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Upstate News

Gary Johnson to head Emergency Medicine

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Gary Johnson, M.D., has been named chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Upstate Medical University. Johnson had served as interim chair of emergency medicine since Oct. 1, 2009. The appointment, effective Jan. 1, was announced by Steven J. Scheinman, M.D., senior vice president and dean of the College of Medicine.

As chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine, Johnson assumes leadership of one of the area’s busiest emergency rooms at Upstate University Hospital with more than 56,000 patient visits annually. In addition, the emergency room serves as the area’s only trauma center, comprehensive stroke center, burn center, pre-hospital resource center and pediatric emergency service. The department has the region’s only emergency medicine residency, poison control center, the EMSTAT simulation center, comprehensive hyperbaric treatment program, the Center for Emergency Preparedness and continuing education program for emergency physicians.

Johnson is a leader in emergency medicine, having served on Upstate’s emergency medicine faculty since 1990 after completing a residency in Emergency Medicine at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. He has held key appointments within the department, including vice chair for clinical operations, residency program director and medical student coordinator. Johnson has served on numerous college and campus committees, as well as in leadership roles for local, state, and national organizations. These include service with the Academic Affairs Committee of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), the Council of Residency Directors in Emergency Medicine and was an item writer for the American Board of Emergency Medicine. He has chaired the Education Committee for the NY Chapter of the ACEP, and Operation Stroke for the Syracuse chapter of the American Heart Association.

Johnson has published more than 60 papers, book chapters, editorials, and invited reviews in Emergency Medicine. He has received the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching (1999), the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching (2001), Department of Emergency Medicine Outstanding Clinical Teaching Award (2003) and the Advancing Emergency Care Award from the NY Chapter of the ACEP (2009).

Johnson succeeds John McCabe, M.D., who was named chief executive officer of University Hospital and senior vice president or hospital affairs.

Johnson resides in Syracuse.