Dr. Paul Pepe, Professor of Medicine, Surgery, Public Health & Riggs Family Chair in Emergency Medicine (EM) at UT Southwestern, heads a program of 100 EM physicians (40 faculty & 60 residents/fellows) based at the county emergency-trauma center, Parkland Hospital. He is also City of Dallas Director of Medical Emergency Services for Public Safety, Public Health & Homeland Security & jurisdictional Medical Director for the Dallas Police, Dallas Metropolitan Medical Response System for counterterrorism & the regional (1000 paramedic) EMS system (Dallas & 14 other cities). An extremely distinguished researcher (500 published scientific papers/abstracts, incl. many landmark publications), Dr. Pepe has also always served as a high level municipal or state employee for 25 yrs. Renown for a grassroots, street-wise style in planning/implementing a systems approach to saving lives, his programs have resulted in some of the highest cardiac arrest & trauma survival rates worldwide. One citation of his, the famous Chain of Survival paper, delineating survival advantages of longitudinal linkages in resuscitative care, is cited symbolically or in writing in nearly every CPR related publication worldwide. He also co-chaired & wrote the executive summary for the 2001 National Institutes of Health (NIH) Chain of Recovery forum to reform U.S. stroke care. His "discoveries", (eg, Auto PEEP), clinical concepts (eg, deferred CPR rescue breaths), and clinical trials (eg, deferred IV fluids in trauma) are now mainstream medical practice or research. He has worked with former & current U.S. Surgeon Generals regarding national emergency training initiatives & his studies, injury prevention programs & media interactions have affected public policy, legislation & federal executive orders. As Steering Committee member for the NIH PULSE initiative, he helped to set national priorities for resuscitation research. The NIH has now designated his program a federally funded resuscitation research center set to conduct 10 trauma & cardiac clinical trials over the next 5 to 10 yrs. He has served as an assistant to the medical directors of the Seattle Fire Dept. EMS (1977 to 1982) & was the first Physician Director for the City of Houston Emergency Medical Services System (1982 to 1996) as well as Commonwealth Emergency Medical Director for Pennsylvania under Governor Tom Ridge. As the state’s "top doc", Dr. Pepe approved emergency care protocols statewide, including those for resuscitation & weapons of mass effect (WME) & fostered grassroots injury prevention programs & CPR-AED training for schoolchildren. Dr. Pepe has also served for years as emergency medicine & trauma consultant to the White House Medical Unit, U.S. Secret Service (USSS), FBI, U.S. Dept of Health & Human Services (HHS), NIH, & network news organizations. Working with the American Medical Association, American College of Emergency Physicians & others, he is now a lead Editor for the new National Disaster Life Support courses being developed for the nation’s healthcare workers under grants from CDC, HHS & U.S. Dept of Homeland Security (DHS). As such, his center has now been formally named part of a CDC Exemplar Center for Public Health Emergency Preparedness. He also coordinates the Eagles, a small but cohesive & highly influential coalition of the jurisdictional 911 system EMS medical directors for the 25 to 30 largest U.S. cities & pivotal federal agencies (eg, FBI, DHS, USSS, White House Med Unit). A global lecturer, he has won numerous health policy, community service, academic & professional society awards, here & abroad. Often featured on network news & prime-time broadcasts (eg, Rescue 9-1-1 pilot; ABC News Nightline special, In the ER; TLC’s award-winning, The Strongest Link; & Larry King Live), he has been called "Mentor to Millions", "Advocate for the Injured", & "Most Accomplished EMS Physician of our Generation".
