TraumaCon 2011: Speaker Biographies

Catherine Babbitt

Catherine Babbitt has over twenty years of experience in criminal prosecution. She currently oversees the Family Justice & Victim Protection Division, which handles all cases of child abuse, sexual assault, and domestic violence in Bexar County, Texas. Ms. Babbitt has been a faculty member for the Texas District and County Attorneys Association, the National College of District Attorneys, and the National District Attorneys Association. She is a member of the State Bar of Texas, United States District Court, Western District of Texas, and Texas District and Attorneys Association.

Ms. Babbitt completed her academic training at Wells College – Aurora, New York (BA, 1984), Western New England School of Law – Springfield, Massachusetts (1985), and St. Mary's University School of Law – San Antonio, Texas (JD, 1987). She is a frequent lecturer for the Rape Crisis Center, the Alamo Area Council of Government, numerous law enforcement agencies, and for local schools.

Mary Kay Bader, RN, MSN, CCNS, FAHA

Mary Kay is the co-editor for the 2010 and 2004 AANN Core Curriculum for Neuroscience Nursing and serves as a consulting editor for Critical Care Nurse. She is co-editor of 2008 AACN AANN Protocols for Practice in Neuro Critical Care. Mary Kay is on the Medical Advisory Board for the Brain Trauma Foundation and on the Neurocritical Care Society Board of Directors. She is the recipient of AACN's Circle of Excellence Awards: Outstanding CNS and Mentor along with the SICU's Multidisciplinary Team Award for Collabaration and Innovision Awards. In May 2009, she received the Flame of Excellence award from AACN.

Holly Bair, RN, MSN, NP

Holly Bair is the Trauma Program Manager at William Beaumont Medical Center in Royal Oak, Michigan. She is a licensed Nurse Practitioner in the state of Michigan and received her Masters Degree from Madonna University in 2001. In 1995 Holly came to Beaumont Hospital to create a Level I Trauma Center. Beaumont Hospital - Royal Oak has successfully re-verified six times under her direction. Along with her duties on the Trauma Service she is also the Director of the Beaumont Access Center.

Holly has multiple publications, including papers reflecting her work on a rapid reversal protocol for anticoagulated patients with traumatic head bleeds. She has lectured at the state, regional, and national level on a range of trauma related subjects. She belongs to many profession organizations and has served as the Secretary of the Michigan Emergency Nurses Association.

Erik S. Barquist, MD, FACS, FCCM

Rachel Berger, MD, MPH

Rachel Berger attended medical school at Columbia University. She completed her pediatric internship and residency and a fellowship in general academic pediatrics at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC.  During her fellowship, she also completed a Master's in Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health.

Since 2001, Dr. Berger has been part of the Child Advocacy Center at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh and a member of the Hospital's Child Protection Team. She is also an associate Director of the Safar Center for Resuscitation Research at the University of Pittsburgh. For the past 10 years, her clinical research has focused on the use of serum and cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers in pediatric brain injury with a focus on abusive head trauma. Dr. Berger has received funding from multiple sources including the NIH, CDC, and the Department of Defense for her research. She is also very involved in mentoring trainees from multiple disciplines who are interested in performing research related to pediatric brain injury and child abuse.

Lieutenant Andrew Carian

Lieutenant Andrew Carian is a 23 year veteran of the San Antonio Police Department, with 16 years of experience as an investigator in the Homicide Unit and as supervisor for the Family Violence detail, supervisor in the Internal Affairs Unit, and as the commander of the Sex Crimes/ Family Violence Unit. His experience includes investigations from capital felonies to misdemeanor offenses, and police misconduct and corruption cases involving sexual assault and family violence. Lt. Carian is one of a handful of instructors certified to teach the State-authorized Sexual Assault/Famly Violence Investigator's Courses (SAFVIC) and the Advanced Child Abuse (ACA) Investigation Course.

Jamye Coffman, MD

Dr. Jamye Coffman is the Medical Director of the Child Advocacy Resource and Evaluation (CARE) Team at Cook Children's Healthcare System in Fort Worth, Texas. The CARE Team conducts medical interviews, medical and forensic evaluations, psychosocial assessments, preventative education and participates in multidisciplinary reviews for victims of sexual abuse, physical abuse and neglect. The CARE Team serves as a resource for parents, primary care physicians, law enforcement and the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services. The CARE Team and other Cook Children's Medical Center health professionals work together to assess the family's needs and provide treatment and follow-up care. Social workers specializing in child protection issues are available to facilitate consultation, reporting and crisis intervention. In addition, this team makes referrals to other community agencies for counseling needs. Dr. Coffman is also a member of the Medical Advisory Committee for the Texas Medical Child Abuse Resources and Education System (MEDCARES), within the Texas Department of State Health Services.

Susan A. Cox, RN, MS, CEN, PHN

Sue Cox is the current president of the Society of Trauma Nurses (STN). She is the Director of Rady Children's Hospital Regional Pediatric Trauma Center in San Diego, and also directs the department of Volunteer Services there. Sue is the immediate past Chair of the San Diego County Trauma Program Managers and the first nursing co-chair of the San Diego County Medical Audit Committee. She is also the Treasurer of the Trauma Research and Education Foundation of San Diego.

Sue received her BSN from San Diego University with a minor in Business Administration, and her MS from San Diego State University in Nursing Administration. She has been an active clinician, administrator, and educator for the past 30 years, focusing exclusively on pediatric issues with primary interests in critical care, trauma care, emergency care, disaster planning, and injury prevention. Sue is a prolific educator locally, nationally and internationally. Her work has been published in the Journal of Trauma Nursing, Nursing Clinics of North America, and in the Emergency Nurses' Association's Trauma Nurse Core Curriculum. She has been recognized for her advocacy with children's issues by the San Diego Office of Education, the San Diego Rotary Club, the YWCA, and Rady Children's Hospital.

Daniel L. Dent, MD, FACS

Dr. Daniel Dent is a trauma surgeon and Distinguished Teaching Professor of Surgery in the Department of Surgery at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. He received his medical degree from the University of South Florida and completed a Surgical Residency and Research Fellowship in Trauma and Nutrition at the University of Tennessee-Memphis. He joined the faculty at UTHSCSA in 1996 and has received numerous teaching excellence awards. Dr. Dent is the General Surgery Residency Program Director for the Surgical Residency at UTHSCSA. He is the Chairman of the Blood and Tissue Utilization Review Committee at University Hospital.

Dr. Dent's current research interests include trauma, surgical infection, and surgical education. He is the chair of the Association of Program Directors in Surgery (APDS), Duty Hours Task Force, and senior author of a recent survey on the Impact of Duty Hours Restriction on Surgical Resident Education. He was elected to the APDS Board of Directors.

He has been first author and co-author of numerous papers and book chapters on various trauma and surgical topics, including splenic injury, tight glucose control in the ICU, C-spine clearance, malpractice risk in trauma patients, envenomation, percutaneous tracheotomy, air gun injuries, and injury prevention, to name a few.

COL Brian J. Eastridge, MD, FACS

Dr. Eastridge is currently the Director of Joint Theater Trauma System Programs at Ft. Sam Houston, Texas. His interests are focused on trauma system development on the battlefield, including development and implementation of the Joint Theater Trauma Registry, improved resuscitation strategies for casualties, and the development pre-deployment training strategies for medical units. Dr. Eastridge is a Clinical Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio. He is also Attending Surgeon at the University of Texas Health Science Center University Hospital, as well as Attending Surgeon at the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research in Brooke Army Medical Center. His previous appointments include positions as Staff Trauma Surgeon, Associate Professor of Surgery, and Critical Care Consultant Surgeon.

Academically, Dr. Eastridge holds a BS in Biochemistry from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (1985), and an MD from the University of Maryland School of Medicine (1989). He completed his internship and residency in General Surgery at the University of Maryland (1989-1995) and was General Surgery Administrative Chief Resident (1995-1996). Dr. Eastridge also completed a Fellowship in Surgical Critical Care/Trauma at University of Texas Southwestern (1996-1997). Dr. Eastridge is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and a member of the Association for Academic Surgery, the Society of Critical Care Medicine, the Southwestern Surgical Society, the Association for Surgical Education, the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States, and the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma. He has been an Editor/Reviewer for Journal on Information Technology in Healthcare, Journal of Orthopedic Research, and Journal of Trauma, and he sits on many regional and national Committees. Dr. Eastridge has been awarded the Defense Meritorious Service Medal (2007), the Army Commendation Medal (2005), Iraq Campaign Medal (2004), the Bronze star (2002), Distinguished Physician Award (2005), and the Outstanding Faculty Achievement Award in Resident and Student Teaching (University of Texas Southwestern – 2000). He has authored approximately 37 publications and delivered approximately 70 presentations.

Jamie Ferrell, BSN, RN, DABFN, CA/CP-SANE, SANE-A, CMI-III,
CFN, SANE-P

Jamie Ferrell is the Clinical Manager of the Forensic Nursing Services for the ten Memorial Hermann Hospitals in Houston, Texas. This program provides comprehensive assessments, evidence preservation and trial testimony for adult and child victims of physical and sexual assault (approximately 1500 patients annually). She is also a member of the National Forensic Nursing Institute (NFNI) faculty where she provides education and consultation nationally and abroad to professionals and communities committed to improving their response for victims of interpersonal violence. She has consulted with 11 countries and 25 states providing lectures, education, and/or system analysis to improve their response for victims of interpersonal violence, particularly children.

Ms. Ferrell has 32 years of experience as a Registered Nurse with extensive practice in Emergency/Trauma Care and has spent the last 24 years as a practicing Forensic Nurse/Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE). This includes coordinating the SANE program at Northwest Texas Healthcare System from 1988-1998. Her practice has also included flight nursing, pediatric care, and maternal-infant health. Ms. Ferrell is a founding board member and Past President of the International Association of Forensic Nurses. She is also a founding member of the Forensic Nursing Certification Board for the International Association of Forensic Nurses. She was appointed to the American College of Emergency Physician's task force to assist in the development of the manual 'Evaluation and Treatment of the Sexually Assaulted or Sexually Abused Patient.' She has authored numerous publications, including 'Forensic Aspects of Emergency Nursing' (Chapter 43 in the Emergency Nursing Core Curriculum, 6th Edition.) She has been the recipient of the Excellence Award from the National Coalition Against Sexual Assault, the 1998 Virginia A. Lynch Pioneer Award from the International Association of Forensic Nurses, and she is a Diplomat of the American Board of Forensic Nurses.

Nilda Garcia, MD, FACS

Dr. Garcia is the Trauma Medical Director at Dell Children's Medical Center in Austin, TX. She attended the University of Texas in Austin, receiving her BS in Pharmacy in 1984. She completed medical school at the University of Texas Southwestern/ Parkland Hospital in Dallas in 1989. She went on to complete a surgical internship/residency and a research fellowship at UT Southwestern. Dr. Garcia's pediatric surgery fellowship was completed at Los Angeles Children's Hospital in Los Angeles, California in 1998. 

Dr. Garcia became an Assistant Professor of Pediatric Surgery at UT Southwestern/Children's Medical Center Dallas in 1998 and Associate Professor in 2005. In 2008, she was appointed Associate Trauma Medical Director at Children's Medical Center Dallas, a position she held until leaving in July 2010.

Dr. Garcia currently has responsibility for the clinical trauma service, trauma research, and injury prevention programs. Her clinical interests include trauma clinical care, child abuse evaluation/intervention, anorectal malformations and other congential anomalies.

Heidi Hotz, RN

Heidi Hotz is the Trauma Program Manager at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, a California Department of Health designated and ACS-verified Level I Trauma Center. She is the incoming President of the American Trauma Society (ATS), Past President of the Society of Trauma Nurses (STN), and Past President of the Trauma Managers Association of California (TMAC). She has extensive experience in all aspects of trauma including clinical care, program management, trauma data, trauma performance improvement and patient safety, trauma systems, injury prevention, consulting for trauma centers and systems, educational curriculum development, conference and event planning, and all trauma related issues across the continuum of care.

Heidi Hotz is the recipient of the STN's Trauma Leadership Award. She is a member of the Trauma Quality Improvement Program (TQIP) Training Project Team of the American College of Surgeons (ACS). She has been a survey team member for the ACS Trauma Systems and Evaluation Program. She has been an invited expert panel member for many national trauma initiatives and projects such as the ATS Leadership Forums, the screening & brief intervention for alcohol in trauma initiatives, the Model Trauma System Plan work group, to name a few. She has lectured on a wide variety of trauma related topics throughout the United States and internationally. She has extensive participation at the member and Chair levels for local, regional, state and national committees. She was the Chair of the Advanced Trauma Care for Nurses® (ATCN) Committee in Arizona for 6 years followed by her appointment as the first Chair of the STN's ATCN National-International Committee and spearheaded the special projects team to attain the ACS COT approval of the program as a collaborative effort with the ATLS Subcommittee. She was a member of the STN Board of Directors for over 8 years in the positions of Director at Large, Treasurer, President Elect, and President. She is an author and Faculty Member for the STN's Trauma Outcomes Performance Improvement Course (TOPIC).

Donald Jenkins, MD, FACS

Dr. Donald Jenkins is the recipient of the 2011 STN Distinguished Lectureship Award.

Dr. Jenkins is the immediate past-president of the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma (EAST). In 2008, he retired from the U.S. Air Force after having served as the Trauma Medical Director at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. For over a decade, Dr. Jenkins was responsible for all trauma medical care and administration at Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, the USAF's only American College of Surgeons Verified Level 1 Trauma Center. He was also the Flight Commander and Chairman of General Surgery for 59 MDW (59th Medical Wing – Wilford Hall).

Currently, Dr. Jenkins is a Senior Associate Consultant for the Division of Trauma of Critical Care and Surgery for the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, as well as the Trauma Medical Director and Associate Professor of Surgery in the College of Medicine there. He is also an Assistant Professor of Surgery for the Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, Maryland. He is a nationally recognized speaker and peer-reviewed author, and has published multiple papers on topics that include pulmonary embolism prevention, organ donation and brain death, damage control in an austere environment, resuscitation end-points and tissue oxygenation, substance abuse and withdrawal in the ICU, trauma system development in a theater of war, burn resuscitation guidelines.

Dr. Jenkins received his BS in 1984 at the University of Scranton, Pennsylvania with a major in Biochemistry. He earned his MD in 1988 at the Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, Maryland, and performed his General Surgery Residency at Wilford Hall and Lackland AFB in 1988 and again from 1991-1996. He was a Trauma/Critical Care Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania in 1998. In 1999, Dr. Jenkins received the Diploma Medical Care of Catastrophes from the Society of Apothecaries of London.

Jorie Klein, RN

Jorie Klein is the Director of the Trauma Program, Disaster Management, and North Texas Poison Center for Parkland Health & Hospital System in Dallas, Texas. She has a long history of exemplary trauma leadership at the state, regional, and national level, including: President of the Texas EMS, Trauma, and Acute Care Foundation; Vice-Chair of the Governor's Emergency/Trauma Advisory Council's Trauma System (Texas); Chair of the Texas Hospital Association's Policy Committee on Trauma and Emergency Services, and Chair of the Texas Hospital Association's Trauma Technical Advisory Group. Jorie is a past president of STN, and has also served on numerous STN committees, from the Annual STN Conference Committee (which she chaired from 1998 – 2004), to ATCN Regional Chair, and State Chair for Texas. She has received many awards for her service to the trauma community, most recently Governor's EMS / Trauma Council's Journey of Excellence Award (2009).

Jorie has authored papers, book chapters, and courses on emergency preparedness, disaster management, mechanism of injury, decision-making in trauma care, and preparing for a trauma site visit, among others. She has been frequent invited speaker on a vast array of trauma topics for both national and international audiences.

Amy Koestner, MSN, RN

Amy Koestner is the Trauma Program Manager at Borgess Medical Center, a level 1 Trauma Center in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Amy has a 30-year nursing career, with experience spanning the bedside in pediatric ICU, regional pediatric education, flight nursing, adult ICU bedside care, and the past 15 years in the role of trauma program manager. She has led multiple trauma centers through five ACS verification visits. Amy earned her BSN from Nazareth College, and her MSN from Wayne State University.

Amy has been active in the Society of Trauma Nurses (STN) for over 10 years, serving in a variety of leadership roles, including past president in 2008. Her involvement in STN has included participation as an original author/ faculty member for the Optimal Trauma Center Organization & Management Course, as one of the key authors of the Senior Lifestyle & Injury Prevention (SLIP) course, as national & international faculty for the Advanced Trauma Care for Nurses (ATCN) course, and most recently as the appointed STN chair liaison to the Committee on Trauma. Amy remains active as faculty for ATCN, the Trauma Nurse Core Course (TNCC), the Emergency Nursing Pediatric Course (ENPC), and speaks on trauma topics on a state and national level.

Amy has been involved in trauma system development in Michigan through her leadership role in the Michigan Trauma Coalition and Regional Trauma Advisory Committee in Southwest Michigan.

Karla Lawson, PhD, MPH, RD

Karla Lawson is currently a research scientist in the Trauma Services Department at Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas, with a research focus on child abuse determination and prevention. In addition, she is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Public Health at the University of Texas, School of Public Health, in Austin, Texas. Since 2010, Dr. Lawson has also been an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Division of Pediatric Surgery at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Austin. She is a member of the Society for the Advancement of Violence and Injury Research (SAVIR), the Science and Research Committee of SAVIR, and the American Public Health Association. Dr. Lawson's recent publication topics include a pilot study of alcohol screening among caregivers of pediatric trauma patients, hearing evaluation in children following head injury, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder traits in both injured and non-injured patients, and a review of pediatric injuries in central Texas. She is frequently called upon to lecture to local, regional, and national audiences.

Dr. Lawson completed both her Bachelor of Science studies in Nutritional Sciences and Dietetics (1998) and her PhD in Nutritional Sciences/Molecular Genetics and Microbiology (2002) at the University of Texas at Austin. She went on to Johns Hopkins to earn an MPH in Epidemiology and Biostatistics (2003), and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in cancer epidemiology (2006) at the National Institutes of health.

Kathleen D. Martin, MSN, RN, CCRN

Kathleen Martin has over 30 years of experience in trauma care delivery. She is currently the Trauma Program Nurse Director at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany. Her career has spanned diverse nursing positions including staff RN in the trauma ICU, clinical nurse specialist, trauma program manager, consultant, trauma nurse site surveyor, and entrepreneur in her own consulting company. She has authored many research papers and book chapters, and her research interests include, organ donation, trauma performance improvement (PI), and trauma systems. She is an active educator, teaching ATCN and the Trauma Outcomes and Performance Improvement Course (TOPIC), and has had numerous invited speaking engagements. She was the recipient of the Society of Trauma Nurses' (STN's) 2009 Distinguished Lectureship Award.

Kathleen has served on the STN board of directors in various positions for 17 years and is a past president of STN. Her involvement with the STN has been as an original author/ faculty of the TOPIC and TOPIC-M course, Editor in Chief of the Journal of Trauma Nursing, and international faculty for the ATCN Course. She is a current member of the STN board of directors as the TOPIC Committee Chair.

Marilyn "Mac" McFarland, RN, MS

Marilyn "Mac" McFarland is the Administrative Director of Trauma Services & Clinics at University Health Systems in San Antonio, Texas. Her career has spanned 35 years, and although primarily a trauma, critical care, and emergency nurse in the first 18 years of her career, she also served a tour of duty in the United States Air Force Nurse Corps, and was a nursing services contractor with the Peace Corps in Morocco, North Africa.

Mac graduated from the University of Texas System School of Nursing in 1976 and began working in critical care. In 1993, she received her Master of Science in Nursing Administration and Informatics from the University of Maryland at Baltimore. For the last 17 years, until February of this year, she has been a part of the University Health System in San Antonio as Administrative Director of Trauma Services & Clinics. Mac has been an active participant in regional and local trauma organizations, as well as numerous professional nursing organizations. One of her key clinical interests is envenomation – particularly by rattlesnakes – and the nursing care of patients who are bitten by them. In February, she decided to take time off from working to travel to Belize and the Gulf Coast.

Wendi McNabb, RN

Wendi McNabb has over 17 years of experience in trauma, burn and critical care. She is currently the Trauma and Burn Program Director at the University Medical Center Health System in Lubbock, Texas. She is active in the Texas Trauma System, Trauma Service Area-B (B-RAC), and the South Plains Emergency Medical Service (SPEMS) organization.

Wendi McNabb is actively involved in trauma education, including Advanced Burn Life Support (ABLS), ATCN, TNCC, and TOPIC. She is also a course coordinator for Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS). Her experience includes: Trauma & Burn Program Coordinator, charge nurse and staff RN in a surgical ICU/ Trauma Unit, RN Case Manager, and staff RN on a surgical/ trauma floor. Her professional affiliations include the Emergency Nurses Associoation (ENA), the Society of Trauma Nurses (STN), the American Burn Associaiton (ABA), the American Trauma Society (ATS), and the North Texas Committeee on Trauma.

Judy Mikhail, RN, MSN, MBA

Judy Mikhail is currently the Program Manager for the Michigan Trauma Quality Improvement Program (MTQIP), which is based at the University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor. She has over 30 years of progressive trauma nursing experience, most recently as the administrator for Trauma, Bariatrics, and Neuroservices at Hurley Medical Center, a Level-1 Trauma in Flint, Michigan. She began her nursing career in the Burn Unit at Hurley, and progressed from surgical ICU staff nurse to clinical nurse specialist and ultimately a trauma program manager and trauma administrator. Judy earned her diploma in nursing from Hurley Medical Center School of Nursing, her BSN from the University of Michigan, and MSN from the University of Texas. In 2003, she completed work on her MBA from Colorado State University. Judy Mikhail is currently a full-time doctoral nursing student at the Medical University of South Carolina. She has been active in many professional organizations, including the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma (EAST), the American Burn Association (ABA), the American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE), the Emergency Nurses Association (ENA), the American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN), and the Society of Trauma Nurses (STN).

Judy MIkhail is a nationally recognized speaker in trauma care and has been an active educator and course director for PreHospital Trauma Life Support (PHTLS), Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS), Advanced Trauma Care for Nurses (ATCN), the Trauma Nurse Core Course (TNCC), the Course in Advanced Trauma Nursing (CATN), Fundamental Critical Care Support (FCCS), and Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS). She serves as an adjunct instructor for the University of Michigan-Flint, School of Nursing. She has authored over 18 publications in trauma, including the evaluation and treatment of abdominal trauma, the use of midlevel providers in trauma centers, injury severity scoring, resuscitation endpoints in trauma, and care of the burn patient. She has won three local research awards. Judy Mikhail has served as President and Treasurer of the board of directors of STN. She has been involved in trauma system development in Michigan, including serving as President of the Michigan Trauma Coalition, and currently serves on the State of Michigan Trauma Advisory Committee.

Frank "Tres" Mitchell, MD, FACS

Dr. Frank "Tres" Mitchell is the Medical Director, Trauma and Surgical Critical Care at Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn Medical Center in Scottsdale, Arizona. He has been a general surgeon, trauma surgeon, and director of both trauma and critical care in Oklahoma, Kansas, and now in Arizona. Dr. Mitchell graduated with a BA from the University of Missouri, earned his MD from Tulane in New Orleans.  He completed his General Surgery Residency at Parkland Memorial in Dallas.  He is board certified in General Surgery and in Surgical Critical Care.

Dr. Mitchell has a long history in the trauma community and has been highly visible on the national stage. He has been a member and officer of the National ATLS Committee, a member of the Verification Review Committee of the ACS Committee on Trauma, Region Chief for the Committee on Trauma, and Chairman of the Oklahoma State Committee on Trauma. Dr. Mitchell has been a Verification Review Committee Site Reviewer since 1999 and served as a Chair of the Committee on Trauma Verification Review Committee until 2010. He was a site surveyor for the first Trauma Verification Review Committee Site Visit outside the U.S. at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany. 

Dr. Mitchell is a frequent speaker at regional and national conferences.  He is active in many professional organizations, including the American Society for Bariatric Surgery, the Parkland Surgical Society, the Tulane Surgical Society, the American Association for Surgery of Trauma, the Society of Critical Care Medicine, Western Trauma Association, and the Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics.

Timothy L. Ohrum

Timothy Ohrum serves as Director of Legislative Services for The Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP). Tim brings nearly 25 years of professional experience to his position and oversees HAP's grass tops, grassroots, and political advocacy efforts including government relations, lobbying, the association's political action committee, and HAP's advocacy website.

In concert with HAP's advocacy and educational mission, Tim provides individualized consultation, resources, training, and community building for public affairs professionals defining, implementing, and evaluating hospital government relations objectives. Tim is a frequent speaker to hospital boards of trustees, hospital administrators, and clinicians providing state and federal legislative and regulatory updates, while gathering critical insight on key issues facing hospitals. Additionally, Tim provides insight and support on grassroots, grass tops, and political advocacy efforts to the entire hospital community through the use of social media to further advance the hospital community's legislative agenda.

Tim is a graduate of Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a degree in political science and a minor in law. Prior to joining HAP, Tim served on both legislative and political staffs both in Washington and Harrisburg. He currently resides in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he enjoys historic home preservation, traveling, participating in civic boards, and spending time with friends and family.

Mae Ann Pasquale, PhD, RN

Mae Ann Pasquale is an Assistant Professor of Nursing at Cedar Crest College in Allentown, Pennsylvania. She completed her BSN at East Stroudsburg University, MSN at Villanova, and PhD at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. She has received several grants to support her research investigating the outcomes of families who are present during the resuscitation of their critically injured family member. This research was conducted at Lehigh Valley Health Network.

Dr. Pasquale has published many articles on evidence based practice and critical care nursing. Her study on family presence during trauma resuscitation was presented at the annual Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma (EAST) Meeting in 2010 and was published in the Journal of Trauma, November 2010. She co-authored a book chapter in AACN Protocols for Practice: Creating Healing Environments (2nd ed) on this topic. For the last nine years, she has served as a nursing research consultant for local hospitals. This position represents an important linkage between academia and clinical practice.

Michael D. Pasquale, MD, FACS, FCCM

Michael Pasquale, MD is the Chief of the Division of Trauma and Surgical Critical Care at Lehigh Valley Medical Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He is the Region 3 Chair of the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma (ACS-COT) and a 2011 member of the Injury Assessment and Outcome Committee of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma (AAST). Dr. Pasquale is also a member of the Medical Advisory Board of the Brain Trauma Foundation. He has been an active member of the Pennsylvania Trauma Systems Foundation, the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma (EAST), and the Society of Critical Care Medicine. Dr. Pasquale is a frequent invited speaker at national and regional trauma meetings.

Dr. Pasquale attended medical school at Georgetown University School of Medicine (1986), and completed his surgical residency at Georgetown University Hospital (1991). He went on to a fellowship in Surgical Critical Care at the University of Minnesota Hospital and Clinics in Minneapolis (1993). He is board certified in surgery and surgical critical care. His trauma research interests include performance improvement, severity-adjustment and outcomes in trauma, trauma resuscitation, anticoagulation and injury in the elderly, and complex extremity injuries.

Claudia S. Robertson, MD

Dr. Claudia Robertson is the Medical Director of the Neurosurgical ICU at Ben Taub General Hospital, which is one of two level one trauma centers in Houston. Dr. Robertson's research interests are the acute care management of traumatic brain injury patients, the mechanisms of brain damage and neuroprotection following traumatic brain injury, and cerebral blood flow physiology.

Dr. Robertson attended medical school at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas and completed her residency in internal medicine at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. She went on to complete a fellowship in critical care medicine at West Virginia University Hospital in Morgantown, West Virginia. Dr. Robertson is board certified in internal medicine with certificate of special qualifications in critical care medicine. She has published numerous papers on neurotrauma and related topics.

Desmond Runyan, MD, DrPH

Dr. Desmond Runyan is a professor in the departments of Social Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He also serves as a general pediatrician at the University of North Carolina Hospitals and as associate director for the Center for Child and Family Health (CCFH), a consortium of Duke University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and North Carolina Central University dedicated to research, training, and intervention related to child trauma and maltreatment. He leads evaluation efforts for a prevention program aimed at reducing abusive head trauma in children. This study is called the "The Period of PURPLE Crying®: Keeping Babies Safe in North Carolina" and is funded by The Duke Endowment, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Doris Duke Charitable foundation. Dr. Runyan also serves as the national program director of the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars program.

Dr. Runyan's work involves the application of clinical epidemiology to the problem of violence against children. His research has focused on the impact of societal intervention on the mental health functioning of child victims; he has examined the impact of the foster care system, court testimony, and the medical examination of children. His work has touched on all aspects of abuse including sexual abuse, physical abuse, Munchausen's Syndrome By Proxy, and Failure-to-Thrive.

Dr. Runyan's current project is a 20-year study of the impact of child abuse in five states with over 1300 children called LONGSCAN. In addition, as a member of the NGO Advisory Panel of the UN Secretary General's Study of Children and Violence, Dr. Runyan convened a working group to develop a new set of instruments for use internationally to assess the epidemiology of violence against children.

Kathryn Schroeter, PhD, RN, CNOR

Dr. Kathryn Schroeter is Editor of the Journal of Trauma Nursing (JTN). She is also an Assistant Professor in the College of Nursing at Marquette University and an adjunct Assistant Professor of Bioethics at the Medical College of Wisconsin, both in Milwaukee. She serves as a Magnet Accreditation Appraiser for the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), and continues to work as an Education Coordinator at Froedtert Hospital – a Level-I trauma center – in Milwaukee.

Dr. Schroeter received her BSN degree from Alverno College in Milwaukee, and her MA in Bioethics from the Medical College of Wisconsin, where she is a clinical faculty member of the Bioethics Department. She received her MS degree from the school of Education at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee (UWM) and her PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She has many years of experience in the operating room and related perioperative areas as a staff nurse, preceptor, educator, and consultant.

Dr. Schroeter has written and presented extensively on a variety of nursing topics. Her membership in professional organizations includes the Association of PeriOperative Registered Nurses (AORN), the American Nurses' Association (ANA), and the American Society for Bioethics and the Humanities (ASBH). She is the chairperson of the national AORN Trauma Specialty Assembly and she serves in the elected position of Secretary for the Wisconsin Nurses Association Board of Directors. In addition, she is a member of the Delta Gamma chapter of Sigma Theta Tau.

Elizabeth Seislove, RN, MSN, CCRN

Betsy Seislove is currently the Director of the Trauma Program at Lehigh Valley Health Network in Allentown, PA. Lehigh Valley is a busy Regional Level I trauma center, a Level II Pediatric Trauma accredited program, and an ABA-accredited Burn Center. Betsy received her BSN from Widener University (Chester, Pennsylvania – 1986) and her MSN from Villanova University (Villanova, Pennsylvania – 1999). She is also a Certified School Nurse (1992) and a Certified Research Coordinator/CRC (2001). Prior to assuming the Director position at Lehigh Valley Health Network, Betsy was the Pediatric Trauma Coordinator there. Her career has also included many years in trauma and neuro critical care, both a staff RN and as a CNS.

Betsy has received many awards, including a Brain Trauma Foundation Quality Improvement Award (2005), Quality Quest Awards for Work Flow Analysis Study (2003) and for ED Documentation (2002), and a Pennsylvania Nightingale Award for Advanced Practice Nursing (2001). She has served the Society of Trauma Nurses on the ATCN Committee (Advanced Trauma Care for Nurses) as chair, as member of the STN/EAST collaborative conference planning committee, as a board member, and as current president-elect. She has been an invited presenter for local, regional, and national audiences, on topics that have included traumatic brain injury, family presence during resuscitation, VTE prevention and risk assessment, and care of the morbidly obese trauma patient. Betsy has also been a trauma site surveyor for the Oregon Department of Human Services and North Carolina.

Mary Ann Spott, MPA, MSIS, MBA, RHIA, CPHQ

Mary Ann Spott is currently the Deputy Director for Programs and Operations, Joint Trauma System of the US Army Institute for Surgical Research (USAISR) at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. She oversees the DoD's global trauma system and system-wide trauma registry at USAISR. Prior to assuming this position in 2006, Mary Ann was the Associate Director, Management Information Systems and Trauma Registry for the Pennsylvania Trauma Systems Foundation. She has also held positions with the Pennsylvania Department of Health, State Health Data Center, including Field Representative for the Division of Health Statistics & Research and for the Pennsylvania Cancer Registry.

She attended the University of Scranton in Scranton, Pennsylvania (BS - Biology, 1985), York College of Pennsylvania in York, Pennsylvania (BS – Health Record Administration, 1989), and Pennsylvania State University in Middleton, Pennsylvania (Masters in Public Information, 1996; Masters in Information Systems, 2003; and MBA in 2004). Mary Ann also trained at the Pennsylvania Preparedness Leadership Institute (2005) and at Penn State's Rural Leadership Program. Most recently, she completed a Senior Executive Fellowship at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. Mary Ann is a Registered Health Information Administrator, a Certified Professional in Health Care Quality, and a Certified Professional in Utilization Review. She is president and CEO of Mary Ann Spott Consulting Services.

Mary Ann Spott is a frequent invited lecturer at state, regional, national, and international conferences and workshops, where she has presented on a wide range of topics including data management, trauma registries, data-driven performance improvement, new software tools, and various research studies. She has been both author and co-author of many peer-reviewed publications.

Paula Yuma, MPH, CHES

Paula Yuma has worked in injury prevention since 2004. In her current role as an Injury Prevention Coordinator at Dell Children's Medical Center, Paula focuses on pediatric unintentional injury prevention. For three consecutive legislative sessions, she worked on a statewide effort to improve Texas' child passenger safety law. In the 2009 session, Texas finally passed a best-practice booster seat law.

Paula is the chair of the Central Texas trauma region's Injury Prevention Committee and has served at the state level on the Governor's EMS and Trauma Advisory Council's Injury Prevention committee since 2005. Paula is currently a PhD student at the University of Texas at Austin and holds a Master's Degree in Public Health from the Texas A&M Health Science Center's School of Rural Public Health. Paula is a Certified Health Education Specialist and a Child Passenger Safety Technician - Instructor. She has published several studies on various pediatric injury prevention topics.