Congratulations to Drs. Kevin Schulz, Heather Robinson, and Lesley Osborn for their election to Board positions in the Texas Chapter of the National Association of EMS Physicians (TX-NAEMSP)! These EMS leaders are helping spark change in prehospital care across Texas!
The National Association of EMS Physicians (NAEMSP) is the national professional organization made up of EMS medical directors, prehospital physicians, and other EMS professionals that focuses on improving and updating prehospital care for patients. In addition to the national organization, over 40 states have state chapters, and the Texas chapter, established in 2019, is among the largest and most active in the country. TX-NAEMSP hosts an annual Medical Director’s Conference and actively engages in issues of collaborative Research, and Advocacy in the prehospital setting across the state. The membership encompasses medical directors and prehospital providers across all of Texas, and represents the full spectrum of prehospital agencies, from large rural fire services to small rural volunteer departments to highly advanced aeromedical services. The organization recently held elections for board positions, and when the results were announced at their annual conference in March, McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston was well represented.
Dr. Kevin Schulz was elected as President-Elect of the chapter. Dr. Schulz graduated EMS Fellowship at McGovern Medical School in 2014 and stayed on as faculty with the Department of Emergency Medicine. He is a Clinical Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and currently serves as the EMS Fellowship Program Director and Co-Chief of the department’s Prehospital and Disaster Medicine Section. Additionally, he is an Assistant EMS Physician Director for the Houston Fire Department, a tactical physician with HPD SWAT team, and the medical director of the Memorial Hermann IRONMAN: Texas triathlons. He started his medical career as an EMT in Pennsylvania in 2001 and has over 20 years of experience in prehospital care. Prior to his election as President-Elect, Dr. Schulz served one year as the Treasurer of TX-NAEMSP.
Dr. Heather Robinson was elected to her first term on the board, where she will succeed Dr. Schulz as the board Treasurer. Dr. Robinson spent over 16 years as a firefighter-paramedic with the Houston Fire Department, retiring in 2012 as a Captain and EMS Supervisor, prior to moving to the physician side of prehospital care. She completed her residency in 2017 and EMS fellowship in 2018, both at McGovern Medical School. Dr. Robinson is currently an Assistant EMS Physician Director at the Houston Fire Department, as well as a Clinical Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine and Associate EMS Fellowship Program Director at McGovern. She also is the Medical Director of the Katy Fire Department and Katy ISD EMS training program and a Staff Physician at Memorial Hermann Southwest. She brings over 25 years of EMS knowledge and experience to her new position, and her unique perspective as a long-time paramedic will be an asset to the chapter.
Dr. Lesley Osborn, another first-time TX-NAEMSP board member, was elected as a Physician Member-at-Large over several other very qualified candidates in the most contested race of the election. Another graduate of the McGovern EMS Fellowship (2017), Dr. Osborn is now an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine. She serves as the Medical Director of Memorial Hermann Life Flight, a role she has held since 2019. She also is the Medical Director of Village Fire Department and Associate Medical Director of Cy-Fair Fire Department and proudly serves our country as an AFPSECWAR Physician for the 308th Pararescue Squadron. She has previously served as Associate Medical Director of Harris County ESD-48 Fire/Rescue, Assistant Medical Director of the Richland County (South Carolina) Sheriff’s Department Tactical EMS Team, and as a Richland County Reserve Sheriff’s Deputy. Dr. Osborn has published multiple scholarly articles on prehospital care, blood product administration, and aeromedical EMS, and has presented on the local, state, national, and international stages on her research and her work with Life Flight.
“I’m honored to have the opportunity to continue to serve this great group of prehospital physicians and providers as a member of the Texas chapter board, and I’m thrilled to have Lesley and Heather joining the board as well. To have this kind of representation from our department is amazing.” Dr. Schulz said of the election results. “This is just one more example of how McGovern EMS faculty are leading the way in prehospital care not just in the Houston area, but across all of Texas.”