Awards

Winners of the Ron J. Anderson Award are selected by the members of the U.S. Metropolitan Municipalities Emergency Medical Services Medical Directors Consortium, the de facto coalition of jurisdictional 9-1-1 system medical directors for the nation’s most populous cities, as well as the medical directors/lead medical officers for key related federal agencies and units such as the FBI, U.S. Secret Service, White House Medical Unit, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Collectively, this small, but cohesive, cadre of about two dozen emergency care physicians is responsible for the day-to-day out-of-hospital 9-1-1 emergency and resuscitative care for about 50,000,000 Americans as well as for guiding the medical aspects of homeland security and disaster mitigation in the nation’s highest-risk venues.

Awarded to that Emergency Medical Services Medical Director who has demonstrated longstanding service, contributions and leadership in the unique realm of out-of-hospital emergency care and who, in addition, has served as a role model, not only for emergency medical services personnel, but also for fellow 9-1-1 system medical directors across the nation.

About the Name of the Award’s Namesake:

Simply stated, Michael Keys Copass, M.D. is seen globally as the quintessential EMS Medical Director. For the past three and a half decades, he has operationally stewarded the medical elements of the most heralded EMS system worldwide (the Seattle Fire Department Medic One Program) and he has done so in an extremely intensive, hands-on manner, initially as the program’s first Deputy Medical Director and Director of Paramedic Training, and later as its primary Medical Director, a position he still holds today. As the recognized gold standard among EMS medical directors, he has also served as an ultimate role model, both directly and indirectly, for many successful EMS medical directors around the globe. In addition to its perennial ground-breaking research efforts and many on-going innovative program modifications, the City of Seattle EMS program has hosted many hundreds of official representatives from communities around the globe. As a result, Medic One has directly made an impact upon the emergency medical care, operational performance and life-saving effectiveness of innumerable EMS systems in the United States and abroad. In turn, this tremendous public service has led to the salvaging of thousands and thousands of lives each year on many continents. Though they deserve much of the credit themselves, the supportive residents of the city of Seattle and the dedicated members of the Seattle Fire Department (SFD) – including the visionary and very brilliant original founder and Medical Director of the SFD Medic One Paramedic Program, Dr. Leonard Cobb – all attribute much of their own successes and effectiveness to Dr. Copass’ untiring and extremely compulsive pursuit of unparalleled excellence in medical care as well as his resolute focus on responsible education, integrity in research, and, of course, his unwavering compassion for patients, their families, and, above all, their immediate and long term well-being.

For Outstanding National Contributions to Emergency Medical Services

“We understand better, because of him, that what constitutes the dignity of the craft is that is creates a fellowship, that it binds humans together and fashions for them a common language”

The Corey Slovis Award for Excellence in Education