Save Lives. Build Resilience.
Richard Hunt, MD, FACEP, is an emergency physician who developed and led the White House Stop the Bleed campaign launch. On departing the White House in 2015, the President wrote to him, “Your work organizing the Stop the Bleed initiative will help empower the general public to save lives during traumatic events.”
At the White House, Dr. Hunt worked in secure offices as the National Security Council Staff’s Director for Medical Preparedness Policy from 2013 to 2015. In addition to his Stop the Bleed efforts, he played a critical role on Ron Klain’s Ebola response team. He currently is the Senior Medical Advisor for the Office of Healthcare Readiness at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
During the pandemic, he developed and moderated over 170 virtual COVID-19 Clinical Rounds peer-to-peer learning sessions reaching over 59,000 physicians, nurses, EMTs, and paramedics in collaboration with over 30 professional societies, universities, hospitals, and federal departments. He now leads a post-pandemic iteration, Clinical Readiness Rounds, addressing all threats and supporting the healthcare workforce.
Among other notable awards, Dr. Hunt received the American College of Emergency Physicians James D. Mills Outstanding Contribution to Emergency Medicine Award in 2022. Before working in Washington, DC, Dr. Hunt was CDC’s director of the Division of Injury Response.
Before being recruited to government service, he was professor and chair of emergency medicine at SUNY Upstate Medical University. He taught resident doctors, medical students, nurses, paramedics, and EMTs and cared for patients in emergency rooms at university medical centers in Greenville, NC, and Syracuse, NY.
He was president of the National Association of EMS Physicians, chaired the Trauma and Injury Control Committee of the American College of Emergency Physicians, and was vice-chair of the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Services.
He has authored over 100 publications and accepted over 150 invitations to speak to national and international audiences on a wide range of emergency care and disaster response topics. He is an Adjunct Professor of Emergency Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine.
Richard is a passionate advocate for people becoming immediate responders to save lives and build resilience. He and his wife live in Surf City, NJ, and have four grown children. He is continuously inspired by the ocean’s big and little waves, and enjoys collecting miniature souvenir buildings.