Texas EMS, Trauma & Acute Care Foundation

Meet the TETAF Board of Directors

Craig Rhyne

Craig Rhyne, MD

Dr. Craig Rhyne has practiced medicine in Lubbock since 1991, and has served in numerous leadership roles throughout the years, most recently as the trauma medical director at Covenant Health System.

Dr. Rhyne has chaired the Trauma Peer Review Committee and the Trauma Section Committee at Covenant.  He has also served as chair for the Covenant Transfer Committee since 2006. He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and is a recipient of the 1990 Clinical Teaching Award for outstanding clinical instruction at Texas Tech University Health Science Center. Dr. Rhyne is also a recipient of the 2002 Timothy Fleming EMS Medical Director Award for the state of New Mexico.

Biography

Craig Rhyne, M.D.
Chair

Lubbock
Regional Chief Medical Officer at Covenant Health System
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Dudley Wait, EMT-P

Dudley Wait has been in the EMS industry for more than 35 years. He is the MEDCOM director for the Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council (STRAC) and a part-time paramedic for the City of Schertz. Prior to joining STRAC, Wait worked for the City of Schertz for 18 years first as the EMS director and then as executive director of operations.

Wait serves on the Governor's EMS and Trauma Advisory Council (GETAC) and was the first elected president of the Texas EMS Alliance. 

Biography

Dudley Wait,
EMT-P
Vice Chair

Schertz
MEDCOM Division Director at the Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council (STRAC)
Ricky Reeves

Ricky Reeves, EMT-P

Ricky Reeves has been involved in many areas of emergency services since 1979 after receiving his paramedic certification.
 
Reeves is the executive director of Texas EMS and was previously the EMS division chief for the Lewisville Fire Department. He also worked for Titus Regional Medical Center as the EMS director and for the Mount Pleasant Fire Department.
 
He is an active member of the North Central Texas Trauma Advisory Council (NCTTRAC). Reeves is actively involved with the legislative process in Austin trying to protect current and future funding for Regional Advisory Councils (RACs) and the trauma and EMS system. Reeves is an active member on the Texas EMS Alliance (TEMSA) Board of Directors as one of the founding members. He is also a Task Force Leader for the Emergency Medical Task Force where he deployed in support of Hurricane Harvey and he has been involved as an active member on the GETAC Disaster / Emergency Preparedness Committee.
 
In 2016, Reeves was awarded the EMS Administrator of the year from the Texas Department of State Health Services. This award honors an administrator, researcher or manager at the local, city, county, regional or state level who has made a positive contribution to EMS and is committed to building a strong team able to respond effectively.
Biography

Ricky Reeves,
EMT-P
Secretary

Lewisville
Executive Director at
Texas EMS
Kathy Perkins

Kathy Perkins, RN, MBA

Kathy Perkins spent nearly 30 years in state government, working with stakeholders to develop and implement the first rules, policies, procedures and documents for implementation of the state’s EMS/Trauma system.

 

 

Biography

Kathy Perkins, RN, MBA
Treasurer

Round Rock
(Retired) Assistant Commissioner for Regulatory Services at Texas Department of State Health Services
Eric Epley

Eric Epley, CEM

Eric Epley is the executive director of the Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council for Trauma (STRAC) in San Antonio. STRAC serves 22 counties that stretch over 26,000 square miles, whose membership includes 55 hospitals, 75 EMS agencies, and 14 helicopter bases.

He is a Certified Emergency Manager (CEM) with more than three decades in public safety response and administration, a nationally registered paramedic for more than 30 years, and a licensed police officer for 13 years. He served as a tactical paramedic during the Branch Davidian standoff, the Republic of Texas standoff, and other high-profile Texas incidents.

Biography

Eric Epley, CEM
General Assembly Chair

San Antonio
Executive Director at Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council (STRAC)
Jeff Beeson

Jeff Beeson, DO

Jeff Beeson is the executive medical director and assistant professor of medical education and the chief medical officer at UNT Health Sciences Center.

Dr. Beeson has served as the medical director of the Texas Task Force, Urban Search & Rescue. He is also a past-chair of the Governor's EMS and Trauma Advisory Council (GETAC) EMS Medical Director committee. 

Biography

Jeff Beeson, D.O.

Fort Worth
Executive Medical Director and Assistant Professor - Medical Education, Chief Medical Officer at UNT Health Sciences Center
Scott Christopher

Scott Christopher, BBA, BSN, RN, LP

Before joining PHI Medical Group as a RN and paramedic, Scott Christopher spent 25 years in Nacogdoches hospitals serving in various capacities as emergency department director, trauma program director, stroke program director, chest pain center director and EMS director. 

Christopher has also served as a trauma surveyor for TETAF prior to his role on the TETAF Board of Directors. He was also president for the Texas Trauma Coordinator's Forum. Christopher has served as the Deep East Texas Regional Advisory Council (DETRAC) chair for nearly 20 years. He has served as the president of the Texas Trauma Coordinator's Forum and has been a Trauma Systems subcommittee member for the Governor's EMS and Trauma Advisory Council (GETAC). 

Biography

Scott Christopher, BBA, BSN, RN, LP

San Augustine
RN and Paramedic
at PHI Medical Group
Nilda Garcia

Nilda Garcia, MD

Dr. Nilda Garcia worked in Los Angeles and Dallas prior to joining the team at Dell Children's Medical Center in Austin. She was the trauma director before becoming the surgeon-in-chief. 

Dr. Garcia successfully established a consortium of six Level I Trauma children's hospitals that share important research and data, that has not only been published in major medical publications but established into guidelines for trauma care for children. 

She is a course instructor for Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) and Advanced Trauma Operative Management (ATOM).

She serves as a TETAF Trauma and NICU surveyor.

Biography

Nilda Garcia, M.D.

Austin
Surgeon-in-Chief at Dell Children's Medical Center
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Angela Gentry, MSN, RN, TCRN

Angela Gentry has spent her career working in trauma and emergency care. She started as an emergency department nurse at Baylor Scott & White Temple and later became manager of that emergency department. 

Gentry was later named the trauma program manager. She is now the director of trauma and forensics. 

She has firsthand experience with mass casualty events in different roles, including both Ft. Hood Shootings and the Coryell Hospital Explosion.

Gentry has served as the Health Care Coalition (HCC) Chair and the Chair of the EMTF Region 7 Governance Committee. She has deployed with several initiatives, most recently to Hurricane Harvey as a group supervisor with medical evacuations and task force leader with hospital evacuation and air operations at Beaumont Baptist Medical Center. She has also served on the Governor's EMS and Trauma Advisory Council (GETAC) Disaster and Emergency Preparedness Committee. Gentry was also appointed to the National Emergency Nurses Association Emergency Management and Preparedness Committee and served as the 2018 chairperson.

Biography

Angela Gentry, RN, MSN, TCRN

Temple
Director of Trauma and Forensics at Baylor Scott & White Temple
Wanda Helgesen

Wanda Helgesen, RN, MSN

Wanda Helgesen is the executive director for the Border Regional Advisory Council (Border RAC). She also helped with the development of this RAC. 

 

Biography

Wanda Helgesen, RN, MSN

El Paso
Executive Director at Border Regional Advisory Council (Border RAC)
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Lisa Hutchins, RN-NIC

Lisa Hutchins brings a wide range of maternal and neonatal levels of care experience to the TETAF Board of Directors. She is a TETAF neonatal and maternal care surveyor and serves on the Southeast Texas Regional Advisory Council (SETRAC).

Biography

Lisa Hutchins,
RN-NIC

Houston
Assistant Chief
Nursing Officer at
The Women's
Hospital of Texas
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Kenneth Mattox, MD

As a trauma care surgeon, Dr. Kenneth Mattox has performed more than 70,000 operations. Along with his role as the chief of staff and surgeon-in-chief at Ben Taub Hospital, Dr. Mattox is also a distinguished service professor for the Baylor College of Medicine. 

Dr. Mattox has published more than 700 articles that focus on trauma care, emergency care, and cardiac care. His research and work has resulted in standards for shock, intubation, hemorrhage, and other methods.

Dr. Mattox had the privilege of assisting in the formation of the Society of Trauma Nurses. He is also the director of the Las Vegas Trauma/Disaster courses and served on the Southeast Texas Regional Advisory Council (SETRAC) for more than 15 years. 

Dr. Mattox is a veteran of the U.S. Army.

Biography

Kenneth Mattox, M.D., FACS

Houston
Chief of Staff and Surgeon-in-Chief at
Ben Taub Hospital
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Edward Racht, MD

Dr. Ed Racht has been involved in emergency medical services and healthcare systems for more than 30 years. 

Dr. Racht has been chief medical officer for American Medical Response (AMR) since 2010. Prior to this role, he served as chief medical officer and vice president of medical affairs for Piedmont Newnan Hospital in Atlanta. Dr. Racht was the first full-time medical director for the Austin/Travis County Emergency Medical Services system, where he spent 13 years. The system was nationally recognized in the Institute of Medicine’s Report on the state of emergency care for its collaborative approach to challenging healthcare integration issues. 

Dr. Racht is the recipient of numerous awards including being named EMS Medical Director of the Year for the State of Texas, the American Heart Association’s Paul Ledbetter MD Physician Volunteer of the Year Award and was named a “Hero of Emergency Medicine” in 2008 by the American College of Emergency Physicians. In 2015, he was the first recipient of the Joseph P. Ornato Excellence in Clinical Leadership Award, and in 2011 received the Slovis Award for Educational Excellence by the U.S. Metropolitan Municipalities Medical Director Consortium. He is also the third Inductee in the Texas EMS, Trauma and Acute Care Foundation Hall of Fame.

Biography

Edward Racht, M.D.

Austin
Chief Medical Officer at Global Medical Response
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Kate Schaefer, RN, CEN, NREMT

Kate Schaefer began her career as an EMT/flight nurse. She is now the trauma program manager and emergency department director at Childress Regional Medical Center.

Schaefer is the chair for Regional Advisory Council (RAC) A and in 2016, she was a Texas Nurses Association Great Nurse honoree.

Biography

Kate Schaefer, RN, CEN, NREMT

Childress
Trauma Program Manager and Emergency Department Director at Childress Regional Medical Center
Danny Updike

Danny Updike, RN, CCRN, EMT-LP

Danny Updike is the executive director of the Concho Valley Regional Advisory Council (CVRAC).

He is a former flight nurse with Shannon AirMed and former RN, CCRN at Shannon Medical Center ICU. He worked as an EMT-LP for Richmond, Kentucky Ambulance Service.

Updike is a former instructor for both TNCC and ENPC and served previously on the Governor's EMS and Trauma Advisory Council Air Medical Committee. 

Biography

Danny Updike, RN, CCRN, EMT-LP

San Angelo
Executive Director at the Concho Valley Regional Advisory Council (CVRAC)
Peyton Ware

Peyton Ware, BBA

Peyton Ware is the manager of the Deep East Texas Regional Advisory Council (DETRAC).

Before joining DETRAC, Ware was vice president of operations for Rockwall Capital, LLC. He also served as vice president for Data Encore Services, Inc., Vitec Electronics, and Hunt Electronics. 

Ware was elected to the electronic ballot manufacturing standards committee of National Electrical Manufacturers Association (DC).

He is a U.S. Air Force veteran.

Biography

Peyton Ware, BBA

Lufkin
Manager at Deep East Texas Regional Advisory Council (DETRAC)
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David Weisoly, MD

Dr. David Weisoly is a nationally known educator in neonatal medicine. He is the neonatal ICU medical director at Memorial Hermann The Woodlands and is the medical director of a large neonatal and maternal-fetal multispecialty practice. 

Dr. Weisoly is the founder and director of the Houston Area QI Collaborative and serves as the perinatal chair for the Southeast Texas Regional Advisory Council (SETRAC).

Biography

David Weisoly, D.O.

The Woodlands
Neonatal ICU Medical Director at Memorial Hermann The Woodlands