He became involved in emergency medical services when he joined Saint Paul-Ramsey Medical Center, now Regions Hospital. At SPRMC, he served as medical director for the Saint Paul Fire Department ALS service, the Life Link 3 air and ground critical care transport service, as well as multiple other ALS, BLS, and first responder services.

A committed champion of air medical services, he has served as board member and President of the Association of Air Medical Services. In 1999, AAMS recognized his seminal contributions with its Barbara A. Hess Research Award.

Dr. Hankins and his wife, Joan, a Mayo flight nurse, live in Oronoco, Minn. Their blended family includes three children: Stephanie, David, and Julia. His favorite non-medical activity is visiting the battlefields of the Civil War. Joan looks forward to joining him on walking tours of all 13,000.

William Wesley Fields, M.D., FACEP

Colin C. Rorrie Jr., PhD Award for Excellence in Health Policy

ACEP presents the Colin C. Rorrie Jr., PhD Health Policy Award to a member or non-member who has made an outstanding contribution in monitoring and influencing health policy of importance to emergency medicine.

Dr. Fields is a long-time member and past chair of the Board of Directors of CEP America. He serves on the clinical faculty at the University of California, Irvine, and has been an attending physician at Saddleback Memorial Medical Center in Laguna Hills for 30 years.

Born in Illinois and raised in California, Dr. Fields received his undergraduate degree from the College of Creative Studies at UC Santa Barbara. He graduated from the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California and completed an emergency medicine residency at Harbor/UCLA.

He is a Past President of California ACEP and has strengthened national ACEP as a dedicated member of the Federal Government Affairs Committee and the NEMPAC Board of Trustees.

He has served on many national expert task forces and panels, including recent work for the National Quality Forum on regionalizing emergency care.

He reviews health policy for several journals and is the author of a number of peer-reviewed articles and practice management chapters.

He is the founding chair of the Emergency Medicine Action Fund, a broad-based coalition engaged in federal regulatory and legal advocacy, health care reform, and policy development for the acute care continuum.

Dr. Fields and his partner, Nadia Pipe, live in Laguna Niguel, Calif. With his late wife, Molly, he is the father of two adult children, Paris and Katie, who lives nearby.