Community Emergency Medicine Excellence Award

Andrew G. Southard, MD, FACEP 

Dr. Southard attended medical school at the University of Colorado and completed residency training in emergency medicine at the University of New Mexico. He is the department chair of emergency medicine and medical director for Saint Alphonsus Regional Trauma Center in Boise, Idaho. He works clinically both at the trauma center as well as the community and rural emergency departments throughout the Treasure Valley in the Saint Alphonsus Health System. He is also the owner of FireDoc, which provides medical direction and training to EMS personnel, and serves as the medical director for the Boise, Salmon-Challis, and Sawtooth national forests. Before medicine, Dr. Southard worked as a wildland firefighter, EMT-B, and wilderness guide throughout the west and Alaska.

Honorary Membership Award

Lowell Gerson, PhD

Dr. Gerson is a professor emeritus of family and community medicine at Northeast Ohio Medical University in Rootstown. He received his doctorate from Case Western Reserve University. His overall academic focus is effective and efficient delivery of medical services and prevention of injury and disease. He has a particular interest in emergency care of older patients, and he is regarded as one of the founders of that specialty. The Academy of Geriatric Emergency Medicine recognized this when it created the Gerson-Sanders Award for outstanding achievement in geriatric emergency medicine.

In 1981, Dr. Gerson identified the disproportionate use of emergency medical services by older patients. His observation, one of the first to identify older persons as a special population, was cited in early research on the topic. In 1992, he published the results of his study investigating the value of case finding by paramedics for problems in older patients. Today, emergency medical services identify older patients with conditions that put them at risk for additional problems.

Dr. Gerson was a member of the original Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) Geriatric Task Force. Later, he chaired that task force. From 2001 to 2014, he was the SAEM representative to the American Geriatrics Society Council for the Section on Surgical and Related Medical Specialties. In that capacity, he advocated for increased attention to geriatric issues, mentored early-career faculty, and encouraged greater participation in the Jahnigen and GEMSSTAR career development awards.

Dr. Gerson’s past appointments include senior scientist in the department of emergency medicine, Summa Health System—Akron City Hospital; associate professor, faculty of medicine, Memorial University of Newfoundland; associate professor, McMaster University; visiting fellow, South Australia Health Commission; and visiting senior scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In 1999, he was appointed associate editor of Academic Emergency Medicine. He subsequently was promoted to senior associate editor, a position he held until 2019. He is a member of the MEDICC Review Editorial Board.

He has researched and written more than 250 published articles. Since retiring to a golf community in southwest Florida, Dr. Gerson has remained active in efforts to increase wellness and reduce illness and injury in his community, and he advocates for improved emergency care for older persons. Dr. Gerson and his wife of 55 years, Francine, an acclaimed fused-glass artist, have two children and two granddaughters.