I was born and raised in Wisconsin. I guess that’s where I get this work ethic, and my love of chocolate and cheese. I even keep a jar above my refrigerator with a candy bar that says, "break glass in case of emergency."
<p>As a senior medical student, I wondered what I would do long term for a career. I started a Transitional Internship thinking I would move into Family Practice and go to work afterwards with my father, a Family Practice physician, in Las Vegas. While I was an intern, the ED Medical Director told me about plans to start an Emergency Medicine Residency Program. That sounded perfect for me. So I signed the contract and joined the first class of their EM Residency Program. I’ve always been thankful for that opportunity - EM is a wonderful career.
<p>After completing my residency training, I joined the faculty of Texas Tech University. I was a faculty member at Tech from 1984-1989, teaching Emergency Medicine in the Residency in El Paso, and serving as the Medical Director for El Paso EMS. It was a great job and an excellent opportunity for me to significantly impact prehospital care in El Paso. My most important accomplishment during this time was the establishment of a Trauma System, including designated Trauma Centers in El Paso.
<p>In 1989, I joined the faculty of UT Southwestern. It has truly been an honor to be a part of such a prestigious institution. Since I was one of the first EM faculty here, I’ve become the historian in the group. I’m even having some gray color added to my hair for effect! We had a vision and a desire to establish an EM Residency Program, and after a number of years of work, we started the Program in July 1997. The Program is fully accredited and a wonderful place to train in EM. In our system, we triage about 140,000 adults and 110,000 children, keeping about 90,000 adults in the Parkland ED, and 55,000 children in the Children’s Medical Center ED. The two ED?s are connected. So the variety and range of pathology seen by our residents and students is simply phenomenal. We also pride ourselves on having an extremely nice group of residents, which by the way coincides with a very nice group of patients.
<p>In 1998, after serving as Associate Program Director for the first year of the EM Residency Program, I began my current role as Program Director. I continue to enjoy clinical and didactic teaching, patient care, administration of the Emergency Medicine Residency Program, and academic writing.
