Leading voices in HEMS

Prof Richard Lyon

Professor Richard Lyon is an active UK NHS Consultant in Emergency Medicine and Pre-hospital Care in Edinburgh and Deputy Medical Director and Director of Research for Air Ambulance Kent Surrey & Sussex. He is a clinical leader and senior medical advisor with extensive experience across clinical practice, academia, research and innovation.
Prof Lyon was made a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) by HM The Queen in the 2017 Honours for services to emergency healthcare. He is a commissioned officer in the Royal Army Medical Service (TA) and holds a personal Chair of Pre-hospital Emergency Care at the University of Surrey.
His research focuses on pre-hospital resuscitation and trauma care, and he has an extensive publication record. He is a member of the Faculty of Pre-hospital Care, an author of several international guidelines and a physician with the UK International Search & Rescue Team.

Dr Zane Perkins

Dr Zane Perkins is a consultant Trauma & General (Upper Gastrointestinal) surgeon at the Royal London Hospital, one of the busiest trauma centres in Europe. He is also a consultant in prehospital care with London’s Air Ambulance. Dr Perkins has trained in Johannesburg, Durban, and London. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. He also has a Fellowship in Immediate Medical Care from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and a Diploma in Anaesthetics from the College of Anaesthetists of South Africa. In April 2016, Dr Perkins was awarded a Ph.D. by the University of London for his work on artificial intelligence-powered predictive analytics to support clinical decision-making in trauma care. His research is principally concerned with clinical decision-support in early trauma care and prehospital trauma resuscitation. He holds an honorary senior lectureship at the Centre for Trauma Sciences, Queen Mary University of London.

Mr Bernd Lang

Mr Bernd Lang has a degree in Health Management and Health Science. During these studies, he specialized in human factors and learning processes as well as organizational behavior and management systems. Bernd joined ÖAMTC Air Rescue in 2005 and currently serves as Training Director and Compliance Manager, focusing on the areas of Training & Learning, Research & Development and Quality & Compliance. He is an Aeromedical Crew Resource Management (ACRM) trainer and chairman of the EHAC ACRM Working Group. Human factors, people and the systems in which they work are his real passion.

Mr Jari Huhtinen

M.Sc. in Industrial Management and MBA, Jari Huhtinen is the CEO of FinnHEMS Ltd and Accountable Manager of FinnHEMS Flight Services Ltd. FinnHEMS is a government-owned national HEMS operator in Finland. Together with the well-being counties operating university hospitals, FinnHEMS is responsible for prehospital critical care from eight bases across the country. FInnHEMS handles approximately 9 500 mission calls and treats around 3 500 patients annually. In recent years, the effectiveness of HEMS in Finland has been an active area of research. As a result, a governmental working group has published a strategy document outlining future value drivers for HEMS. Jari joined the HEMS community around five years ago. Before that, he held various leadership roles at Finnair, including Managing Director of Catering, Vice President, and Nominated Post Holder for Continuing Airworthiness, Maintenance, and Group Procurement.

Mr Frédéric Bruder

Frédéric Bruder is the Chief Executive Officer of ADAC Luftrettung, one of Europe’s largest and most advanced air rescue organizations. With extensive experience in emergency medical services and aviation management, he has led the organization through significant innovation and growth. Under his leadership, ADAC Luftrettung has performed over 670,000 HEMS rescue missions and advanced the integration of HEMS into modern healthcare systems, pioneered the use of new aviation technologies, and strengthened its role in international collaborations. Bruder is also a strong advocate for research and digital transformation in air rescue, including projects involving autonomous flight and drone technology. His strategic vision focuses on operational excellence, patient safety, and future-oriented rescue solutions. At the Oslo conference, he will share his insights into shaping the future of HEMS in the face of technological, ecological, and demographic change.

Dr Dinis dos Reis Miranda

Dr Dinis dos Reis Miranda is an experienced anesthesiologist-intensivist and ECMO director of adult ECMO in the Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam the Netherlands. In the ErasmusMC he has set up the ECPR program: ECPR team members are at the hospital 24/7 with a response time of 5 min being ready for ECPR at the trauma bay. Also, being a flight physician at the Dutch HEMS, he has been the motor in implementing eCPR in the national Dutch HEMS program and parallel to this set up the On-Scene trial: a nationwide stepped-Wedged trial of prehospital ECPR by the Dutch HEMS. Results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine November 2026 and will highly influence the way refractory cardiac arrest will be treated on-scene in the future.

Dr Peter Paal

Peter Paal is an anaesthesiologist and intensivist and Head of the Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine at St. John of God Hospital, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria. His main areas of expertise include emergency and extreme-environment medicine, with a particular focus on accidental hypothermia, cardiopulmonary resuscitation and airway management. Paal has extensive international experience in clinical medicine, research and education. He has held positions at University Hospital Innsbruck and Barts Heart Centre in London, and served as Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer at Queen Mary University of London. He is actively involved in several international medical organisations, serving as Research Lead of the International Commission for Mountain Emergency Medicine (ICAR MEDCOM), Vice President of the International Society for Mountain Medicine (ISMM), Vice President of the Austrian Society of Mountain and High Altitude Medicine, and President of the Austrian Board of Mountain Safety. He is also a Fellow of the European Resuscitation Council.

Dr Johannes Strobel

Dr Johannes Strobel is an emergency physician based in Hamburg, Germany. As Clinical Governance Lead for ADAC Air Rescue Germany, he is responsible for establishing a clinical governance system across the organisation’s entire HEMS network. In addition, he serves as Clinical Lead of the HEMS base Christoph 26.
His professional focus lies at the intersection of clinical excellence and system safety: how HEMS organisations learn from cases, manage risk and deliver consistently high-quality care. To foster exchange across borders, he founded the European Governance Alliance in HEMS (EGAH), a community of practice for clinical governance in air medical services. He is an affiliated researcher at Maastricht University, working on quality in prehospital care and system thinking in EMS.
His clinical background includes work with London’s Air Ambulance and the Hamburg Fire & Rescue. He is one of the medical directors of the Viennese Resuscitative Thoracotomy Course (VieRT) and is actively involved in research on invasive prehospital procedures.

Dr Jim Connolly

Jim Connolly is the immediate Past President of the European Society of Emergency Medicine. He has worked as a Consultant in the Great North Trauma and Emergency Care Department, Newcastle-upon-Tyne since 2002. He was amongst the first ED Physicians in the UK to adopt Point of Care Ultrasound (PoCUS) recognising its potential to reach a more rapid diagnosis in time-critical patients as well improve clinical acumen and procedural skills. He developed one of the first UK PoCUS courses in 2001 and since then has taught numerous UK courses as well as directing and teaching on over 60 International Courses, assisting overseas colleagues to develop courses in several countries. He has innovated new interactive courses and published papers as well as co-authored books on point-of-care ultrasound. He has been Chair of the European Society of Emergency Medicine Ultrasound Section and also chair of RCEM (UK) Ultrasound Group. He has an interest in Resuscitation and has helped develop several procedural courses in Emergency care, including a nationally recognised Pre-Hospital Thoracotomy Course.

Assoc Prof Mikael Gellerfors

Mikael Gellerfors is a senior consultant in anesthesiology and intensive care. He works as a HEMS Doctor with Dalarna Ambulance Helicopter, Stockholm Ambulance Helicopter and as an anesthesiologist at the trauma unit of Karolinska University Hospital. Gellerfors is associate professor at the Karolinska Institute and research director for the Swedish Air Ambulance. He has been medical director for several prehospital services and has served on multiple prehospital expert groups.

Dr Ane Marthe Helland

Ane Marthe Helland is a medical doctor, PhD-candidate, and enrolled in the British DiMM. She is part of the Mountain Medicine Research Group at The Norwegian Air Ambulance Foundation where she is working on experimental hypothermia.

Dr Sigurd Mydske

Sigurd Mydske is a Medical Doctor and PhD-researcher working with The Mountain Medicine Research Group, a collaboration between Haukeland University Hospital, the University of Bergen and The Norwegian Air Ambulance Foundation. His work concerns prehospital active warming of patients with accidental hypothermia. He is currently enrolled in the British DiMM course, and works in a physician-staffed emergency response car in Bergen.

Prof Wolfgang. G. Voelckel

Professor Wolfgang. G. Voelckel, M.D., M.Sc., D.E.A.A. Medical Director AUVA Trauma Centre Salzburg and Head Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine; Medical Director ÖAMTC Air Rescue Austria; Accountable manager, Trauma Network Salzburg. Associate Professor University of Stavanger, Norway: Course Coordinator Pre-Hospital Emergency Medical Care, International Master Study. Affiliations: Paracelsus Private Medical University, Salzburg and Medical University Vienna. Research interests: emergency medicine, trauma, coagulation management.

Dr Jostein Rødseth Brede

Jostein Rødseth Brede is a Medical Doctor and Consultant Anaesthesiologist at St. Olavs University Hospital, and PhD and Senior Researcher at Norwegian Air Ambulance Foundation. Jostein is also a HEMS doctor at 330 sqv, RoNAF. Research field: REBOA in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

Mr Håvard Mattingsdal

Håvard Mattingsdal works as a HEMS Technical Crew Member and is currently a PhD-candidate at the Norwegian Air Ambulance Foundation. He is a registered nurse and EMT, holds a Master’s degree in risk and safety management and the Diploma in Mountain Medicine. His research focuses on workload and risk in helicopter rescue operations.

Mrs Karina Damsgaard

Karina Damsgaard is a psychologist specializing in Emergency Medicine, with expertise in mental health in high-stress environments, crisis intervention, and psychological first aid. She is the HEMS Psychologist with the Danish Helicopter Emergency Medical Service, where she supports frontline personnel and conducts research on trauma-exposed professionals. Karina is the lead psychologist in the Danish REPEL-concept and a former Crisis Psychologist in the Danish Defense. She also works as a speaker, educator, and clinician, focusing on resilience, stress management, and preventive mental health strategies.

Prof Marius Rehn

Marius Rehn is a consultant anaesthesiologist and HEMS doctor working at the air ambulance department and Rikshospitalet, Oslo University Hospital. He is a senior researcher in the Norwegian Air Ambulance Foundation and a clinical professor at the Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo. He holds an adjunct professorship at the University of Southern Denmark and is Editor-in-chief of the Scandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine.

Prof Giacomo Strapazzon

Professor Giacomo Strapazzon, MD, PhD, DiMM is Head of the Institute of Mountain Emergency Medicine of Eurac Research in UNESCO World Heritage Dolomites, Italy. He is a consultant in emergency medicine, delegate for the Italian Mountain Rescue (CNSAS) within the International Commission for Alpine Rescue (ICAR) and lectures at the University of Padova, Italy. He has been principal and co-investigator in over 30 in-field, clinical and lab studies, mainly focusing on cold injuries.

Priv-Doz Dr Stephan Prückner

Stephan Prückner specializes in Anaesthesiology and Emergency Medicine, and is the head of disaster control and civil protection as well as the head of pandemic management at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University hospital in Munich (LMU Klinikum). As managing director of the Institut für Notfallmedizin und Medizinmanagement at LMU Klinikum, he leads an interdisciplinary team of scientists and researchers with focus on research, teaching and consulting in the field of emergency medicine. From 1998-1999 he was a Research Fellow/Research Associate at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center on a US-Navy Research Grant. From 2007-2009 he was a research associate for EU/BMBF-Projects EMERGE, OASIS, ROSETTA, and ProAssist4Life at the Institute of Anaethesiology and Emergency Medicine, Westpfalz-Klinikum and the Fraunhofer Institute of Experimental Software engineering in Kaiserslautern. 2021 marked his 20th anniversary as an emergency physician with the well-known rescue service of Air Zermatt (Switzerland). From 2009 – 2013 he was medical head of the DRF Luftrettung rescue helicopter base at Klinikum Großhadern where he serves as an emergency physician since 1999. As chair of several medical associations, his scientific focus is on EMS, pre-hospital care, human factors, social aspects and the epidemiology of emergency medicine.

Dr Amanda Tijben

Amanda Tijben is Head of Flight Operations at ANWB Medical Air Assistance, where she has spent over 12 years leading complex HEMS operations with a strong focus on safety, innovation, and operational excellence. She began her career as an officer in the Royal Netherlands Navy, earning a Master’s degree in Navigation Technology and completing her flight training, before gaining experience in SAR, shipborne and offshore helicopter operations. Amanda brings expertise in PinS procedures, NVIS operations, regulatory frameworks such as Age 65, operational resilience, and crew composition, and is known for her creative, solutions-driven approach to continuously improving HEMS performance in high-risk environments.

Mr Nicolai Gerrard

Nicolai Gerrard is a chief engineer in the Spectrum and Telecom Analysis in the Department for Spectrum Management and AI at the Norwegian Communications Authority (Nkom). He graduated from NTNU in 2018 with a master’s degree in theoretical physics. Since then, he has worked for Nkom, where he specialises in GNSS radio-frequency interference, spectrum monitoring, incident handling and investigation, and governmental coordination regarding GNSS-related vulnerabilities. He is also project manager and technical lead for the GNSS interference test arena Jammertest. Furthermore, he has authored or co-authored several academic conference papers and journal articles arising from his regulatory and monitoring work in Norway, where the research primarily analyses GNSS disruptions and threats, operational integrity, and Jammertest.