Resources
The Division of EMS, based on the Yale medical campus in New Haven, is the academic center for EMS in the greater New Haven area. Four full-time and two part-time EMS faculty actively participate in EMS activities at the local, state, and national levels.
Yale shares responsibility for regional EMS indirect medical oversight with the Hospital of St. Raphael through the New Haven Sponsor Hospital Program (NHSHP). This program provides medical oversight for approximately 190 EMT-Ps and 450 EMT-Bs from twenty EMS agencies in twelve towns, including twelve fire departments, one private ambulance service, four police EMS services, one municipal third-service provider, one campus-based student EMS service, and the state’s only certified EMS physician response team, the Sponsor Hospital Area Response Physician (SHARP) Team, which is also run out of the NHSHP office. The team, currently staffed by six EMS physicians and two physician assistants, provides 24/7/365 coverage to support fire and EMS operations in the greater New Haven area. Recent responses have included complex extrications, mass casualty incidents, and a bioterrorism hoax. The EMS fellow is an active participant in the SHARP Team, taking independent call once qualified through completion of certain training, including emergency vehicle operations, hazardous materials operations, and incident command.
Faculty
David C. Cone, MD, is the fellowship director and Chief of the Division of EMS, holding the academic rank of Associate Professor in both emergency medicine and public health. An active field provider since 1984, he has served as Medical Team Manager for two Urban Search & Rescue Task Forces, and is a firefighter with the North Madison Volunteer Fire Company. He serves as President of NAEMSP, Deputy Editor of Prehospital Emergency Care, and Senior Associate Editor of Academic Emergency Medicine.
Sandy Bogucki, MD PhD, holds the academic rank of Associate Professor, and is director of Yale’s fire research program, a multi-center consortium that works on research and development of technologies to enhance the safety and effectiveness of fire fighters, technical rescue personnel, and other responders. Her research interests also include detection technologies for environmental hazards and weaponized biologicals and chemicals. She is a member of the current chair of the NREMT Board of Directors. She is currently on leave, working in Washington as the Senior Medical Advisor to the Office of Preparedness and Emergency Response, US Department of Health and Human Services, and will return to Yale in the summer of 2008
Carin Van Gelder, MD, was the SAEM/Medtronic Physio-Control Fellow in EMS for 2003-2004, and is now an Assistant Professor and full-time faculty member in the Division of EMS. Carin’s research agenda focuses on firefighter physiology.
Don MacMillan, MA, PA-C, EMT-P, serves as Division faculty (Lecturer) and is the Emergency Management Coordinator for YNHH. He is a certified Hazardous Materials Technician, and is deputy chief for operations at the North Madison Volunteer Fire Company. A lieutenant commander in the US Naval Reserve, he received his Master of Arts degree in National Security and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College at Newport, RI, and recently returned from a nine-month tour of duty in Iraq.
Vivek Parwani, MD, was the 2004-05 fellow, and stayed on as academic faculty. He works with the Office of Emergency Preparedness on a variety of disaster preparedness projects.
Kevin Burns, PA-C EMT-P, joined the Division in 2003. Kevin worked for a number of years as a paramedic in Rockland County, NY before joining the clinical staff at the YNHH ED. He is currently serving as the hospital’s EMS Coordinator, in charge of EMS quality improvement efforts.
Alix Carter, MD, is the current EMS Fellow, and the first fellow to enter the one-year MPH program.
Previous Fellows
2000-2001: Scott D. Weir, MD – now Operational Medical Director, Fairfax County (VA) Fire & Rescue Department and Medical Team Manager, FEMA Urban Search & Rescue Task Force VA-1.Charlene Whiteman serves the Division as Administrative Assistant.
2001-2002: Bethany A. Cummings, MA DO – now Regional Medical Director, Lord Fairfax Emergency Medical Services Council, Winchester VA.
2002-2003: Michelle Perez, MD – now EMS faculty at the Hospital of St. Raphael, New Haven CT. Michelle remains an active part of the New Haven Sponsor Hospital Program, serving as medical director for the area’s emergency medical dispatch program, and as a member of the SHARP Team.
2003-2004: Carin Van Gelder, MD – now Assistant Professor and full-time faculty at the Division of EMS.
2004-2005: Vivek Parwani, MD – now Assistant Professor and full-time faculty at the Division.
2005-2006: Damian MacDonald, MD – now completing additional training at the University of Toronto.
Curriculum
The fellowship year is modeled on the EMS fellowship curriculum endorsed by NAEMSP and the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine. Details regarding both didactic and experiential components of the curriculum are available via our most recent (2002) SAEM/Medtronic Physio-Control application (available in PDF format). Yale is an approved training site for the SAEM/Medtronic Physio-Control Fellowship in EMS through 2010.
There is a significant emphasis on field operations, and all fellows are offered the opportunity to complete Firefighter I or II training, leading to state certification. (Most Division faculty are certified firefighters, on active duty with area municipal volunteer fire departments.)
Attendance at the January NAEMSP and May SAEM meetings is ensured for fellows, along with completion of the NAEMSP National Medical Directors Course and Practicum for those who have not previously completed it.
Research
The Yale University School of Medicine is an academic environment with vast resources for both basic science and clinical research. Virtually any EMS research in
terest can be accommodated either directly through Division of EMS faculty or through collaboration with other university programs. Of particular relevance to clinical EMS fellows are the School of Public Health with its expertise and degree programs in Epidemiology and Biostatistics, the Telemedicine and Remote Monitoring Program in the Department of Surgery, the Multi-Disciplinary Biomedical Engineering Program, and the School of Organization and Management. Through Dr. Sandy Bogucki’s fire research program, fellows will also have access to a number of extramural research venues. For example, a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) has been executed between the Section of Emergency Medicine and the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine to study the physiology of structural firefighting while wearing SCBA and full personal protective equipment. Other participants in the fire research program consortium include the Fire Research Labs at the National Institute for Standards and Technology, the US Fire Administration, and the Oak Ridge and Sandia National Laboratories.
