Honorary Membership Award

Laura Gore

Ms. Gore served as the public relations director for ACEP for more than 20 years.

During that time, she significantly raised ACEP’s public profile among its external audiences, such as health policy media in Washington, DC. An expert in developing news hooks, Ms. Gore led her team to conduct two to three major media campaigns every year, engaging the use of opinion polls, social media, and advertising. As a result, ACEP’s media coverage on strategic issues doubled and tripled for many consecutive years.

She grew ACEP’s Spokespersons’ Network to more than 500 media-trained emergency physicians across the country and trained ACEP’s physician leaders to be effective on news programs such as Good Morning America and CNN, as well as to conduct desk-side briefings with The New York Times and USA Today.

Ms. Gore led ACEP’s evolution into social media, producing professional video for ACEP’s YouTube channel and growing the external Twitter feed to nearly 20,000 followers.

ACEP’s YouTube channel generated more than 600,000 views in one year, following the release of the organization’s first viral video. She also oversaw ACEP’s branding process and development of the organization’s tagline, “Advancing Emergency Care.” An expert in crisis communications, Ms. Gore was ever vigilant to protect the white hat image of emergency physicians and ACEP.

Ms. Gore wrote or edited all content for ACEP’s two external websites—newsroom.acep.org and EmergencyCareforYou.org. She developed messaging on policy issues, based on research and focus group testing.

Ms. Gore previously worked in the executive office of the president communicating articles about the president‘s national drug control strategy. She also served as a press aide to two governors of Florida, editor of a science journal, and editorial director for a social science research firm.

Council Meritorious Service Award

John H. Proctor, MD, FACEP

Dr. Proctor is clinical executive consultant for Sound Emergency Medicine. He is a diplomat of the American Board of Emergency Medicine, with sub-board certification in pediatric emergency medicine, and is a clinical assistant professor of emergency medicine for the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. He is a member of the American Medical Association Reimbursement Update Committee and the Joint Commission Ambulatory Accreditation Professional Technical Advisory Committee. Dr. Proctor has held numerous leadership and educational roles with prestigious health care organizations.

Disaster Medical Sciences Award

Richard C. Hunt, MD, FACEP

Dr. Hunt served as director for medical preparedness and response policy on the National Security Council staff for the White House from 2013 to 2015. At the White House, he led the development and launch of Stop the Bleed and played a critical role in the response to the Ebola crisis. He represented the National Security Council’s interests in the National Academies report “A National Trauma Care System: Integrating Military and Civilian Trauma Systems to Achieve Zero Preventable Deaths After Injury.”

Dr. Hunt currently serves as senior medical advisor for national healthcare preparedness programs in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where he is developing a course on the medical response to overwhelming no-notice trauma events and supports the response to high-consequence infectious diseases. Dr. Hunt was distinguished consultant and director of the division of injury response at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Injury Center, where he led medical preparedness initiatives for terrorist bombings including the guidance “In a Moment’s Notice: Surge Capacity for Terrorist Bombings, and the Tale of Our Cities conferences.” He led CDC’s national guidelines for field triage of injured patients.

Prior to federal service, he was professor and chair of the department of emergency medicine at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, New York. With ACEP, he served as chair of the Trauma Care and Injury Control Committee and was ACEP’s first liaison to the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma. He is a past President of the National Association of EMS Physicians and was vice chair of the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems. Dr. Hunt is board-certified in emergency medicine, holds a master of science degree, and is an adjunct professor of emergency medicine at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta.