Alumni Spotlight

Published on Thursday, November 18, 2021

After finishing residency, Gerad moved back to his home state of Texas, working in Lubbock at University Medical Center, affiliated with Texas Tech University.  Soon thereafter, he fell in love with prehospital medicine, became the EMS medical director for Lubbock, and was able to grandfather into EMS board certification. He slowly expanded his medical director role to Amarillo and now works with EMS operations all over west Texas and parts of Oklahoma. In addition to his EMS medical director duties, Gerad works with Global Medical Response on special projects focusing on innovative practices in prehospital medicine.  

Gerad also became interested in organized medicine and political advocacy after graduation. He says, “I learned quickly that our specialty has been under constant attack by various entities.”  He is a past president of the Texas College of Emergency Physicians, currently sits on the Council on Legislation for the Texas Medical Association, and stays active with ACEP as a councillor and in roles on various committees. He also serves on the Texas Governor’s EMS & Trauma Advisory Council as the governor’s emergency medicine appointee.

While undertaking those endeavors, Gerad also obtained an MBA, started three freestanding emergency centers, and subsequently sold them to venture capitalists after successfully operating them for three years as CEO.  Currently, he works clinically with the new emergency medicine residency program at Texas Tech University. 

When asked for his thoughts on the future of emergency medicine, Gerad says, “I think EMS is well poised to improve the iron triangle of healthcare (cost, quality, and access) and emergency medicine should expand its role beyond the walls of the emergency department.  EMS can facilitate acute unscheduled care in the home (the ET3 model), and even long-term care in the home (the virtual hospital) with board certified emergency physicians at the helm via telehealth.  Some of my exposure in residency to tele-emergency laid this foundation for me. In the future, I hope to continue making progress as an advocate for Emergency Medicine and finding innovative ways to take even better care of patients.”

Gerad is married to Ashley, and they have three boys: Cash, Colt, and Clay.  They love to travel every chance they get and experience new places and things.