Paul M. Paris, MD, FACEP
Associate Medical Director
Paul M. Paris, M.D., F.A.C.E.P., is professor and chairman of the department of emergency medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the UPMC Health System. He is also professor of rehabilitation science and technology at the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh, chief medical officer of the Center for Emergency Medicine of Western Pennsylvania, medical director of the Pittsburgh Department of Public Safety, medical director of the Emergency Medical Services Institute, and medical director of the Pittsburgh Emergency Medical Foundation.
With more than 20 years of experience, Dr. Paris has won many prestigious awards and honors. In 1999, he was awarded a Doctor of Laws, honoris causa from Dalhousie University Senate Halifax, Nova Scotia. Other honors include the Walter J. Thomas award for superior accomplishment in EMS from the Pennsylvania Emergency Health Services Council, the Ronald D. Stewart award for contributions to EMS from the National Association of EMS Physicians, and the EMS excellence award from the American College of Emergency Physicians.
Dr. Paris' areas of interest include prehospital care, disaster medicine and the evaluation and treatment of acute pain. He oversees training programs for paramedics and first responders in all areas of prehospital care, and has helped develop the curricula for training used throughout the nation. In addition, he provides medical expertise for the Center for Emergency Medicine's STAT Med Evac, a leading air transport provider for both critically ill and injured patients.
Dr. Paris' varied published articles range in topics from the use of music during laceration repair to advanced life support techniques. He has written definitive guidelines for deployment of healthcare resources in cases of disasters and a number of textbooks, including Diagnostic Testing in Emergency Medicine (1996); Atlas of Emergency Procedures (1994); and Pain Management in Emergency Medicine (1988). Memberships in professional organizations include the American College of Emergency Physicians, National Association of Emergency Medical Service Physicians, and the World Association for Emergency and Disaster Medicine. In 1992, he served as president of the National Association of EMS Physicians.
Dr. Paris received his undergraduate and post-graduate degrees at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. In 1976, he continued his post-graduate medical training with an internship and residency in internal medicine at the Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine, followed by a fellowship in emergency medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, before joining the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine as assistant professor in 1981. In 1999, he completed a program for chiefs of clinical service at the Harvard School of Public Health.
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Mary M. Newman
Executive Director
Mary Newman is Executive Director of the National Center for Early Defibrillation and a member of the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Previously, she served as research coordinator for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest studies at Krannert Institute of Cardiology, Indiana University School of Medicine, in Indianapolis. While there, she worked on studies related to the use of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) by law enforcement agencies in the community and by response teams at the worksite. She also served as a site coordinator of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Public Access Defibrillation (PAD) study.
Newman was founding editor of the Citizen CPR Foundation/ American Heart Association publication, Currents in Emergency Cardiac Care from 1989 through 1994, She has served on the Citizen CPR Foundation Board of Directors since it was founded in 1987, and has been a contributing editor of the Journal of Emergency Medical Services since 1980. She has served on expert panels and committees of numerous national non-profit health organizations, as a volunteer for the American Heart Association and the American Red Cross, and as a volunteer emergency medical technician. Newman created the Chain of Survival metaphor, which was subsequently adopted by the Citizen CPR Foundation, the American Heart Association and other organizations. She is author of more than 200 published articles on emergency medical services topics that have appeared in peer review journals, trade journals and newsletters and the popular press. She is author of Challenging Sudden Death: A Community Guide to Help Save Lives.
Newman graduated magna cum laude from the University of Cincinnati College of Community Services with a degree in Community Health Planning and Administration, and received her Emergency Medical Technician training at Northeastern University in Boston. She is pursuing a Masters in Public Health through Indiana University School of Medicine and the University of Pittsburgh.
Newman has four children, a foster son and two grandchildren.
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Chrysia M. Melnyk
Administrative Coordinator
Chrysia M. Melnyk is the Administrative Coordinator of the National Center for Early Defibrillation. Ms. Melnyk graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 1999 with a Bachelor of Science in Health Information Management. In October of 2000 Ms. Melnyk received the credentials of a Registered Health Information Administrator from the American Health Information Management Association. Ms. Melnyk is also an American Heart Association certifed Basic Life Support Instructor.
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