William G. Baxt Professor of Emergency Medicine

Established in 2021 by the Department of Emergency Medicine, the Professorship is awarded to an outstanding member of the faculty pursing advances in emergency medicine. The Chair is named after William G. Baxt, MD, who is an Emeritus Professor of Emergency Medicine - and renowned for his work introducing neural network aid for the early diagnosis of cardiac ischemia in patients presenting to the emergency department with chest pain. 

Current Chairholder

Benjamin S. Abella, MD, MPhil

Benjamin S. Abella, MD, MPhil is the William G. Baxt Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania. He also serves as Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Emergency Medicine and the Director of the Center for Resuscitation Science. This Center is one of few nationwide that is dedicated to cardiac arrest and CPR research, education, and training. As Center Director, he has led numerous clinical studies on cardiac arrest and post-arrest care, having authored over 250 published works in high-impact journals such as Journal of the American Medical Association, New England Journal of Medicine, and Circulation. 

Dr. Abella was among the first to demonstrate that CPR could be recorded quantitatively in clinical studies to improve outcomes. This finding has helped facilitate the dissemination of CPR-sensing technologies globally. His work has been funded continuously by the National Institutes of Health for nearly two decades; he has also received research funding from the U.S. Department of Defense, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and other nonprofit and industry sources.  

Dr. Abella has served as Chair of the American Heart Association (AHA) Council on Cardiopulmonary, Critical Care, Perioperative, and Resuscitation (3CPR). He has authored international guidelines for CPR training through his work with the AHA. He has been elected a Fellow of the AHA and a Fellow of the European Resuscitation Council. He is Emergency Care and CPR Consultant to the National Basketball Association and has worked with the United States Air Force in the development of post-arrest care protocols. He is currently a physician advisor on Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s transition team focused on emergency care topics. Dr. Abella has won numerous awards for his teaching and research, and is frequently an invited speaker on cardiac arrest care at both national and international meetings.