Event/Disaster Preparedness for the Office of Health System Affairs at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW)
Riggs Family Chair in Emergency Medicine (EM)
Paul E. Pepe, MD, MPH, a Professor of Medicine, Surgery, Pediatrics, Public Health and Riggs Family Chair in Emergency Medicine (EM) is also Director of Regional Out-of-Hospital Care Systems and Event/Disaster Preparedness for the Office of Health System Affairs at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW) in Dallas, USA. He is also City of Dallas Director of Medical Emergency Services for Public Safety, Public Health & Homeland Security and the Emergency Medical Services/Public Safety Medical Director for Dallas County government. More recently, helping to create resuscitation research centers of excellence in South Florida, he was appointed as the Medical Director for Research, Education and Special Operations for the Broward Sheriff’s Office Fire Rescue Division as well as Palm Beach County, the City of West Palm Beach, Davie Fire Rescue and Coral Springs Fire Rescue (just named the EMS provider agency of the year by the State of Florida).
Both a longstanding academician and in-the-trenches clinician, Dr. Pepe was the Chief of EM at both UTSW and Parkland Hospital, the public emergency-trauma center for Dallas between 2000 and 2014 and, prior to that position, he was the EM Chair for the Medical College of Pennsylvania Pittsburgh campus at the affiliated Allegheny General emergency-trauma center. Before his appointments in Pennsylvania, Dr. Pepe also gave longstanding service as a tenured Professor of Surgery, Medicine and Pediatrics at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. During that distinguished academic career, he has also simultaneously served as an assistant to the Seattle Fire Department EMS medical directors (1977-82), as the (inaugural) Director of the City of Houston EMS System (1982-96) and as Commonwealth Emergency Medical Director for Pennsylvania (late 90’s).
With nearly 500 full-length published scientific papers, including many landmark publications in resuscitation medicine such as the original American Heart Association (AHA) Chain of Survival treatise, Auto-PEEP, permissive hypotension trials in trauma care and the Chicago airport AED study, Dr. Pepe has become renowned for a street-wise style in planning, implementing and overseeing a systems-approach to lifesaving, both operationally and through many successful clinical trials. With often intrepid and creative design in some circumstances, his past and current programs have consistently resulted in some of the highest cardiac arrest and trauma survival rates worldwide for both adults and children. In addition, he is considered a pioneer role model in the EM subspecialty of EMS as well as the prehospital delivery of critical care. Board-certified in Internal Medicine, Emergency Medicine, Pulmonary Medicine and EMS, he has now been designated a Master of both the American College of Critical Care Medicine and the American College of Physicians (MCCM, MACP).
Beyond providing many support services for the FDA and NIH over the past 2 decades, Dr. Pepe has served for years as emergency medicine-trauma consultant to various entities such as the White House Medical Unit (WHMU) and U.S. Secret Service (USSS) and he continues to coordinate the so-called Eagles consortium, a cohesive de facto coalition of the jurisdictional 9-1-1 (EMS) system medical directors for the United States’ 40-50 largest cities and several pivotal federal agencies (e.g., FBI, USSS, National Disaster Medical System & WHMU). Also, a veteran, on-the-ground leader in multiple U.S. disasters, he has been cited for heroism in the U.S. Congressional Record.
Cited as a “mentor to millions”, Dr. Pepe frequently has received national and international awards from numerous professional organizations across a myriad of disciplines. Relevant to his effectiveness in advancing resuscitation science, when receiving an award for lifetime achievements from the American College of Emergency Physicians, presented in Washington, DC by then U.S. Surgeon General, Richard Carmona, Dr. Pepe was cited as “the most accomplished emergency medical services physician of our generation”.