Prehospital Trauma Committee

PHTLS Committee

• Julie Chase, MSEd FAWM TP-C, Chair

  Julie Chase has worked in a variety of public and private venues as a fire fighter, paramedic, educator and administrator. She has taught EMT and EMS-related subjects in several countries, has assisted with remote clinics and emergency services overseas and is a National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) Response Team member. For the past several years, Julie has worked for a Federal agency as an operational and tactical medicine instructor and has served as a curriculum developer, contributing author, and reviewer for publication and accreditation organizations.
  
  Julie holds a Master of Science in Postsecondary and Adult Education from Capella University; a Bachelor of Science in Paramedicine from Central Washington University; and an Associate in Applied Arts and Sciences in Fire Science from Walla Walla Community College.
  
  

• Faizan H. Arshad, MD, PHT At-Large Member

  Dr. Faizan Arshad serves as the EMS Medical Director for Vassar Brothers Hospital – Healthquest systems. He is a graduate of Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine and received specialty training in Emergency Medicine at Yale – New Haven Hospital, which included resuscitation and the care of critically ill and injured patients.
  
  Faizan's experiences sparked his passion for EMS and led to his involvement in 911 response and critical care helicopter EMS transport. He completed his fellowship in the Fire Department of New York City’s (FDNY) training program. As deputy medical director of Manhattan, Faizan provided continuing medical education for thousands of providers, served as an on-line medical control physician for New York City, responded in all five boroughs as a rescue-trained physician, and helped develop the New York State Collaborative Protocols. 
  
  Faizan has served as a deputy EMS fellowship director at Newark Beth Israel Hospital, a Deputy System Medical Director for MONOC, and as a tactical (TEMS) physician alongside the New Jersey State Police on TEAMS/SWAT assignments. He has lectured at numerous national conferences, launched the EMS Nation podcast, a #FOAMed resource, and manages the emsnation.org blog. He is the lead author for the NAEMT All Hazards Disaster Response course and is an at-large member of the NAEMT Prehospital Trauma Committee.
  
  

• Stephen Taylor, BS, EMTP, PHTLS Assistant Course Editor

  Stephen Taylor is the assistant director of Public Safety Programs for Lab & Clinical Coordination at Lenoir Community College in Kinston, N.C., and also works part-time as a paramedic with Wayne County EMS. Stephen has been involved in the fields of Emergency Medicine and EMS for 18 years, where he has worked in a Level II trauma center, for 911 system, and for a community college. His career began at age 16, when he became a Junior Volunteer with a local rescue squad.
  
  Stephen holds an Associate's in EMS, a Bachelor’s in Political Science and is currently working toward his Master’s in Public Policy with a concentration in Educational Law and Ethics. He continues to be active in raising awareness of community paramedicine at the local and state levels, was a contributing author to a community paramedic textbook, and has reviewed and contributed to several other text and resources. He has served as affiliate faculty for NAEMT's AMLS, GEMS, and PHTLS courses, and is the NAEMT Education Coordinator for North Carolina. He was also appointed by the National Association of EMS Educators (NAEMSE) to serve as co-chair on its Governance Committee.
  
  

• Frank Butler, MD, Military Medical Advisor

  Dr. Butler is a retired Navy Undersea Medical Officer and an ophthalmologist who served as a Navy SEAL platoon commander prior to attending medical school. He spent most of his career in Navy Medicine supporting the Special Operations community, and was the first Navy physician selected to serve as the Command Surgeon for the U.S. Special Operations Command. He chairs the Department of Defense’s Committee on Tactical Combat Casualty Care (CoTCCC) and helps to ensure optimal battlefield trauma care for our country’s wounded service men and women.
  
  Frank has worked with PHTLS and NAEMT since 1999, helping to maintain an ongoing dialogue between military and civilian sectors on prehospital trauma care issues. He also spent five years at the Navy Experimental Diving Unit and helped pioneer numerous advances in SEAL diving capabilities. As director of the SEAL Biomedical Research Program for 15 years, Frank's landmark projects included refractive surgery in the military, the Naval Special Warfare decompression computer, and TCCC. He serves as co-chair of the Decompression Sickness and Arterial Gas Embolism Treatment Committee for the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society. Frank was awarded the U.S. Special Operations Command Medal in 2012 and the New Orleans Grand Isle (NOGI) Award for Distinguished Service to the diving community in 2011.
  
  

• Alexander L. Eastman, MD, MPH, FACS, Tactical Medical Director

  Dr. Alex Eastman is an Assistant Professor and trauma surgeon in the Division of Burns, Trauma and Critical Care at UT Southwestern Medical Center and the Medical Director and Chief of The Rees-Jones Trauma Center at Parkland Memorial Hospital. A graduate with distinction of the George Washington University School of Medicine, Alex completed his general surgery and two fellowships at UTSW/Parkland Memorial Hospital. He is board-certified in both General Surgery and Surgical Critical Care from the American Board of Surgery, as well as Emergency Medical Services from the American Board of Emergency Medicine, and has a Master’s Degree in Public Health from The University of Texas Health Science Center–Houston. 

  Alex is a Dallas Police Department Lieutenant, the Lead Medical Officer for DPD SWAT and the Deputy Medical Director of the Department. In addition, he was appointed as Senior Medical Advisor to the United States Department of Homeland Security and serves as a Special Deputy United States Marshal on the North Texas Fugitive Task Force. He represents all these agencies on the United States Attorney General’s Officer Safety and Wellness Group. 

  A former firefighter/rescuer in Montgomery County, MD, he is also the Medical Advisor to the Major Cities Chiefs Association. Alex was awarded the 2015 Officer of the Year from the Dallas Police Department.
  
  

• Larry Hatfield, MS, NREMT-P, Technical Advisor

  Lawrence Hatfield has 45 years of experience in EMS and Law Enforcement, much of it being spent in the analysis, design, development, delivery, and evaluation of civilian EMS education. He was instrumental in the development and implantation of the Kansas Highway Patrol Crash Injury Management Program, the first of its kind the United States, as well as the State of Kansas EMT program. He has held faculty positions at both the community college and university level EMS programs.

  Additionally, Larry has been an active participant in medical research at two university teaching hospitals, as well as a contributing author to medical journals and textbooks. He has worked in both urban, rural and wilderness EMS organizations. Further, he has served as International Faculty for the Prehospital Trauma Life Support course and served as the New Mexico State PHTLS Coordinator. For the past 12 years, Larry has been working as a contractor to the National Nuclear Security Administration and served as a consultant to the Office of Secure Transportation in the planning and implementation of the Tactical Medic program.

  Larry is working with the Office of Readiness Training-National Nuclear Security Administration conducting both needs and job-task analyses for the office of Domestic Nuclear Detection and the Radiation Accident Program responder group. He continues to be active in EMS Education as a speaker for EMS events.
  
  

• J.C. Pitteloud, MD, DEAA, PHT At-Large Member

  J.C. Pitteloud is head of anesthesiology in HJBE Hospital in the canton of Bern Switzerland and chair of the board for Acute Care Anesthesia of the Swiss Society of Anesthesiology (SGAR).
  
  J.C. Pitteloud was born in Zurich Switzerland. He received his medical degree from  Zurich University, and completed anesthesiology residency in Geneva and Lausanne. He served as a flight physician for REGA Swiss Air rescue and Air Glaciers rescue flight in the Swiss Alps, while acting as an anesthesiologist and EMS Physician in Valais County Trauma Center in western Switzerland, and as Medical advisor for Edelweiss SWAT Team.

  He is lecturer at Zurich University, Geneva Paramedic School, Medi Bern Paramedic school and for the Swiss Military. He has been teaching abroad in Lebanon, Brazil and Mexico. He is a National Coordinator for NAEMT Switzerland Prehospital Education, and has been teaching ATLS, TCCC and PHTLS for almost 15 years.
  
  

• John Phelps, MA, NRP, LP, ACHE, PHTLS Course Editor

  John Phelps is a Veteran Infantryman of the U.S. Army and Nationally Registered Paramedic. He has over 17 years’ experience in the EMS industry as a provider, educator and leader. Currently, He is working as an assistant professor for UT Health San Antonio and adjunct faculty with Wayland Baptist University in the School of Business. He is also pursuing a Doctorate of Business Administration in Healthcare Administration, and holds a Master’s degree in Healthcare Administration and an undergraduate degree with a specialization in Emergency Medicine.

  John is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) and NAEMT. He serves as affiliate faculty in numerous NAEMT education programs, is a former Region IV PHTLS/TCCC coordinator, and is currently serving as the NAEMT State Education Coordinator for Texas. John is also a contributing author and editor to textbooks and journals. He serves as a continuing education advisory board member for Jones & Bartlett Publishing Company and is an advisory board member to undergraduate and graduate nursing programs with Herzing University. John is active in his community as a mentor with the Big Brothers and Big Sisters program of San Antonio.
  
  

• Andrew Pollak, MD, PHTLS Medical Editor

  Dr. Andrew Pollak is The James Lawrence Kernan Professor of Orthopaedics and Chair of the Department of Orthopaedics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He also serves as Chief of Orthopaedics for the University of Maryland Medical System. Andrew previously served as Chief of Orthopaedics at the University of Maryland R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center where he has worked clinically since 1994.

  Andrew received BS and MD degrees from Northwestern University and completed an orthopaedic surgery residency at Case Western Reserve University/University Hospitals of Cleveland program and a fellowship in orthopaedic trauma at the University of California Davis Medical Center.

  Andrew has been involved in prehospital emergency care since 1981 in multiple capacities including volunteer firefighter/EMT, EMS flight physician and fire surgeon. He currently serves as Medical Director of the Baltimore County Fire Department, Special Deputy US Marshal and Editor of the AAOS EMS Orange Book Series.

  He has served previously on the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. He is a Past President of the Orthopaedic Trauma Association and the Maryland Orthopaedic Association. He currently serves as a Commissioner for the Maryland Health Care Commission.
  
  

• Lance Stuke, MD, PHTLS Medical Director

  Dr. Stuke is associate professor of Surgery in the Department of Surgery, Division of Trauma and Critical Care, at Louisiana State University School of Medicine in New Orleans, La. He is a trauma surgeon at the Spirit of Charity Trauma Center at University Hospital in New Orleans (formerly Charity Hospital).
  
  Lance began in EMS as a volunteer EMT-Basic for the Tulane Emergency Medical Service, a college-based EMS service. After college, he worked full time for several years as an EMT-Paramedic for the City of New Orleans, where he was also an ATLS, ACLS, and PALS instructor. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree from Tulane University in New Orleans, majoring in Biology. He earned his Master of Public Health degree from the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, with an emphasis on environmental toxicology, and completed his MD degree at Tulane School of Medicine.
  
  Lance did his general surgery residency at Parkland Hospital/University of Texas Southwestern School of Medicine in Dallas, Texas. After his training, he returned to New Orleans for a trauma/critical care fellowship at LSU/Charity and joined the faculty upon completion of his training. Lance has published numerous peer-reviewed research papers and written several textbook chapters on trauma-related topics.