Our amazing speakers
2025
Prof Peter Brindley
Peter Brindley is a full-time Critical Care Doc and a tenured full Professor of Critical Care Medicine, Anesthesiology, and Medical Ethics, with over 150 peer-reviewed manuscripts and over 100 other articles, including over 60 regular opinion pieces for the British Medical Journal. He has presented to audiences in over 15 countries during approximately 700 invited presentations, 50 plenaries and 15 named lectures.
Dr Jason van der Velde
Dr Jason van der Velde is a Prehospital Emergency Medicine and Critical Care Retrieval Physician working as the Clinical Lead for the Irish Health Service Executive’s National 24 hour Emergency Telemedical Support Unit, MEDICO Cork. Based in the Emergency Department in Cork University Hospital, he has a Fellowship in Trauma and Critical Care and a Masters Degree in Disaster Medicine, with over 25 years experience providing Prehospital Critical Care around the world.
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.
Dr Karianne Larsen
Karianne Larsen, MD, PhD, is a Neurologist and researcher at Oslo University Hospital, Dep. of Neurology and The Norwegian Air Ambulance Foundation (Prehospital Acute Brain Program). Her research interests include prehospital assessment of the acutely ill and injured brain, especially prehospital advanced diagnostics and treatment of acute stroke. Larsen is President Elect in the PRE-hospital Stroke Treatment Organization (PRESTO).
Prof Jacob Steinmetz
Jacob Steinmetz, MD, PhD, is a Professor in Prehospital Emergency Medicine and a consultant in anaesthesiology in Copenhagen, Denmark. He currently works as a clinical anaesthetist, prehospital emergency physician and part time researcher. With 120 publications his work has appeared in leading journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine and Journal of the American Medical Association.
Prof Stephen Sollid
Stephen J. M. Sollid is Professor of Prehospital Critical care at Stavanger University in Norway and secretary general of the Norwegian Air Ambulance Foundation. He is a trained anaesthesiologist with his clinical work predominantly as a prehospital critical care physician in the Norwegian air-ambulance system since 2002. His research merits are in patient safety and prehospital critical care.
Karina Damsgaard Nørby
Karina Damsgaard Nørby 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 a former Crisis Psychologist in the Danish Defense.
Dr Tom Hurst
Dr Tom Hurst is the Medical Director of London’s Air Ambulance. Tom is a consultant in pre-hospital care and also consultant in intensive care medicine at King’s College Hospital. He has been actively involved in pre-hospital care since first working for London’s Air Ambulance in 2008. His clinical interests include brain injury and cardiovascular support. Tom spent around eight years working as a trauma team leader and five years as part of the ECMO group at King’s.
Dr Mona Guterud
Dr Mona Guterud is a Paramedic and Senior Researcher at the Norwegian Air Ambulance Foundation. She holds a PhD and has 18 years of experience in ambulance services. Her research focuses on advancing prehospital emergency care, drawing from her frontline experience to enhance patient outcomes and system efficiency. With particular expertise in prehospital stroke care, she is dedicated to improving triage to ensure patients receive the right care as early as possible.
Dr Anne Kristine Bergem
Anne Kristine Bergem is a medical doctor and specialist in psychiatry. She has further education in violence risk assessment and management. She has worked clinically as a senior physician, and served as a professional leader. Bergem has been an editor and author of several books and scientific articles. She previously held an associate professor position at the Department of Paramedicine at OsloMet. Currently, she is a special advisor at the Norwegian Psychiatric Association.
Dinis Reis Miranda
Department of Intensive Care Medicine, Erasmus Medicaal Centre, Rotterdam. Dinis Reis Miranda is an 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 physician at the Dutch HEMS, he set up the On-Scene trial: a nationwide stepped-Wedged trial of prehospital ECPR by the Dutch HEMS. Results are expected in the first half of 2026.
Dr Marit Bekkevold
Marit Bekkevold is a consultant anaesthesiologist and HEMS doctor at Rikshospitalet and the Air Ambulance Department at Oslo University Hospital. She is a PhD student at the Medical Faculty of Oslo University and the Norwegian Air Ambulance Foundation. The PhD project is about neonatal intensive care transports; current practice for these transports and future improvements.
MD Harry Ljungqvist
Harry Ljungqvist is a medical doctor, a doctoral researcher and a paramedic from Finland. His research focuses on modern high-quality prehospital anaesthesia by the Finnish HEMS. He is currently working as a physician in the Meilahti joint emergency department at the Helsinki University Hospital and as a part time doctoral researcher at the University of Helsinki. Hopefully, if all goes according to plan, he will defend his thesis on prehospital anaesthesia this year.
Dr Tine Almenning Flaa
Tine Almenning Flaa holds a MSc in psychology from the University of Bergen (UiB) and completed her Ph.D. at the same institution, with funding and collaboration from the Norwegian Air Ambulance Foundation (NAAF). Her research focused on sleep, sleepiness, and shift work within the air ambulance sector. She currently serves as a researcher at NAAF, where she continues her investigations into sleep, sleepiness, fatigue, and safety, actively contributing to the implementation of Fatigue Risk Management strategies at the Norwegian Air Ambulance.
Dr Sven Christjar Skaiaa
Sven Christjar Skaiaa is a consultant anaesthesiologist and HEMS-physician at Oslo University Hospital, Air Ambulance Department, SAR helicopter services. He worked as an IFMGA Mountain Guide before becoming a doctor, and has a passion for rescue-, mountain-, and environmental medicine. He is a delegate of the International Commission for Alpine Rescue (ICAR) MedCom and has research interest in the fields of mountain medicine and the provision of medical care in austere environments. Dr Skaiaa lives with his family in the mountains of Hemsedal, Norway.
Dr Ane Marthe Helland
Ane 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 Jouni Nurmi
Dr Jouni Nurmi
Dr Randi Simensen
Randi Simensen is a paramedic working in the ground ambulance service at Oslo University Hospital since 2004. She is also pursuing a PhD at the Medical Faculty of Oslo University, in collaboration with the Norwegian Air Ambulance Foundation and Innlandet Hospital Trust. Her PhD project focuses on novel strategies for managing pain relief in the ambulance service. Over the past four years, in collaboration with the research group Oslo Air, she has conducted a comprehensive phase III, open-label, non-inferiority, three-armed, randomised trial; a prospective observational study; and an implementation study at Innlandet Hospital Trust.
Dr Philipp Seidel
Dr Philipp Seidel is a specialist in anesthesiology, having completed his training in both Germany and Norway. Since 2018, he has been working as a senior consultant in intensive care medicine at Stavanger University Hospital, holding the Scandinavian Diploma in Intensive Care Medicine (SDIC). He is a member of the Intensive Care Medicine Committee of the Norwegian Anaesthesiology Association and serves as one of the national coordinators for the Scandinavian advanced educational program for intensive care medicine (SSAI-IC AEP) in Norway.Since 2021, he has also been a PhD student at the University of Stavanger, researching point-of-care diagnostics in trauma. The focus of his research is on the application of microwave technology as a novel diagnostic method.
Dr Jim Connolly
Jim 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.
Dr Pål Morberg
Pål Morberg is a medical doctor and consultant in anaesthesiology at Vestfold Hospital Trust, working in both hospital and prehospital settings. With a diverse medical background he is committed to advancing anaesthesia practice and research. Currently, he is pursuing a PhD with the Norwegian Air Ambulance Foundation, focusing on how artificial intelligence can improve prehospital stroke diagnostics. His approach to work is balanced and pragmatic, emphasizing practical solutions and steady progress. Pål believes strongly in the value of teamwork and he is convinced that mutual support helps us improve each other.
Dr Vegard Nordviste
Vegard Nordviste is a medical doctor and full-time researcher at the Norwegian Air Ambulance Foundation. With previous experience in ambulance services, he is currently leading the Norwegian clinical trial Dual Defib, a study investigating the use of dual sequential external defibrillation (DSED) and its potential impact on survival in prehospital cardiac arrest patients.
Dr Urs Pietsch
Urs is a trained anesthesiologist and intensivist with many years of experience in Swiss air rescue as a prehospital physician and intensive care physician. He is currently Deputy Head of Intensive Care Medicine at the Cantonal Hospital St Gallen/Switzerland. He has an academic career in which he has conducted research on prehospital airway management, alpine air rescue, simulation in EMS and critical care. He is passionate about patient safety, prehospital care under extreme conditions – both in his research and in his profession.
Dr Mikael Gellerfors
Mikael Gellerfors is Research Director with the Swedish Air Ambulance and Rapid Response Cars in Stockholm. Mikael works as Senior Consultant with Dalarna Ambulance Helicopter, Critical Care Physician with the Rapid Response Car in Stockholm and anaesthesiologist at Karolinska University Hospital trauma unit. Mikaels research centers on prehospital advanced airway management and he has been in several prehospital expert groups.
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.
Anna Moe Øvstebø
Anna Moe Øvstebø is a PhD candidate at The Norwegian Air Ambulance Foundation. Her research will map the psychological consequences of being a first aid provider and how the Norwegian follow-up programme best can mitigate these consequences. Her PhD is in collaboration with The Regional Centre for Emergency Medical Research and Development (RAKOS), Stavanger University Hospital and Centre for Crisis Psychology at the University of Bergen. Øvstebø is also the project manager for the Norwegian first aid provider follow-up programme at RAKOS. The follow-up programme has won 2 innovation awards (2022 and 2024). Øvstebø has a master’s degree in human physiology as well as education in crisis psychology and grief counselling.
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.
Dr Åke Erling Andresen
Åke Erling Andresen, MD, PhD, is a Consultant Anesthesiologist working in the air ambulance and the aeromedical evacuation squadron in Norway. He is Head of Research in the prehosital division of Vestre Viken Hospital Trust, with a special research interest in first responders, prehospital airway management and transport medicine. Åke Erling has a broad prehospital career, starting in the local fire department, and later taking part in critical care air transport teams, with experiences from several international missions
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.
Eirik Mikal Samuelsen
Eirik Mikal Samuelsen, PhD
Researcher/Senior Meteorologist
Development Centre for Weather Forecast.