Maurice A. Ramirez

Maurice A. Ramirez DO, Ph.D., BCEM, CNS, CMRO, (b. June 6 1964, Queens, New York) is a Senior Physician-Federal Medical Officer in the National Disaster Medical System, the founding chairperson of the American Board of Disaster Medicine, and a specialist in emergency and disaster response medical care.

Education & Certification

Ramirez attended Bishop Moore Catholic High School and Valencia Community College, simultaneously graduating from high school and community college in 1982 prior to matriculating to Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida as a junior. A student with a four year academic scholarship at Florida State University, the future Ramirez completed the requirements of his Bachelors degree and began his doctoral studies in clinical nutrition.

In 1987, Ramirez entered medical school in Des Moines, Iowa. In 1991, he graduated from the University of Osteopathic Medicine and Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine, with the degree Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine. In addition to a research doctorate in Human Clinical Nutrition, he is completing a second doctorate in Disaster Medicine Studies from the Union Institute and Universities.

By May 2001, Ramirez had become the first United States physician to hold six board certifications in addition to the designation of Certified Medical Review Officer. In 2007, Ramirez became the first physician in the world to earn board certification in Disaster Medicine. He has the designation of holding seven board certifications, more than all but a handful of physicians including:

• Emergency Medicine by American Association of Physician Specialists Board of Emergency Medicine
• Disaster Medicine by the American Board of Disaster Medicine
• Family Practice by the American Board of Osteopathic Family Practitioners
• Sports Medicine by the American Board of Osteopathic Family Practitioners
• Geriatric Medicine by the American Board of Osteopathic Family Practitioners
• Clinical Nutrition by the American Board of Nutrition
• Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine by the American Board of Osteopathic Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine
• Certified Medical Review Officer by the American Association of Medical Review Officers

In 2004 and 2005 Ramirez became the first Central Florida physician to complete the AMA’s National Disaster Life Support 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 while also serving as a disaster medical officer for hurricanes Charlie, Francis, Jeanne, Katrina, Rita and Wilma.

A Quarter Century of Service

With over a quarter century experience in field disaster response and two decades of active medical practice, Ramirez is Founding Chairperson of the American Board of Disaster Medicine and he serves the United States as a Senior Physician-Federal Medical Officer in the National Disaster Medical System. Ramirez is also the founder and president of the consulting firm High Alert, LLC., dedicated to raising the awareness, application and adoption of disaster preparedness, planning and education by individuals, families, businesses, healthcare and communities nationally. He has served on expert panels for pandemic preparedness and healthcare surge planning with Congressional and Cabinet Members.

In 2007, Ramirez was invited by the British Royal Society of Physicians and the London Apothecary to assist in the development of the specialty of Catastrophic and Casualty Medicine (Disaster Medicine) in the United Kingdom as well as co-author the first British medical school textbook on medical disaster preparedness, planning, response and recovery.

Ramirez is a major contributor to the Surge, Sort, Support and Psychological First Aid for Hospital Professionals programs and sits on the American Medical Association’s Basic Disaster Life Support and Core Disaster Life Support Curriculum Development Committees. He is the creator of the C5RITICAL Immersion Simulation training method, the Rinse, Lather, Repeat kindergarten preparedness curriculum and the Continuous Integrated Triage model used at the Louis Armstrong International Airport following hurricane Katrina.

More Than Medicine

Recognized as an autodidactic polymath, Ramirez has made a career of finding the correlations and connections missed by others creating new prospective and processes so profound as to constitute new knowledge. Innovative thinking and unfettered creativity has earned Ramirez the praise of such business gurus as Jim Cathcart who has said of Ramirez, "He is a true renaissance man." As the first individual to combine of disaster and emergency medicine principles with process enhancement and business continuity practices for wholesale application as a model for business management and corporate leadership, Ramirez originated such business models and practices as Business Triage, InstaDecision, Economus Paradus, and Epidemic Enthusiasm.

Ramirez is an internationally recognized professional speaker and member of both the National Speakers Association (NSA) and the International Federation for Professional Speakers (IFFP). He has published numerous articles in professional and scientific journals as well as maintaining a newsstand circulation of over 755,000 readers per month for several years. He has been has been cited in over 24 medical textbooks, authored chapters in three business books and his own book You Can Survive Anything, Anywhere, Every Time.

Together with his wife, Laura M. Mendoza, and their four children, Ramirez is currently based in his hometown of Kissimmee, Florida.

References

• American Osteopathic Association Communications and Media Feature. February, 2007.
• Armour, S. Katrina Rescue, "Recovery Workers Face Risks." USA Today. September 13, 2005.
• Bouchez, C. "Crisis! How Would You Respond?" WebMD Features. September, 2006.
• Caruso, I. "Speaking Outside the Box." Alaska Airlines Magazine. January, 2006.
• Florida Department of Health Practitioner Profile Website. [1]
• Florida Society News - FSACOFP. July / August, 2006.
• Myers, C. "Working for Uncle Sam." Unique Opportunities. May/June, 2006.
• Rabinowitz, E. "Doctors Going Bankrupt. It Can Happen to You." Physicians Money Digest. October, 2007.
• Ramirez, M. Climbing the Ladder of Success Backwards: The Story of Completing My Doctorate and Myself. The Union Institute and Universities Graduate Library, 2006.
• Small Business Management. [2], 2007.
• Traynor, C. Valencia Community College News Online. www.valencia.edu September, 2006.
• Williams, G. "What's Up with These Docs?" Entrepreneur. November, 2007.
• Personal Interview: Jim Cathcart, CSP, CPAE; President of the Cathcart Institute, 2005.