug Administration Device Evaluation Committee and is an expert reviewer for the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Becker' research interests include development of new cytoprotective strategies for use in resuscitation, laboratory methods for resuscitation research, and survival from sudden cardiac arrest in the Chicago metropolitan area.
Allan Braslow, PhD
Allan Braslow, PhD, is a specialist in medical and consumer education and EMS system development and implementation. Working in private practice and with leading universities, Dr. Braslow has developed, evaluated and administered medical and public education training programs, and has provided public health policy leadership and training to private and public health organizations in the US and abroad.
Dr. Braslow is best known for research and development of CPR education programs, and his attention to the "real world" aspects of effective instruction and application in actual emergencies.
Dr. Braslow is a member of the NIH Advisory Board for the Public Access Defibrillation national research trial, a program advisor to NIH's National Heart Attack Alert Program, Principal Investigator for the US Department of Transportation National Standard Curriculum on Bystander Care, a government expert on cardiovascular disease prevention and public health planning for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and an advisor to the Indianapolis 500 Motor Speedway.
He received his PhD degree from the University of Illinois (1985), where he specialized in public and provider health education, medical research dissemination and implementation, and educational psychology. He received his M.S. (1980) and B.A. (1974) degrees from The Pennsylvania State University.
Jim Christenson, MD
Jim Christenson, MD, is a Clinical Professor in the Division of Emergency Medicine, in the Department of Surgery at the University of British Columbia. He is a practicing emergency physician at St. Paul's Hospital and directs the Emergency Medicine Research Program. In 1985, he returned to the University of Calgary for a Research Fellowship in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation.
Dr. Christenson currently holds a CIHR operating grant for an early discharge prediction rule for patients presenting with chest pain. He is actively investigating novel therapies to increase survival in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. He is the Principle Site Investigator for the Public Access Defibrillation Study, Vancouver site, funded by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. He collaborates on multiple trials evaluating pharmaceutical interventions in sudden death.
Dr. Christenson has served as a board member for the Heart and Stroke Foundation of BC and Yukon and Chairman of the Emergency Cardiac Care Committee of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada. He was the inaugural chairman of the Emergency Cardiac Care Coalition of Canada. He is a Commissioner on the Emergency Health Services Commission of the Ministry of Health of British Columbia and a member of the Medical Advisory Committee for the BC Ambulance Service. He is a board member of the Citizen CPR Foundation and a member of the International Emergency Medicine Cardiac Research and Education Group.
Mickey Eisenberg, MD, PhD
Mickey Eisenberg, Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington, is also Head, Division of Emergency Medicine, and Director of Emergency Medicine at the University of Washington Medical Center. He received a BA from the University of Michigan, a MD from Case Western Reserve University, and a MPH and PhD from the University of Washington. Dr. Eisenberg has been actively researching and studying sudden death for the past 25 years. His work has led to new programs for improving survival rates for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and acute myocardial infarction. Dr. Eisenberg, a part-time historian, has written Life in the Balance: Emergency Medicine and the Quest to Reverse Sudden Death. He is the author of 21 books and 87 scientific articles dealing with emergency medicine and sudden cardiac death.
Keith Griffiths
As a journalist and publisher, Keith has been a keen observer of the EMS scene for the past 24 years. In 1980, he and Jim Page co-founded JEMS, the Journal of Emergency Medical Services. First as editor of JEMS and then as President of Jems Communications, Keith helped lead the creation of multiple trade magazines, medical journals, trade shows (including EMS TODAY), newsletters, books, videos, and on-line resources for the emergency medical services and fire-rescue markets. JEMS was sold in 1993 to the Times Mirror Corporation and Keith continued to head the JEMS Division for TM for the next four years.
Keith left to form his own consulting organization in 1997. He continues as a contributing editor to JEMS while serving a wide variety of clients in public safety doing research, writing and consulting. Presently he serves on the Board of Trustees for the National Academy of Emergency Medical Dispatch and the Board of Directors of the Western Publications Association, the leading organization for periodicals west of the Mississippi.
He has a BA degree in Journalism from San Diego State University where he later studied marketing, advertising, accounting and management as a graduate student in its MBA program.
Richard Lazar, Esq.
Richard A. Lazar is an attorney with more than 25 years of EMS law, public policy, regulatory and strategic business experience. His background includes serving as an EMS medical malpractice defense litigator, founder and managing partner of a national EMS consulting firm, charter Chairperson of the National EMS Alliance, consultant to corporations and agencies on state and federal EMS licensing and regulatory issues, and analyst and advisor to venture capital firms. Richard is a leading authority and speaker on legal and public policy issues surrounding early defibrillation. His articles on the subject are widely read.
Richard received his bachelor's degree from the University of Oregon and his law degree from Lewis and Clark Northwestern School of Law, where he also earned membership on the Cornelius Honor Society. He currently serves as President and Chief Executive Officer for Fios, a Portland, Oregon based technology company focusing on digital information risk.
Joan Mellor
Joan Mellor currently manages the HeartRescue Program for the Medtronic Foundation. Since 1997 Joan has led the effort to partner with 55 communities in the U.S., Europe and Australia to initiate or enhance early defibrillation programs. She was instrumental in establishing the National Center for Early Defibrillation.
Prior to her role within the Foundation, Joan worked as a marketing research analyst and then consultant to Medtronic's Cardiac Rhythm Management Division. She also spent four years abroad in France and Belgium where she worked in the European Headquarters for Medtronic in marketing research. Joan has a BA in International Business and a BA in French both from St. Thomas University in St. Paul, Minnesota. Joan currently resides in St. Paul with her husband Jim and their three sons.
Joseph P. Ornato, MD, FACC, FACEP
Dr. Joseph Ornato is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University/Medical College of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia. He is also Medical Director of the Richmond Ambulance Authority, the Prehospital Paramedic System serving the City of Richmond, Virginia.
Born in New Haven, Connecticut, he graduated from Boston University Medical School magna cum laude and completed his training in Internal Medicine at New York City's Mount Sinai Hospital and in Cardiology at New York Hospital-Cornell University Medical Center. He is triple board certified (Internal Medicine, Cardiology, Emergency Medicine).
Dr. Ornato is an active researcher in the field of cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Dr. Ornato is American Editor of the journal Resuscitation and is on the editorial board of the American Journal of Emergency Medicine. He is past Chairman of the American Heart Association's National Emergency Cardiac Care Committee and the AHA Advanced Cardiac Life Support Subcommittee. Dr. Ornato is a member of the American College of Cardiology's Emergency Cardiac Care Committee. He is the American Heart Association's national representative to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's National Heart Attack Alert Program's Coordinating Committee and he is Chairman of its Science Base Subcommittee. Dr. Ornato is also a Special Consultant to the Circulatory System Devices Panel of the Food and Drug Administration.
Roger D. White, MD, FACC
Roger D. White, MD, FACC, is professor of anesthesiology at the Mayo Medical School and consultant in anesthesiology (cardiovascular) at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He is a member of the AHA BLS Subcommittee, the National Association of EMS Physicians, the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine, and a fellow of the American College of Cardiology. He is also on the Board of Directors of the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians. He is co-medical director of Rochester's Gold Cross Ambulance Service and medical director of the City of Rochester Police/Fire Department Early Defibrillation Program.
Previous activities related to defibrillation include chairperson of the US Food and Drug Administration's Defibrillator Working Group and membership on the AHA Task Force on Automatic External Defibrillation, Subcommittee on AED Safety and Efficacy.
On-going clinical research projects include assessment of patient outcomes following out-of-hospital cardiac arrest caused by ventricular fibrillation and evaluation of the performance of biphasic waveforms in AEDs used by paramedics, police and firefighters.
His bibliography includes 134 publications, the majority pertaining to emergency cardiac care.