KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
DR STEPHEN HEARNS
Glasgow, UK
Dr Stephen Hearns MB ChB FRCEM FRCS FRCP FRGS DIMC DRTM Stephen is a consultant with Scotland’s Emergency Medical Retrieval Service. He led the establishment of the team from a small voluntary service in 2004 to what is now a fully government funded aeromedical retrieval organisation. He is the author of Peak Performance Under Pressure, a book discussing decision making in high pressure situations and the effects of human factors on team and individual performance. He trains medical, rescue, military and police personnel internationally in this area. Stephen led the team establishing the Diploma in retrieval and transfer medicine for the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. He developed and contributes to the organisation of the annual UK retrieval conference. Stephen is an Honorary Senior Lecturer in the University of Glasgow. He has been an active voluntary member of Arrochar mountain rescue team for 30 years and holds the Mountain Leader Award. Stephen acted as medical officer on seven international expeditions in mountain, desert, jungle and arctic environments before establishing the first expedition medicine course in the UK. Stephen has been providing expert opinions in legal cases for over fifteen years. He was the Scottish Ombudsman’s first advisor in emergency medicine and prehospital care and has been an expert witness for the General Medical Council for ten years. He also works with the Procurator Fiscal in relation to fatal accident inquiries. Website: www.CoreCognition.co.uk
DR DAVID LOCKEY
London, UK
Professor David Lockey MB BS MD(Res) FIMC (RCS Ed), FFICM, FRCA, FFRRHH, FFSEM, ACIArb Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine and Anaesthesia in Bristol and Pre-hospital Emergency Medicine in London and Wales. David has worked clinically at London’s Air Ambulance since 1996 and also led research in the organisation and served as a trustee of the associated charity. For the last six years he has also been the National Director of the Emergency Medical and Retrieval Service in Wales – delivering primary and secondary retrieval services. He has previously held key Pre-hospital leadership roles in the UK including Chair, Faculty of Pre-hospital Care, Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and Chair, Intercollegiate Board for Training in Pre-hospital Emergency Medicine. He set up and ran the Severn Trauma Network for 11 years. He currently holds Hon. Professorships at the University of Bristol and Queen Mary University, London and the Gibson Chair at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.
PAM MELROY
Washington DC, USA
Pamela Melroy, Colonel, USAF, RET. Pam Melroy is an aerospace executive with government and industry experience across civil, commercial, and national security space. She is the former Deputy Administrator of NASA, former NASA astronaut and Space Shuttle commander, and a retired US Air Force test pilot. Colonel Melroy received a Bachelor’s degree in Physics and Astronomy from Wellesley College and a Master of Science degree in Earth and Planetary Sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She was commissioned in the United States Air Force and served as a KC-10 copilot, aircraft commander, and instructor pilot. Melroy is a veteran of Operation Just Cause and Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm, with over 200 combat and combat support hours. She went on to attend the Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, California. Upon her graduation, she was assigned to the C-17 Combined Test Force, where she served as a test pilot until her selection for the Astronaut Program. She has logged more than 6,000 hours flight time in more than 50 different aircraft. Colonel Melroy was selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in March 1995. She flew three missions in space: as Space Shuttle pilot during STS-92 in 2000 and STS-112 in 2002, and as Space Shuttle Commander during STS-120 in 2007. All three missions were assembly missions to build the International Space Station. One of only two women to command the Space Shuttle, she has logged more than 38 days in space. She was inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2021. Colonel Melroy retired from the Air Force in 2007, and left NASA in August 2009. After NASA, she served as Deputy Program manager for the Lockheed Martin Orion Space Exploration Initiatives program and as Director of Field Operations and acting Deputy Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation at the Federal Aviation Administration. She went on to serve as Deputy Director, Tactical Technology Office at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) where she executed a large air and space technology development portfolio. She also was the Director of Space Technology and Policy for Nova Systems Pty, Australia and an advisor to the Australian Space Agency. In 2021 she was appointed by President Biden as the Deputy Administrator of NASA, serving until January 2025.
DR ZAF QASIM
Philadelphia, USA
Dr. Qasim currently works as an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine, Prehospital Care, and Critical Care in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, United States. He obtained his medical degree from the University of Karachi. He then completed postgraduate training in Emergency Medicine and Critical Care in the United Kingdom, where he also worked as a Consultant in Emergency Medicine and a BASICS Prehospital Care Physician. He moved to the United States to complete training in Trauma/Surgical Critical Care at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, Maryland, before taking up his current role in Philadelphia. His academic interests lie in advanced trauma and endovascular resuscitation, airway management, simulation, and prehospital care. You can follow him on BlueSky at: resusone.bsky.social You can follow him on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zaffer-qasim-3b371a21/
DR ANNE WEAVER
London, UK
Dr Anne Weaver is a consultant at London’s Air Ambulance. In 2004, she became the first female consultant in emergency medicine and pre-hospital care in the UK. Anne has years of experience in pre-hospital care spanning the UK and Australia. In 2007 she became lead clinician for London’s Air Ambulance and co-founded the first pre-hospital care programme in the UK for medical students. She organises mentoring of the undergraduate medical students by London's Air Ambulance doctors. Anne is an honorary consultant, on call to advise crews from South East air ambulances in moments of uncertainty on scene. Anne is also a (resting) trustee of the London’s Air Ambulance charity. Dr Anne Weaver led the blood on board initiative that brought pre-hospital blood transfusion from battle fields to civilian medicine in March 2012. Not only was a precedent set in London, Anne also led the development of protocols on efficient blood storage and safe administration of blood transfusion in the pre-hospital environment, making this innovation available to any air ambulance, aspiring to deliver the same standards of care.