Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

Wilderness and Disaster Medicine Education (WADME)

Personnel


COURSE DIRECTOR

Peter Sananman, MD

Peter Sananman, MD
 Peter.Sananman@uphs.upenn.edu
 215 662 8215

Pete Sananman is an Emergency Medicine physician in the Penn Presbyterian medical center.  His primary non clinical professional duty is chairing the Emergency Department Disaster Preparedness Task force which seeks to standardize and improve the disaster plans for the 3 urban Emergency Departments in the UPHS.  

This course is truly a labor of love as it combines his interests in Emergency Medicine, Disaster Management, Disaster Relief/international medical work and of course nature and primitive/traditional survival skills.

Occasionally he even becomes the patient in the wilderness.



STUDENT LEADERS

Claire Hirschmann

Claire Hirschmann
Student Leader
 claire.hirschmann@pennmedicine.upenn.edu

Claire is from Seattle, now living in Philadelphia, and deeply nostalgic for mountains.  Her route to medical school was circuitous and included teaching at traveling high schools, guiding wilderness expeditions, and leading medical volunteer trips.  She gets really excited about outdoor adventuring, lawn games, dystopian teen novels, learning to boulder, and breakfast sandwiches.


Jesse Passman

Jesse Passman
Student Leader
 Jesse.Passman@pennmedicine.upenn.edu

 Jesse is a 5th year MD/MPH student headed into general surgery residency next year.  He attended Rice University for undergrad, where he was an EMT and helped instruct A-EMT, EMT-B, and ECA courses.  In his spare time he enjoys backpacking and has traveled all across the US and to South America and Central Europe in search of good trails.


Peter Schwab

Peter Schwab
Student Leader
 peter.schwab@pennmedicine.upenn.edu



FORMER STUDENT LEADERS

Emily Martin

Emily Martin
Former Student Leader
 martiem@uw.edu

Emily Martin was student leader of WADME in 2018. She went to Stanford for undergraduate, and worked for several years in Public Health year prior to Medical School. After med school, she matched in Emergency Medicine at the University of Washington and is currently sur-thriving intern year in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. In her free time she enjoys running, cycling, skiing, backpacking and climbing. Professionally, she is interested in Social Emergency Medicine, Public Health, and Harm Reduction. She would like you to know that its NOT too ambitious to make scrambled eggs and french press coffee every morning while camping on WADME, but it may, in fact, be too ambitious to make cornbread over the open fire- ask Pete. 


Kevin Gardner

Kevin Gardner
Former Student Leader


Saloni Malik

Saloni Malik
Former Student Leader
 salonim@mail.med.upenn.edu

Saloni is an M.D./M.P.H. student applying in Emergency Medicine. She loves camping and hiking long trails, but feels woefully unprepared for truly rugged solo adventures. She hopes this course will equip her with basic skills to survive in the wild and/or the zombie apocalypse. 


Joseph Mintz

Joseph Mintz
Former Student Leader
 jomintz@mail.med.upenn.edu

Joe is a fourth year medical student applying into anesthesiology. He grew up in Alaska and he loves the outdoors. Ask him about it.



WILDERNESS FIRST RESPONDERS

Kirk Harris

Kirk Harris
Director, Continuing Healthcare & Safety Education Roane State Community College

Kirk Harris is the Director of Continuing Healthcare and Safety Education at Roane State Community College. He has served in that position for the past 23 years and prior to that, 3 years as Director of the EMT/Paramedic program. Kirk has been involved in EMS for the past 36 years, being a Paramedic for 32 years. He is still very active in the field as a flight paramedic and really enjoys the dynamics of patient care. Kirk is a graduate of the University of Tennessee and is a Critical Care & Certified Flight Paramedic. He enjoys spending time with his family, fly-fishing, backpacking, running, & travel.


Marco Yurachek

Marco Yurachek
WFR Instructor
 myurachek@nycoutwardbound.org

Marco Yuracheck specializes in leading climbing, river, and backpacking expeditions, as well as wildlife study, and wilderness skills programs in remote wilderness locations throughout the world.. His wilderness guiding experience has taken him from some of the world’s highest peaks, to tropical jungles, deserts, oceans and all environments in between. He has extensive Search And Rescue experience in all of these environments. He has also worked with the film and TV industries as a technical adviser and safety consultant. In addition to guiding, Marko has worked with numerous clinics and medical programs in developing nations. He

currently provides instruction in High Angle and Technical Rescue to the NPS, law enforcement and military. Marko instructs programs for SOLO, in wilderness medicine, for Outward Bound, both in the US and internationally, and does adaptive climbing for Paradox. He will be doing wilderness skills, and rescue programs on the East Coast this spring and custom expeditions, and photo safaris in Alaska in the summer. Marco is returning after instructing at last years WADM class to teach Fire building and Map and Compass.

The ‘Fire Practicum’ Pete and Marco will bring out the latent Pyro tendencies in everyone. You will learn about building fire in various ways under any circumstance. (Even if your parents take away all of your matches).

The ‘Lost Proof Practicum’ Maps & Compass session is better than the TV show. You will learn what to do when GPS lets you down or your I-phone has no signal. How to find your way using map and compass, as well as natural land and sky features.



INSTRUCTORS

Eric Bowman, MD, FACEP, FAWM

Eric Bowman, MD, FACEP, FAWM
Instructor

Erik is the Director of the Wilderness Medicine Section within the Department of Emergency Medicine at York Hospital’s Emergency Medicine Residency, York, Pa.  Fellow of the Academy of Wilderness Medicine; Wilderness Medical Society member; certified in Advanced Wilderness Life Support, Wilderness Advanced Life Support, and Outdoor Emergency Care; active member of the National Ski Patrol. Outdoor interests include downhill skiing, camping, backpacking, white water rafting, caving, cross country skiing and snowshoeing, and survival skills.  SCUBA certifications (PADI) include Open Water Diver, Advanced Open Water Diver, Rescue Diver, Night Diver, Enriched Air (Nitrox) Diver, Equipment Specialist, Search & Recovery Diver, Underwater Navigator and Master SCUBA Diver.

Learn more about Eric at pawildmeb.com.


Elizabeth Edelstein

Elizabeth Edelstein
Instructor

Dr. Elisabeth Edelstein is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, PA. Liz’s academic passion is hands-on teaching. At Jefferson, she serves as Associate Director of the 4th year Student Clerkship in EM and Advanced Clinical Skills, as well as the Director of Wilderness Medicine. In addition, she is the faculty sponsor for the Student Interest groups in EM as well as Wilderness and Disaster Medicine.  A WMS Board Member since 2013 and WMS member since 2007, Liz discovered during her residency (in NYC) how to “join your passion with your profession,” when she was an instructor for the inaugural Cornell Wilderness Medicine Elective for medical students. Continuing as guest faculty for Cornell’s Wilderness Medicine courses, Liz currently serves as co-director for the WMS and Jefferson-affiliated Medical Student Elective in Wilderness and Environmental Medicine held every February, just outside Great Smoky Mountain National Park (check us out at www.wmselective.org), and lectures nationally on Wilderness Medicine topics.  Most recently, Liz was honored and lucky to lead the WMS Everest Experience 2013

http://wildernessmedicinemagazine.com/1066/2013-WMS-Everest-Experience

Liz’s interests outside of medicine include long-distance running, skiing, hiking, SCUBA, rafting, yoga, tennis, wine, music and theatre. 


Jeff Henne

Jeff Henne
Healthcare Safety & Emergency Management, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania

Jeffrey Henne, CHC, CHSP-FSM, CHEP, SASHE has been in safety field for 21 years and 18 years in Healthcare Safety & Emergency Management. Jeff is a Past-President of the Healthcare Facility Mangers Association of the Delaware Valley, now Trustee and Chair of various committees. Jeff is the Region 2 Board Representative of the Mid-Atlantic Region for the American Society of the Healthcare Engineering. Jeff experience and technically background range from Process & Industrial Safety to Pharmaceutical to Healthcare Safety. Jeff has a well diverse and background with technically experiences that has helped many hospital and chapter members. Jeff belongs to many local healthcare Chapters, HFAM, LEPC, AHA, and others. Jeff has worked for 5 years for the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania as the Safety & Emergency Manager for the complex and Penn Medicine.


Kevin Heyme

Kevin Heyme
Industrial Hygienist and Manager of Environmental Hygiene, University of Pennsylvania Health System, Dept. of Emergency Medicine

Kevin Heym is currently responsible for Industrial and Environmental Hygiene services to hospitals within the University of Pennsylvania HealthSystem. Recognition, evaluation, monitoring, and control of environmental stressors. Ensure compliance with federal, state and local regulations related to occupational and environmental health and safety within the health system. Development and training for Emergency Response support systems related to WMD and mass casualty events. I am a Hazardous Materials (Hazmat) Specialist and Technician in accordance with the National Board of Fire Services Professional Qualifications (NBFSPQ). I have taken and delivered courses in hazmat, emergency/disaster Management, and Incident Command. I have observed, participated, and controlled hospital disaster drills. I am Battalion Chief with the Chester County HAZMAT team and have been an instructor for the 1st Receiver

training program for the last 10 years. I provide classes on advanced air monitoring for firefighters and hazmat responders at the PA Hazmat conference. I currently maintain and purchase all PPE and hazmat protective equipment associated with our 1st receiver program. Volunteer Firefighter for ~10 years (Goshen Fire Company, Cardington Stonehurst Fire Department)


Jane Kim, MD

Jane Kim, MD
Instructor

Jane Kim MD is an Assistant Professor at SUNY Downstate Medical Center and a board certified emergency medicine attending at Kings County Hospital Center in Brooklyn, New York. She attended SUNY Downstate for medical school and completed her emergency medicine residency training at NewYork-Presbyterian Columbia and Cornell. During her time at New York-Presbyterian she was the resident director of the wilderness medicine medical student elective. After residency, she was the Co-director of the medical student emergency medicine clerkship and elective at Kings County. Currently, Dr. Kim is heavily involved in medical education and simulation. She is the Medical Director of the Center for Healthcare Simulation at Downstate and continues to work with the college of medicine to develop simulation curriculum for medical students in both their pre-clinical and clinical years. She is in the process of completing a simulation fellowship at the Institute of Medical Simulation and Advanced Learning (IMSAL).

Her love for the outdoors has been rekindled, since her introduction to wilderness medicine during her residency. She has been a member of the Wilderness Medical Society (WMS) and is a fellow candidate in the Academy of Wilderness Medicine. Dr. Kim is an active faculty member of the Wilderness Medicine division at Kings County. If she is not in the emergency room working clinically, she is traveling, hiking, camping, snowboarding, or diving. At the conference, Dr. Kim will be marrying her passion for simulation and wilderness medicine and lead a “wilderness medicine simulation session.” Come and practice what you learned at lecture, in the safety of the sim room!


Jeff Kramer

Jeff Kramer
Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Dept. of Emergency Medicine

Jeff Kramer is Assistant Professor of Clinical Emergency Medicine and Director, Emergency Medicine Bedside Ultrasound, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. Jeff’s first experience with Diamox at high altitude was with Pete Sananman as they climbed the Collegiate Range in Colorado during Jeff’s 10th wedding anniversary.

In his lecture ‘HAPE/HACE: High -Altitude Illness,’ he overviews high altitude illness, focusing on acute mountain sickness, high-altitude cerebral edema and high altitude pulmonary edema.


David Lambert

David Lambert
Instructor

Dr. David Lambert is an Emergency Medicine physician and Medical Director of ED Observation Unit for Hyperbaric Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.  After graduating medical school, Dr. Lambert went on to a General Surgery Internship at Naval Medical Center San Diego. Once he became a US Navy Flight Surgeon, he served on the USS George Washington in the Mediterranean/Persian Gulf Operation Southern Watch 1999-2001. From 2002-2004, Dr. Lambert completed two tours in Operation Iraqi Freedom.  In addition to being trained as a surgeon, he went on to complete an Emergency Medicine Residency and a Hyperbaric and Undersea Medicine Fellowship.  He is a certified PADI Advanced Open Water Diver who has gone on several dive expeditions including the Kizilburun Shipwreck in the Aegean Sea, Turkey and the Godavaya Shipwreck, Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka.


Jim Murrett

Jim Murrett
Emergency Medicine Resident, Temple University Hospital

Jim Murrett is a Physics and Astrophysics and the Outdoors major from a small liberal arts school in Massachusetts. He spent four years after college in the army working as an infantry officer in the 82nd airborne including a year-long deployment to Iraq and completing Airborne, Ranger, and Recon training. He graduated from Penn Med in 2016 after proudly surviving the 2016 Wilderness and Disaster Course. These days, he is an Emergency Medicine resident at Temple. In his free time he enjoys running, gardening, beer gardens, and napping.


Katie Nelson

Katie Nelson
Associate Program Director, Philadelphia Outward Bound School

Katie Nelson began working for Outward Bound as a Field Instructor in 2008. Since then, she has instructed more than 60 multi-day expeditions in the Mid- Atlantic region, including backpack, canoe, climbing, and multi-element courses ranging from 5 to 14 days in length. Additionally, she has instructed backpack expeditions in Maine and northern California, as well as a 28-day canoe expedition in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in Minnesota.

Katie currently serves as the Associate Program Director of Safety and Delivery at the Philadelphia Outward Bound School, where her primary focuses are overseeing program safety and training field staff.

Katie has a Bachelor of Applied Science in Outdoor Education and Psychology from the University of Minnesota Duluth and is a certified Wilderness First Responder with additional certifications in Adult, Child, and Infant CPR and AED.


Ryan Overberger

Ryan Overberger
Albert Einstein Medical Center, Dept. of Emergency Medicine

Ryan Overberger is an Attending Physician in the Emergency Department at Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia. He completed residency training in Emergency Medicine and fellowship in Emergency Medical Services and Disaster Medicine. Ryan completed his undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering in 2002, but rather than sensibly getting a job in this field he decided to work full time as a ski patroller and emergency medical technician and change gears to pursue a career in medicine. He still tries to ski as many days as possible. Ryan is a member of several regional technical rescue teams and is a

medical team manager for the FEMA Urban Search and Rescue team. He provides EMS medical direction to several local agencies, co-chair of the Einstein Emergency Management Committee and serves as team leader for the Einstein Hospital Emergency Response Team, a multidisciplinary all-hazards task force.


Lara Phillips

Lara Phillips
Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals, Wilderness & Disaster Medicine Interest Group, Faculty Advisor

Dr. Lara Phillips is on faculty at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital where she works as an emergency medicine physician. She is the faculty advisor of the Wilderness and Disaster Medicine Interest Group at the Sidney Kimmel Medical College at TJU. She completed a fellowship in Wilderness Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. During this fellowship, she worked at Health Aid Posts in the Annapurna Mountains through the Himalayan Rescue Association and continued to volunteer with relief efforts in Kathmandu after the Nepal earthquake in spring 2015.

She has also worked in rural Dillingham, Alaska and Pine Ridge, South Dakota through the Indian Health Service and in Guyana at Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation. She has a passion for teaching and service to the underserved in rural areas. She continues to pursue an academic career by combining patient care and teaching in traditional and non-traditional emergency medicine settings.


James Krueger

James Krueger
Einstein Medical Center, Dept. of Emergency Medicine

James Krueger is a current senior medical toxicology fellow at Einstein Medical Center in north Philadelphia. He is a graduate of St. Vincent's Emergency Medicine residency in Toledo, Ohio where he served as chief resident in 2015. He worked for a year at the University of Maryland before returning to fellowship. He will be staying on as faculty at Einstein in July 2018 as well as continuing to work in collaboration with the Department of Energy at REAC/TS in Knoxville, Tennessee. His academic interests are modern drugs of abuse, naturally occurring toxins/ toxicology and radiation emergencies. He lives in the city with his wife and dog who keep him sane. 


Matt Salzman

Matt Salzman
Cooper University Dept. of Emergency Medicine

Matt Salzman is Assistant Professor of EM and Medical Toxicologist at Cooper Medical School at Rowan University and a consulting toxicologist at Philadelphia Poison Center and CHOP. In ‘Snake envenomation’ he will be discussing snake bites and envenomation and the treatment thereof.


Nick Pinizzotto

Nick Pinizzotto
Associate Director, Emergency Management and Safety Programs Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania

Nick Pinizzotto is an Associate Director of Emergency Management and Safety Programs for the University of Pennsylvania Health System. Penn Health System includes the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Presbyterian Medical Center, Pennsylvania Hospital, Chester County Hospital and multiple offsite ambulatory care facilities. Responsibility for guidance and direction of safety staff who ensure compliance with environmental, occupational and life safety compliance and accreditation requirements. Principal individual handling OSHA employee complaint inquiries and OSHA inspections across the health system and work with the Office of General Council around response compliance related to these events.


Harvey Rubin

Harvey Rubin
Professor of Medicine / Secondary Appointment of Computer Sciences, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania

Dr. Rubin is Professor of Medicine with secondary appointment as Professor of Computer Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania. The NIH, NSF, DARPA, the Global Alliance for TB Drug Discovery and the Gates Foundation have funded his basic biochemical and genetic research in infectious diseases, resulting in more

than 100 peer-reviewed papers. He served on national and international scientific review panels including the NIH, NSF, NASA Intelligent Systems Program, DARPA, and The Medical Research Council, South Africa. He was a member of the U.S. National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity and the Dept. of Defense/National Academy of Sciences Biological Cooperative Threat Reduction Program. Dr. Rubin is the founder of Energize the Chain a non-profit organization and GAVI INFUSE partner that ensures the delivery of vaccines to people in the most remote regions of the world by utilizing power and connectivity available at cell tower sites to power the refrigeration systems that are necessary to keep vaccines at the proper temperature.


Douglas Sward, MD, FAAEM, FAWM

Douglas Sward, MD, FAAEM, FAWM
Instructor

Dr. Sward is board certified by the American Board of Emergency Medicine since 2009. He is currently an Emergency Physician at the Upper Chesapeake Medical Center in Bel Air, Maryland. He also practices Hyperbaric and Dive Medicine at the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center Department of Hyperbaric Medicine. He is a DMAC Medical Examiner of Divers and the Faculty Advisor for the Wilderness Medicine Student Interest Group at University of Maryland School of Medicine. Since 2010, Dr. Sward has been the Medical Advisor for Maryland Search and Rescue, which is a team within the Appalachian Search and Rescue Conference. In 2010, he also completed the Wilderness Medical Society Fellow of the Academy of Wilderness Medicine program. Wilderness medicine interests include dive medicine, altitude medicine, frostbite, hypothermia, hyperthermia, ultrasound and all manner of improvised wilderness care. Personal interests include rock and ice climbing, skiing, diving, mountain biking, kayaking, triathlons and any opportunity to get off the grid. He also has prior experience as a paramedic and firefighter at the Wheaton Volunteer Rescue Squad. 


Chris Tedeschi, MD

Chris Tedeschi, MD
Instructor

Chris Tedeschi, MD, MA, FAWM is Assistant Professor of Medicine at Columbia University and an attending emergency physician at NY Presbyterian Hospital.  He has served as faculty for NYP’s wilderness medicine course for medical students since its inception in 2006.   Dr. Tedeschi is past-chair of the disaster and humanitarian medicine committee of the Wilderness Medical Society and a Fellow of the Academy of Wilderness Medicine.  He has worked on disaster preparedness and education programs in India, Sri Lanka, the US and elsewhere with an interest in media coverage and communications during global health emergencies.  He is visiting faculty at the Global Emergency Medicine program at Weill Cornell Medical College.  Other interests include nonfiction media and documentary film — current projects include a short documentary on a wilderness rescue and a cross-platform project documenting rabies ecology in Peru.  He received his undergraduate degree from Cornell University, his MD from Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, and a Master’s from the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins.


Brian Wexler, MD, MPH, FAAEM

Brian Wexler, MD, MPH, FAAEM
Director, Section of Disaster Medicine & Emergency Management Assistant Professor, Drexel University College of Medicine

Dr. Bryan Wexler attended Amherst College prior to training at Tufts University School of Medicine, earning his MD and subsequently completed his residency at WellSpan York Hospital in Emergency Medicine. Dr. Wexler finished his fellowship in Disaster Medicine and Emergency Management in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, MA in June 2013, in addition to completing a Masters in Public Health. After completing his fellowship, Dr. Wexler took a position with WellSpan, York Hospital as the director of Disaster Medicine and Emergency Management and Clinical Assistant Professor at Drexel University College of Medicine. He has served on several disaster preparedness committees, been involved in multi-system training exercises at the regional level and has lectured before military medic units. Dr. Wexler continues to serve on several disaster committees, including the development and management of the regional disaster and emergency management All-Hazards plan for the York-Adams County. Dr. Wexler’s interests in addition to disaster medicine are natural disaster phenomena, regional resource management and curriculum development.


Katherine Gold

Katherine Gold
Associate Director, Facility Operations of Campus Operations University of Pennsylvania

Katie is the Associate Director for Facility Operations in Campus Recreation at UPenn. She oversees both the Rec gym facilities and the pool. She has been with Penn for 2.5 years. Katie has been teaching lifeguarding and managing aquatic facilities since 2011. In that time, she has certified over 200 people in lifeguarding and many more in CPR. She believes swimming is an important life skill and loves teaching people how to be safe in and around the water.


Dan Hoffman

Dan Hoffman
Director, Philadelphia Outward Bound

Dan Hoffman is the Program/Safety Director for the Philadelphia Outward Bound School as well as the Wilderness First Responder, American Mountain Guide, American Canoe Association Instructor, and Certified Ropes Course Manager. He has worked in the Outdoor Industry for over 15 years and serves on the Outward Bound International Safety Review Team.

During the “Tar Shelter, Knots Practicum”, Dan’s workshop will cover tarps and the many shelter variations we can construct with one. From blistering sum to pouring rains, high winds, snow and sleet, wet ground, to frigged nights – a properly set tarp can be a lifesaver.


Kevin Semelrath

Kevin Semelrath
MD, FACEP, Maj, USAF, MC Assistant Professor Military of Emergency Medicine

Kevin Semelrath is an Assistant Professor of Military and Emergency Medicine. He is a residency trained and board certified Emergency Physician. In his current role,he teaches several courses in USU’s military unique curriculum. He is the Course Director for Combat Medical Skills, designed to teach first year students the basic lifesaving skills of the combat environment; he is the Emergency Medicine Clerkship Director, advising and guiding students through their fourth year Emergency Medicine Clerkship; and he is the Course Director for Operation Bushmaster, the fourth year capstone event in the students’ military curriculum. This exercise pushes the students

to apply all of their medical knowledge and leadership abilities in a simulated deployed environment.


Rick Shandler

Rick Shandler
National Ski Patrol Nordic/ Backcountry Program Director and Patrol Director Valley Forge Nordic Backcountry Bike Patrol

Rick Shandler has been teaching Swift Water Rescue and White Water Kayaking for more than 20 years. He is a member of the Phoenixville Dive Rescue team, a W-EMT and EMT and teaches Wilderness First Aid. An active ski patroller he teaches in the Avalanche, Mountain Travel & Rescue, Nordic, Outdoor Emergency Transportation, and Outdoor Emergency Care programs, and is currently the National Ski Patrol Nordic/ Backcountry Program Director and Patrol Director for the Valley Forge Nordic BC Bike Patrol. He is also a high ropes course instructor and experiential education facilitator. By day, he works as a clinical specialist in cardiac arrhythmias.


Alvin Wang, DO, FAAEM, NREMT-P

Alvin Wang, DO, FAAEM, NREMT-P
Department of Emergency Medicine

Alvin Wang grew up in the suburbs of New York City. He obtained his B.S. in Civil Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University. While in college, he worked as an emergency medical technician and later went to become an EMS educator and a critical care flight paramedic. His EMS experiences sparked his interest in pursuing career in medicine and in 2007, he graduated from Philadelphia Osteopathic College of Medicine. Before joining the Emergency Medicine Faculty at Penn, Alvin completed his emergency medicine residency training at Temple University School of Medicine where he became the Medical Director for the Division of EMS. He is board certified in Emergency Medicine by the American Board of Emergency Medicine. Alvin remains

active in the prehospital arena by serving as a deputy Medical Director with the Volunteer Medical Service Corps of Lower Merion and Narberth and responds regularly in the field. He was the Medical Director for the University of Pennsylvania’s Medical Emergency Response Team (PennMERT). In addition, he is an embedded tactical Medical Director with the Bucks County South SWAT team and is a federal medical officer for the National Disaster Medical System PA-4 DMAT team. He serves as deputy regional Medical Director for Montgomery County, PA. Within the past several years, Alvin has led medical student service-learning trips to underserved portions of Ghana, Nicaragua, Pananma, and Malawi and has taught tactical medicine in Uganda to the country’s federal police. His clinical interests include difficult airway management, critical care air medical transport, disaster relief, and tactical/austere medicine. When he’s not working, Alvin enjoys almost any outdoor activity including climbing hiking with his dog, learning golf and sailing, motorcycling, photography, and adventure traveling.



Course Administrator

Tarskia Chase

Tarskia Chase
Course Administrator

Tarskia makes it all happen with her adminstrative expertise. She has always got a smile on her face. Thanks so much for your help, Tarskia!