About GEMSS

    Over the past decade, there has been a growing need for Emergency Physicians to provide specialized expertise for various governmental agencies, ranging from local police, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and U.S. Secret Service to health agencies and political groups, both at the regional and federal level. In 1998, Dr. Paul Pepe, then Commonwealth Emergency Medical Director for the state of Pennsylvania in the administration of Governor Tom Ridge, developed the concept of an academic Government Emergency Medical Security Services (GEMSS) Fellowship. The curriculum for the proposed GEMSS fellowship went beyond the traditional medical-related elements of tactical EMS and weapons of mass effect (WME) training. It provided a more comprehensive extension to traditional EM physician education that ranged from VIP protective service details and Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) activities to the political, legislative and mass media activities involved in effectively providing emergency medical security for the public.

   The program, now fully underway, has applicants and a waiting list through the 2005 academic year. Modeled after other traditional academic medical fellowships (such as a cardiology fellowship), the GEMSS program has clinical, educational and research components. Just as a cardiology fellow learns the technical skills of ECG interpretation, coronary artery catheterization and clinical management of myocardial infarction, a GEMSS fellow, among many other curricular objectives, learns about the technical and security aspects of dealing with VIP protective services, tactical medicine, "all-hazards" WME preparation, and the political aspects of inter-governmental medical security management. The fellows, usually EM residency graduates, do so directly under the tutelage of a regional and national faculty of bio-terrorism experts, chem-bio toxicologists, haz-mat specialists, police intelligence and tactical teams, FBI agents, U.S. Secret Service agents, county and state health directors, military biodefense experts, members of the news media, epidemiologists and other authorities in this rapidly evolving discipline.

   Current GEMSS fellows have been invited to travel to specialized centers for training such as the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (U.S.A.M.R.I.I.D.) at Ft. Detrick, MD and Beltsville, MD (the U.S. Secret Service Training Center) as well as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) headquarters in Washington, DC.  Likewise, just as a cardiology fellow would participate in research efforts, the GEMSS fellow also has investigatory obligations and multi-faceted teaching commitments related to the needs of the various public safety entities, the medical community and the public at large. There are also specialized types of training formats ranging from security management issues (i.e., "AOP" exercises with the U.S. Secret Service or tactical operations with police and FBI) to actual studio practice with public speaking and interacting with the media in a crisis. Therefore, the GEMSS fellowship not only comprises a separate body of knowledge for the EM physician, but it also takes into account that there are evolving needs for emergency physicians to be trained in these governmental aspects of medical security. The GEMSS fellowship meets these curricular and practical experience needs and it is hoped that this excellent public service opportunity will advance EM as a discipline, both educationally and professionally.

"The fate of the wounded rests in the hands
of the one that applies the first dressing."

Nicholas Senn, M.D.
49th President
American Medical Association
1897

For More Information, Contact:

Paul E. Pepe, MD, MPH, FACEP, FCCM

Telephone: 214-648-4812
E-mail: paul.pepe@utsouthwestern.edu