Dr. Peter Weimersheimer
Dr. Peter Weimersheimer is Vice President of Clinical Implementation and Education at Butterfly Network, Inc. Dr. Weimersheimer is Professor Emeritus of Emergency Medicine (EM) at the Larner College of Medicine (LCOM) at the University of Vermont with 28 years of clinical experience. He was the founder and Director of the University of Vermont (UVM) Emergency Ultrasound Program and served as the UVM Health Network Director of Clinical Ultrasound, integrating POCUS across 7 Emergency Departments. He developed global credentialing and practice standards for that system and for other clinical specialties. He is a Professor in both the Ultrasound Leadership Academy and in the Rural Ultrasound Fellowship.
Captain Michael Leo
Captain Michael Leo is a veteran with 23 years of service in the New York City Fire Department. Throughout his career, he spent 15 years in the Special Operations Command. While serving as the program administrator of FDNY Robotics, Captain Leo plays a pivotal role in advancing technological solutions within the department. His influence extends beyond the FDNY, as he contributes his expertise to various committees such as the FAA Advanced Aviation Advisory Committee, NFPA UAS Standard Committee, several ASTM committees, and the Board of Advisors for Drone Responders.
Rita Hanel DVM, DACVIM (Int Med), DACVECC
Dr. Rita Hanel has served as a professor at NCSU College of Veterinary Medicine, Senior Director with BluePearl Veterinary Partners, Chief Veterinary Officer for the Gentle Care Animal Hospital Group in NC, and Director of Consultation Services for Antech Diagnostics. She currently serves as the Senior Director of ER Doctor Education for the Veterinary Emergency Group (VEG). Dr. Hanel has taught, coordinated, and led courses aimed at training first responders in canine prehospital care since 2000 for both civilian and military organizations across the nation. She currently leads K9Down, which is taught at NCSU, and serves on the BOD as past president for the National Association of Veterinary Emergency Medical Services (NAVEMS).
Jennifer Brown, DVM, DACVSMR
Dr. Jennifer Brown DVM, DACVSMR is a Canine Search Specialist (Live Find and HRD) and Team Veterinarian for Florida Task Force-2 Urban Search and Rescue. She is also a FEMA US&R IST Veterinarian and FEMA instructor and evaluator.
Stephen P. Wood, MS, ACNP
Stephen is an acute care nurse practitioner and program director for the acute care NP and the Extreme Medicine programs at Northeastern University in Boston, MA. His roots are in EMS and he has over 30 years of field experience, including 10 years as a flight paramedic. He is the Tactical Medic for the Quincy Police Department and served as a medic for a regional SWAT team and the law enforcement liaison for his hospital. He is the host of the Tac Medic Whiskey Podcast, a podcast for operational medicine.
Trupti Shah, MD
Dr. Trupti Shah is an emergency medicine physician at Northwell Health Long Island Jewish Medical Center. She has specialty training in ultrasound and is actively involved in training residents.
Daniel Dexeus, DO
Daniel Dexeus is an emergency medicine physician and part of the ultrasound faculty at Northwell Health Long Island Jewish Medical Center. He is also an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at The Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Northwell/Hofstra.
Athena Mihailos, MD, MBA
Dr. Athena Mihailos is the Director of Emergency Ultrasound at LIJMC. She loves to teach anyone interested in ultrasound and is looking forward to help teach this course for the second time.
Trevor Glass
Trevor’s prehospital career started in 1988 as a military combat medic. Originally from South Africa, Trevor spent decades working as a critical care paramedic in Johannesburg, well-known for its high levels of high acuity trauma, both on road and as a flight paramedic. He has been involved in medical special operations since 2000 and has deployed to multiple international disasters and served as the founding Chair of the INSARAG Medical Working Group (MWG) from its inception in 2007 until 2015, which he still sits on as a technical expert. Trevor now lives in Australia, he holds an MSc in Emergency Medicine, is the owner and managing director of DART Solutions, and is still a passionate and clinically active critical care paramedic and member of the AUS01 INSARAG Classified Heavy USAR team.
Ann Marie Zollo, DVM, DACVECC
Dr. Ann Marie Zollo, DVM, DACVECC is a board-certified Emergency and Critical Care Specialist at the Schwarzman Animal Medical Center (AMC), New York City’s only Level 1 Veterinary Trauma Center. Dr. Zollo has worked at AMC since 2013, and she currently serves as an attending clinician in the AMC’s Emergency Room and ICU. Dr. Zollo’s areas of interests include resuscitation, trauma, and education.
Sheldon Teperman, MD FACS
Dr. Teperman has been a member of the H and H Trauma community almost continuously since 1984, when he was a surgical intern at then Jacobi Medical Center. He assumed the position of Trauma Medical Director at Jacobi in 1987 and he has been named the Chief Trauma Surgeon for NYC Health and Hospitals. The Service Line is dedicated to deploying cutting edge and proven training and clinical technologies, quality improvement initiatives and educational seminars to serve the comprehensive needs of the Health and Hospitals Trauma System.
George Agriantonis, MD, FACS
Dr. George Agriantonis is the Director of Surgery and Trauma Medical Director at NYC Health + Hospitals / Elmhurst, an American College of Surgeons verified Level One Trauma Center. He is an Associate Professor of Surgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai. Dr. Agriantonis also serves as the Chair of the New York City Regional Trauma Advisory Committee.
Matthew Bank, MD, FACS
Matthew Bank, MD, FACS is the current Executive Director of the Northwell Trauma Institute, which oversees the seven New York State Trauma Centers in the Northwell System. In addition, he is the Trauma Medical Director of South Shore University Hospital. Dr. Bank is the Chair of the New York Department of Health (DOH) State Trauma Advisory Committee (STAC) and the Co-Chair of the STAC Subcommittee on Performance Improvement. Dr. Bank is also a Member the USA Chapter of Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders).
Captain Joseph G Kotora, MC, USN
Dr. Kotora is an emergency physician serving in the United States Navy. He is veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and has completed numerous deployments across five continents. He currently resides in Arlington, Virginia and is assigned as the Navy’s EMS Medical Director for EMS operations globally. He is stationed at the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery in Falls Church, VA.
Captain Joseph Spinelli
Captain Joseph Spinelli has been with the FDNY for 18 years. He is currently assigned as the Commanding Officer of the Haz Tac Battalion which provides medical management for hazardous materials and technical rescue assignments. Captain Spinelli also serves as a Medical Specialist for NY-TF1.
Raymond Smith, EMT-P, CCP-P, CIC
Ray Smith is a Critical Care Paramedic with over 30 years providing prehospital emergency medical care in and around NYC. He has extensive experience developing and delivering EMS education for Fire, Police, Military and Healthcare agencies.
Sanjay Gupta, MD
Dr. Gupta is an emergency physician with significant experience in wilderness and resource limited medicine. He is a fellow in the Academy of Wilderness Medicine and a professor of emergency medicine at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. He serves as a medical officer in NY-4 DMAT and is the Senior Vice-President and Executive Director of Emergency Medicine at Northwell Health.
Joshua Silverberg, MD FACEP FAAEM
Joshua Silverberg is the Director of the Jacobi Medical Center Snakebite Management Program. He is the Director of Undergraduate Medical Education for the Department of Emergency Medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
John Cassidy
John Cassidy is a lieutenant and 28-year member of the Fire Department City of New York (FDNY). He is assigned to Hazardous Materials Company 1 and has 21 years of experience responding to Haz Mat incidents. Cassidy is an instructor at the FDNY’s Haz Mat Technician School. He holds an associate degree in biomedical engineering from SUNY Farmingdale and a bachelor’s degree in nursing from SUNY Stony Brook with 16 years of clinical practice in emergency nursing.
Bradley Kaufman, MD, MPH
Bradley Kaufman is the First Deputy Medical Director for the FDNY, and is the Medical Director for Emergency Medical Dispatch and the EMS Bureau of Training. He serves as a Medical Team Manager with FEMA’s New York Task Force 1 US&R team. He is an Attending Physician at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center, and an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell.
Pamela Lai, MD, PhD, MSc
Pamela Lai is a Deputy Medical Director for the New York City Fire Department. She is the Medical Director for South Bronx, 911 On-line Medical Control, Research, QA/QI and is the Associate Medical Director for Special Operations. She is also a Medical Team Manager and the Associate Medical Director for NYTF-1.
Jacob Dutton, FF, EMT-P
Jake Dutton is an FDNY firefighter assigned to Rescue Co. 1 in Manhattan. He was previously assigned to Ladder Company 102 in Engine Company 235 in Brooklyn. He has also worked as a paramedic in the New York City Emergency Medical Services system for over a decade. Jake is a member of the FEMA Urban Search and Rescue New York 1 Task Force and has also served with a NYC based disaster relief organization where he regularly responds to disasters and humanitarian crises around the world.
Barry Bachenheimer, Ed.D., NREMT/FF
Barry Bachenheimer is a veteran educator and EMS professional with over 39 years of BLS and ALS experience. He has served in a variety of roles for several agencies in New York and New Jersey including Director of EMS Operations, Training Officer, Fire Department officer, and still remains an active field provider and instructor. In addition to his EMS and Fire Career, Dr. Bachenheimer simultaneously has been a K-12 teacher and public school administrator in New Jersey for over 33 years and currently serves as an Assistant Superintendent for the Pascack Valley Regional Schools. He is also an adjunct professor at Montclair State University and is the founder of edRescue Solutions, LLC, a consulting firm focused on EMS and education innovation and training.
Joseph A. Barbera, MD
Baruch Berzon, MD
Joseph A. Barbera, MD is a board-certified emergency physician and an Associate Professor of Engineering Management and Systems Engineering at the George Washington University. He is a founding Co-Director of the George Washington University Institute for Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Management (ICDRM). Dr. Barbera has enjoyed a 3.5-decade career as an emergency responder and consultant in disaster response. He was the lead medical subject matter expert for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in the development of the National Urban Search & Rescue (US&R) Response System, and performed the same role for the USAID/Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) in developing the International Search & Rescue program. He led the development of the US&R medical team training course (the Medical Specialist Course) and was lead faculty for that course for many years. Dr. Barbera has been a Medical Team Manager for Fairfax County (Virginia) Urban Search and Rescue Task Force since 1993.
Dr. Berzon is a dual board-certified physician in Emergency Medicine and Internal Medicine and has unique expertise bridging military and civilian emergency response, having served in the 101 Paratrooper Unit of the IDF and a reservist in the Search and Rescue Unit. He currently serves as Regional Medical Director for Magen David Adom (Israel's National EMS) and Head of Hospital Emergency Preparedness at Shamir Asaf Harofeh Medical Center, where he oversees mass casualty incident planning and response protocols.
William Bullock, MPA, EMT-P
William J. Bullock is an EMS Lieutenant and Medic Officer with the San Antonio Fire Department (SAFD) and the Specialized Program Coordinator for Community Outreach at BioBridge Global, South Texas Blood & Tissue. He is the lead architect of SAFD’s regional whole blood program and is an active member of the Association for the Advancement of Blood and Biotherapires Out of Hospital & Prehospital Standards Committee and the Prehopsital Blood Transfusion Initiative Coalition. He also leads donor recruitment, community education, and academic collaborations for the South Texas Blood & Tissue Heroes in Arms blood program. He has personally transfused over 100 units of prehospital blood and facilitated the distribution of multiple large volume blood packs in preparation and response to mass casualty events in Texas.
Lieutenant Fred Carlson
Lt. Carlson is currently the Executive Officer for the FDNY Robotics Unit. He was a firefighter in Ladder 151, Forest Hills Queens from 2006-2017 and was then detailed to the Command Tactical Unit as a pilot later that year. He also serves on the FDNY Incident Management Team. He is a a member of the IAFF/IAFC work group, National Association of Public Safety GIS work group, NUSTL Big City Drone Committee, and has assisted on the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) with position task book standards.
Rocco DeLuca-Hospital Corpsman (Retired)
Rocco DeLuca is the Director of Simulation Support and Training at North American Rescue. He is a certified TCCC (Tactical Combat Casualty Care) and TECC (Tactical Emergency Casualty Care) Instructor. His journey into military medicine began in 1995 when he joined the United States Navy as a Hospital Corpsman. Over the course of his distinguished career, he served multiple combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, providing critical medical care in some of the most demanding conditions. He also served as an instructor at the Naval Hospital Corps School, and spent time with the 2nd Marine Division where he provided medical support for Marine Corps missions.
Hector Fuentes, MBBS FACEM
Dr. Hector Fuentes is an Emergency Physician working as a Senior Consultant at Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane, a major tertiary referral hospital and trauma center in Queensland, Australia. He also serves as Co-Director at St Vincent’s Private Emergency Department in Toowoomba. Since 2008, Hector has been the Medical Director of the AUS01 INSARAG Classified Heavy USAR team, and serves as the Co-Chair of the INSARAG Medical Working Group. His background includes working as a retrieval doctor on both fixed-wing and helicopter retrieval services, as well as working as a pre-hospital doctor with the Queensland Ambulance Service.
LCDR Lauren Kalodner, MD, MPH
LCDR Lauren Kalodner is currently serving her second tour at 2nd Medical Battalion, Bravo Surgical Company in Portsmouth, Virginia. She works clinically at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth where she also serves as the EMS Medical Director and Liaison for the hospital, Medical Director for Caladrius Interfacility Transport Team, Operational Medical Directory for Navy Fire and Emergency Services Mid-Atlantic, and Chair of the Institutional Animal Care & Use Committee. In addition to her clinical and EMS responsibilities, LCDR Kalodner also serves as the NMCP Emergency Medicine Residency Associate Program Director for the PGY3 class and EMS Specialty Track Faculty Advisor.
Christopher Kendall, PCP, EMT
Christopher Kendall is an Emergency Management Coordinator at St. Joseph’s Health in NJ. Kendall is a seasoned public safety professional with a diverse background spanning EMS, wildland firefighting, and incident management. He has served as Deputy Chief of EMS at Montclair Ambulance Unit, Medical Unit Leader for the New Jersey Forest Fire Service Division A Incident Management Team, and as a Northern Region Training Officer for the New Jersey EMS Task Force.
Sylvonne Layne, MD
Sylvonne Layne is a Burn Surgery Fellow at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical College. She went to the University of Pittsburgh for her undergraduate degree and graduate school for her Master of Public Health degree. She went to medical school at Howard University College of Medicine and then continued at Howard University Hospital for general surgery residency. She is excited to continue to learn more as well as contribute to the Burn Surgery field.
Anthony Macintyre, MD
Anthony Macintyre, MD is a board certified emergency physician practicing in Washington, DC. He has served as the medical director for the Fairfax County Virginia Urban Search and Rescue Program for 24 years deploying to numerous earthquakes, hurricanes, and terrorist incidents domestically and internationally. He currently serves as the Senior Medical Advisor to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Francis O’Conner, MD
COL(Ret) Francis G. O’Connor is currently the Medical Director, Consortium for Health and Military Performance, and a Professor in the Department of Military and Emergency Medicine, USUHS. A retired Colonel from the United States Army Medical Corps, he has been a leader in sports medicine education and research for the military for over 25 years. Dr. O’Connor has authored over 120 peer reviewed articles in scientific journals and numerous book chapters/technical reports/health promotion resources for the military. In addition, Dr. O’Connor is the editor of ten texts on sports medicine including, the Textbook of Running Medicine, and Sports Medicine for the Primary Care Physician 4th Edition and ACSM’s Sports Medicine: A Comprehensive Review. He has been on the board of several leading organizations in sports medicine including the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), and the American Medical Athletic Association and is a past President of the American Medical Society of Sports Medicine.
Wayne Papalski, HMCS/USN, ATP, NR-P, FP-C, TP-C, WP-C, DiMM
Wayne Papalski is a subject matter expert in tactical, austere, high-altitude medicine, cold environment medical operations, and austere Search and Rescue. He has worked as a Special Operations Flight Medic, Search and Rescue Corpsman, and Special Operations Medic for over 20 years. He currently is the Senior Enlisted Leader of the Naval Special Warfare Group TWO - Tactical Medical (TACMED) training cell. Additionally, he is a voting member of the Committee on Enroute Combat Casualty Care, and SME on the Committee on Tactical Combat Casualty Care.
Ashley Pfaff, MD
Dr. Ashley Pfaff is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery in the Division of Trauma Surgery and Surgical Critical Care at Bellevue Hospital Center and NYU Langone Health. In addition to her clinical appointments, Dr. Pfaff’s research interests are in trauma outcomes research with a specific focus on road and traffic injuries, micromobility injuries, and chest trauma.
Mark Piehl, MD, MPH
Mark Piehl is a pediatric critical care physician at WakeMed in Raleigh, NC, and a Medical Director with WakeMed Mobile Critical Care transport. Mark is also Founder and Chief Medical Officer of 410 Medical, a company focused on improving resuscitation in shock, sepsis, and trauma. He previously served as Medical Director of the WakeMed Children's Hospital and Director of Pediatrics at WakeMed. Mark is a founding member of the SPARC (Selective Prehospital Advanced Resuscitative Care) Academy and the North Carolina Regional Prehospital Blood Coalition. Mark is also Founder of the Samaritan Health Center, a clinic for the homeless and uninsured in Durham, NC.
Jason Pippenger, Chief Hospital Corpsman (Retired)
Jason Pippenger has a career in healthcare and emergency services that spans over three decades. He dedicated 21 years of service to the U.S. Navy as a Hospital Corpsman. He became the program manager for several key Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) programs and was instrumental in the creation and launch of the 2nd Marine Division's Prolonged Casualty Care Program and the implementation of the USMC Fresh Whole Blood Transfusion Program. After retiring from the Navy, he became a simulation support technician with North American Rescue. Additionally, he serves as the Assistant Chief of Pollocksville EMS, where he is an active volunteer provider, and holds the rank of Lieutenant with the Pollocksville Volunteer Fire Department.
Rudolph Princi, MA, EMT-P, TP-C, NCEE, CIC
Rudolph Princi, Director of the Stony Brook Paramedic Program, brings decades of experience in emergency services and education. Currently a doctoral student at LSUS, his research focuses on the role of emerging technologies in emergency services education.
A former Flight Paramedic and educator at Stony Brook Medicine, Rudolph also serves as Regional Director of the Difficult Airway Course.
Stephen Rush, MD
Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Rush, M.D. served as the Pararescue Flight Surgeon for the 103rd Rescue Squadron in the New York Air Guard from 2008 until 2020, the Medical Group Commander for the 106th Rescue Wing until 2023 and is currently serving as a Pararescue Flight Surgeon in the Air Force Reserves. He was the US Air Force Pararescue Medical Director from 2012 to 2018 and has been voting member on the committee for tactical combat casually care, and contributed to the development of prolonged casualty care, TBI and mass casualty management protocols for the DOD.
Justin Snair
Justin Snair is the CEO and founder of Preppr, bringing over 20 years of experience across various fields including government, military, emergency management, public health, and technology development. Justin is passionate about the responsible and ethical use of AI and works to guide practitioners in effectively integrating these technologies into their work in enhancing disaster preparedness, response and resilience.
Aimee Thai Tang, MD, MPH
Aimee Tang is an emergency medicine attending physician at Long Island Jewish Medical Center and assistant professor in clinical emergency medicine at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell in New York. Dr. Tang completed a fellowship in international emergency medicine and a specific interest in emergency medicine system and education development. She has worked with developing EM education and training in India and Haiti, and currently serves as visiting faculty at Mission Hospital in Durgapur, India.
Ryan Walsh
Ryan is the Founder and CEO of Valqari, building on the lessons he had learned as an Army Ranger with the 75th Ranger Regiment where he had multiple tours to Iraq and Afghanistan. He also serves as the North American Chapter Director for the Drone Logistics Ecosystem. He is a strategic advisor to several technology companies including Soteria Battery Innovation Group, and Havenshine.
Malcolm Q Russell MBE
A British Army veteran who specialized in combat casualty care, Dr Russell has been working as a helicopter flight physician for over 25 years (as a civilian since 2007). After leaving the military, Dr Russell set up and developed a successful medical business, ‘Prometheus Medical’ which he sold in 2020. Whilst running the business he invented several medical products and won two Queen’s Awards for Enterprise (For Innovation) as a result. In 2013 he was made Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) by Her Majesty The Queen, for his services to Emergency Medicine.
Dr Russell joined the UK Fire & Rescue Services International Search and Rescue team (UK ISAR) in 2011, of which he is now the Medical Director. He has deployed extensively, including to earthquakes in New Zealand (2011), Japan (2011), Nepal (2015), Türkiye (2023) and Morocco (2023).
In 2023, Dr Russell was presented with the inaugural ‘Outstanding Achievement Award’ of the UK Institute of Search and Technical Rescue, for his contribution to UK ISAR and USAR Medicine.
Marta Caviglia, MD
Dr. Caviglia is an anesthesiologist and critical care intensivist. She was a research assistant in the EU-funded projects THREATS – Terrorist attacks on hospitals: Risk and Emergency Assessment, Tools and Systems, and TIER – Integrated strategy for CBRN threat identification and emergency response. She served as the project coordinator of the international Training Disaster Medicine Trainers (TdmT) course and as the training manager for the NEMS – National Emergency Medical Service in Sierra Leone. At present, Marta is involved in the EU-funded project NIGHTINGALE – Novel Integrated Toolkit for Enhanced Pre-Hospital Life Support and Triage in Challenging and Large Emergencies.