Joshua E. Appel, MD, has been promoted to clinical associate professor of emergency medicine. He joined the department 2009, and currently serves as associate medical director of the Adult Emergency Department Services at Banner – University Medical Center Tucson, and deputy medical director for the Tucson Fire Department.
Dr. Appel served as a U.S. Air Force a pararescue specialist, supporting NASA Space Shuttle launches and was team leader on the mission that rescued U.S. Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell, author of The Lone Survivor. He currently serves as flight surgeon in the U.S. Air Force Reserves, teaching and mentoring pararescue team members.
He has received numerous honors and awards, including USAF Air Medal for meritorious service in Afghanistan for the rescue for Navy SEAL Luttrell, and Aerial Achievement Medals for service in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
Dr. Appel received his medical degree from the UA. He completed his residency training at Albany Medical Center.
Joshua B. Gaither, MD, has been promoted to associate professor of emergency medicine. He joined the department in 2009, after completing a Prehospital and Disaster Medicine Fellowship at University of Colorado Denver Health.
Dr. Gaither currently serves as the associate medical director, University Campus Base Hospital, and the director of the new Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Fellowship, a program he helped to develop. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)-accredited fellowship at the UA is one of the first in the United States.
He is co-developer of the educational series, “Advanced Preparedness & Response,” a course for practicing interdisciplinary healthcare professionals in the management of multi-casualty incidents (MCIs) and disasters. Over the last four years, this course has been delivered to 236 individuals from throughout the United States. He also is co-developer of an EMS course for UA undergraduates, EMD 350.
Dr. Gaither serves on the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA)-funded Steering Committee to develop a process to better implement evidence-based guidelines into prehospital protocols. He also is a member of numerous committees, including the Arizona Department of Health Services Trauma and EMS Performance Improvement Committee and the Southern Arizona EMS Council Policy Development and Review Committee.
He conducts research in prehospital management of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and EMS and disaster care and has published a dozen journal articles and book chapters.
Dr. Gaither received his medical degree from the UA, and completed residency training in emergency medicine at Yale University.
Anna Waterbrook, MD, has been promoted to associate professor of emergency medicine. She joined the department in 2007, after becoming the department’s first emergency medicine sports medicine fellow, and then one of only 150 dual-boarded emergency medicine/sports medicine physicians in the United States. She now serves as associate program director, Sports Medicine Fellowship, and associate program director, Emergency Medicine Residency program at Banner – University Medical Center South.
Dr. Waterbrook is the first director of sports medicine for the department. She created a novel and now highly rated sports medicine rotation for both the University and South Campus emergency medicine residencies.
Her research focus is on emergency sports medicine and point-of-care (bedside) ultrasound. She has published more than a dozen articles and book chapters and is a reviewer for the Journal of Emergency Medicine and a member of the editorial board for Medical Roundtable. This past year, Dr. Waterbrook signed an agreement with Cambridge University Press to serve as editor of a Sports Medicine Handbook for Emergency Physicians.
An active member of the Sports Medicine Sections of both the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) and the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), Dr. Waterbrook was a contributor to the ACEP Sports Medicine Core Curriculum Lecture Series that was funded by an ACEP Section Grant. This is an online series of sports medicine lectures for emergency medicine professionals. She currently serves as the Chair-Elect for ACEP's Sports Medicine Section.
Dr. Waterbrook received her medical degree from the UA, where she received the Outstanding Academic Achievement Award. She completed residency training in emergency medicine at Maine Medical Center, Portland. In addition to finishing a sports medicine fellowship at the UA, she also completed an American College of Emergency Physicians Teaching Fellowship in Dallas.