MARY JO SNYDER, RN, MS, MBA – COURSE CO-DIRECTOR
Mary Jo Snyder is currently the President of Echo Consulting Group, LLC. She has over 25 years of experience in healthcare administration and consulting in operational performance with a specialty in emergency medicine and hospital turnaround. Snyder also served as Director of Policy Initiatives, The Nursing Institute, Chicago, Illinois creating a strategic plan for the implementation and operation of professional development programming including enhanced technology integration for distance learning. She holds a Master of Business Administration and a Master of Science in Nursing from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

KEVIN KLAUER, DO, FACEP - COURSE CO-DIRECTOR
Kevin Klauer is Director of Center for Emergency Medical Education (CEME) and Director of Quality and Clinical Education for Emergency Medicine Physicians. He is Assistant Clinical Professor at OUCOM and MSUCOM, Chairman for the national ACEP Finance Committee and serves as Editor-in-Chief of Emergency Physicians Monthly magazine. He is a diplomate of the American Board of Emergency Medicine and practices emergency medicine.

JAMES AUGUSTINE, MD, FACEP
James Augustine serves as Director of Clinical Operations for Emergency Medicine Physicians, Ltd. and works with hospital locations to help improve Emergency Departments’ throughput and overall efficiency. Dr. Augustine is a Board Certified Diplomate of the American Board of Emergency Medicine, and a Fellow in the American College of Emergency Physicians. He has also been a member of the committees overseeing Emergency Medical Services, Quality Improvement, Benchmarking and Best Practices, and Disaster Preparation for the last 18 years. Dr. Augustine is also currently the American College of Emergency Physicians liaison to The Joint Commission.

JOSEPH R. DANNA, MD, FACEP
Joseph Danna is President of ESST, LLC and creator of the e2square Physician Scribe and Template Program. He is also the President and CEO of Emergency Care and Health Organization (ECHO) Ltd., a physician owned corporation directed toward administering and managing Emergency Service Departments. He is Chairman of Emergency Services at Provena St. Mary's Emergency Department in Kankakee, IL. He is also EMS Medical Director for Kankakee County in Illinois. Dr. Danna's unwavering commitment to emergency medicine continues at all levels. He lectures and consults widely. He is actively involved in guiding and mentoring the medical directors at each of his accounts. He also remains very much a practicing emergency medicine physician – very much willing to do everything he asks of others.

JESSE DIRANDO, MD, FACEP
Jesse DiRando is the Director of the Emergency Department and Clinical Decision Unit at Parma Community General Hospital. He piloted and now oversees EMP's PhysicianFirst triage program and was honored as EMP Director of the Year in 2007. Prior to joining EMP, Dr. DiRando had been working at Southwest General Medical Center as a Staff Attending Emergency Medicine Physician. He has also worked at Lakewood Hospital where he was the Assistant Director of Emergency Services. He has also been a Staff Attending Emergency Medicine Physician at University Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, Magruder Hospital in Port Clinton, Ohio and Van Wert Medical Center in Van Wert, Ohio.

MICHAEL FRANK, MD, JD, FACEP, FCLM
Michael Frank is General Counsel and Director of Risk Management for Emergency Medicine Physicians (EMP) and Emergency Physicians Medical Group (EPMG). He is a diplomate of the American Board of Emergency Medicine and practices emergency medicine, while devoting most of his professional efforts to the management of the legal affairs of EMP and EPMG. He is a member of numerous medical and legal professional societies.

MICHAEL GERARDI, MD, FACEP
Michael Gerardi is faculty in the Department of Emergency Medicine, Morristown Memorial Hospital and the Director of Pediatric Emergency Medicine of the Goryeb Children’s Hospital at Morristown Memorial Hospital (MMH) and Atlantic Health. He is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. He completed his B.S. and M.D. at Georgetown University and his residencies in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at Emory University. He is Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Emergency Medicine, and Pediatric Emergency Medicine.

LEANN THIEMAN, LPN, CSP, CPAE
LeAnn Thieman is a nationally acclaimed professional speaker, author, and nurse who was “accidentally” caught up in the Vietnam Orphan Airlift in 1975. Her book, This Must Be My Brother , details her daring adventure of helping to rescue 300 babies as Saigon was falling to the Communists. An ordinary person, she struggled through extraordinary circumstances and found the courage to succeed. LeAnn has been featured in Newsweek Magazine’s Voices of the Century issue, on FOX-TV, BBC, NPR, PBS, PAX-TV’s It's A Miracle, and countless other radio and TV programs. She also writes a monthly column called Time Out for Nursing2010 magazine.
After her story was featured in Chicken Soup for the Mother's Soul, LeAnn became one of Chicken Soup's most prolific writers. Her devotion to forty years of nursing, made her the ideal co-author of Chicken Soup for the Nurse's Soul. She went on to coauthor Chicken Soup for the Christian Woman's Soul, Chicken Soup for the Caregiver’s Soul, Chicken Soup for the Father and Daughter Soul, Chicken Soup for the Grandma’s Soul, Chicken Soup for the Mother and Son Soul, Chicken Soup for the Christian Soul 2, Chicken Soup for the Adopted Soul, and Chicken Soup for the Nurse’s Soul, Second Dose.
As a renowned motivational speaker, LeAnn shares life-changing lessons learned from her Airlift and nursing experiences. Believing that we all have individual "war zones," she inspires people to balance their lives, truly live their priorities and make a difference in the world. She is an expert in nurse recruitment and retention and helps to hire and inspire nurses and other health professionals from coast to coast.
LeAnn is one of about ten-percent of speakers worldwide to have earned the Certified Speaking Professional designation and in August, 2008 she was inducted into the Speaker Hall of Fame by her peers of the National Speakers Association.
LeAnn Thieman, LPN, CSP, CPAE
6600 Thompson Drive, Fort Collins, CO 80526
1-970-223-1574
email: LeAnn@LeAnnThieman.com
www.NurseRecruitmentandRetention.com

RUTHIE ROBINSON, PhD, RN, CNS, FAEN, CEN
Ruthie Robinson is the Director Center for Nursing Innovation at CHRISTUS Hospital in Beaumont, Texas. She started her career in obstetrics and has over 25 years experience in emergency and critical care nursing. She is also responsible for the Magnet Recognition Program at her facility along with nursing research and nursing quality. She holds a PhD from Texas Woman’s University in Houston, Texas and a Master of Science in Nursing from University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas.

PETER VICCELLIO, MD, FACEP
Peter Viccellio is Vice Chairman and Clinical Director of the Emergency Department at State University of New York at Stony Brook, School of Medicine. Under his leadership, Emergency Medicine became a Department in the Medical School. He also served as the department’s first residency director. Known for his engaging teaching style, Dr. Viccellio received the Aesculapius Award for Excellence in Teaching from the SUNY School of Medicine in 2003. Dr. Viccellio is the editor of Handbook of Toxicology (Lippincott & Raven). His areas of research include emergency department overcrowding, bioterrorism, medical errors, cervical spine injuries and residency education.

JASON WAGNER, MD, FACEP
Jason Wagner, MD, FACEP is currently the Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Director of Simulation at Washington University’s School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO. Dr. Wagner also serves as an Air National Guard Flight Surgeon working with B-2 bombers and is known as the “Tech Doc” in Emergency Physicians Monthly magazine. He’s board certified in emergency medicine and has lectured both nationally and internationally on difficult airway management.