The American Academy of Disaster Medicine presented a special Lifetime Achievement Award to Maurice A. Ramirez, DO, PhD, BCDM, BCEM, CNS, CMRO, one of the first physicians to receive certification as a Disaster Medicine Specialist. The award was presented recently at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Association of Physician Specialists, Inc. held in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

"Dr. Ramirez was recognized for his vast contributions to the discipline of disaster medicine," said AADM Immediate Past President Heidi Cordi, MD, FAADM. Dr. Ramirez, who resides in Lake Wales, FL, was a founding board member of the American Board of Disaster Medicine®, a Member Board of the American Board of Physician Specialties®.

Dr. Ramirez is a former Senior Physician/Federal Medical Officer, Emergency Room Doctor, and Bioterrorism/Hazmat expert with clinical and field response experience spanning over 2 decades. He has served on expert panels for pandemic flu preparedness, healthcare surge capacity planning, disaster healthcare and disaster behavioral health with Congressional and Cabinet Members as well as scientific review committees for federal disaster healthcare research.

Dr. Ramirez was among the first physicians to complete the National Disaster Life Support (NDLS) Instructor Training and Train the Trainer programs, FEMA/VA Mass Decon for Healthcare First Receiver Train the Trainer program, FEMA Mass Fatality Management Train the Trainer program, NYIT Psychological Impact of Disaster Train the Trainer program.

As an internationally recognized author and professional speaker, Dr. Ramirez has published numerous articles in professional and scientific journals. He has been citied in over 24 textbooks and authored chapters in three business books. He is the creator of the Rinse, Lather, Repeat kindergarten preparedness curriculum and the Continuous Integrated Triage framework used at the Louis Armstrong International Airport following Hurricane Katrina. In addition, Dr. Ramirez co-authored The Complete Idiot's Guide to Disaster Preparedness (Alpha Books, 2009), Making Sense of Disaster Medicine (Oxford Univ. Press, 2010) and was the Technical Advisor for Spike TV's Surviving Disaster and 1,000 Ways to Die.

Dr. Ramirez is the Emeritus Medical Director for High Alert Institute, Inc. The Institute is the nation's first and only 501c(3) public charity dedicated to empowering individuals, families, communities, businesses and organizations to be disaster ready.