AHEPP Certification Committee

Kevin Arthur brings over four decades of healthcare experience to his role in Healthcare Emergency Management.  For the past 24 years, Kevin has led the design and development of emergency management programs, including disaster response planning, asset coordination, staff training, and command cadre education.

Kevin began his career in Pennsylvania as a hospital-based paramedic, serving 19 years in the Emergency Department of a 685-bed Level I Trauma Center in Pennsylvania. There, he directed all emergency and disaster operations and led a 40-person deployable Disaster Response Team (DRT) capable of medical surge and decontamination operations. He also served as program manager and team leader for a Tactical Response Unit, providing operator-level medical support for high-risk law enforcement missions at the local, state, and federal levels.

His incident response experience spans mass casualty and hazardous materials incidents, to tactical law enforcement operations. As a firefighter, EMS Captain, and paramedic, Kevin operated as both primary caregiver and EMS commander. He has served as a tactical medic and medical top-com during numerous high-risk deployments and was adjunct faculty with the Department of Defense’s Counter Narcotics Terrorism Operations Medical Support program at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.

His experience also includes service as a subject matter expert with Battelle Memorial Institute for healthcare response to chemical weapon exposures in the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program (CSEPP). This supported the U.S. Army’s Chemical Weapons Stockpile cities through education and training design and delivery of response methodologies, and field assessment of healthcare operations.

In Utah, Kevin was the founding chair of the Salt Lake, Summit, and Tooele Healthcare Coalition and served as Chair of the Utah Disaster Advisory Council. He sat on the executive boards of both organizations and has contributed to the development of key statewide initiatives including the Utah State Burn Plan, Burn Surge Annex, and Crisis Standards of Care Plan.  

In Idaho, Kevin serves as the Regional Readiness & Response Coordinator for the Greater Idaho Healthcare Coalition (GIHCC), which encompasses the twenty-four eastern counties of the state of Idaho. This is inclusive of establishing interoperability over the GIHCC’s 42,000 square mile footprint.

Regionally, Kevin supports pediatric disaster planning through the Pediatric Pandemic Network, where his work includes pediatric disaster regionalization, deployable asset development, and subject matter expertise in chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear response and medical countermeasures. He is also active in the Western Regional Alliance for Pediatric Emergency Management.

Nationally, Kevin advances professional standards and education for healthcare emergency managers through his involvement with the Association for Healthcare Emergency Preparedness Professionals (AHEPP), serving on the education committee, national conference committee, and advisory board.

Dr. Bulson currently serves as Corewell Health’s Sr. Director, Business Assurance and System Incident Commander.  Dr. Bulson has been instrumental in the strategic development of a comprehensive system level healthcare business continuity, emergency preparedness, and response program. She partners with key leaders to implement tactics minimizing operational impact to the organization, maintaining business functions for both Care Delivery and Coverage. She is responsible for program design, development, implementation, operational readiness and resilience, and situation management for Corewell Health – a large integrated health system in Michigan. She represents healthcare emergency preparedness on many federal, state, and regional healthcare preparedness planning committees. Dr. Bulson has also been a guest lecturer for healthcare emergency preparedness for multiple local nursing programs as well as several healthcare emergency preparedness conferences and has co-authored several articles related to healthcare emergency preparedness and response. Her research interests continue to be related to impact and outcomes of emergency preparedness education on healthcare workers and organizational resiliency.

Kevin oversees the development and implementation of the Health System’s emergency management responsibilities at its hospitals and ambulatory care sites across the Bay Area.

Prior to his current position, Kevin served as a Site Director of Emergency Management for the Mount Sinai Health System. In this role, he led emergency management activities at several different hospitals and ambulatory care locations throughout the greater New York City area.

Prior to more directly joining the field of emergency management, Kevin worked as a hospital administrator across multiple different service lines. His previous roles included serving as the Administrative Manager of the Division of General and Bariatric Surgery in the Department of Surgery at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Program Manager for HIV Counseling and Testing at Bellevue Hospital Center. During his time at Bellevue Hospital Center, he was actively involved with Emergency Management, including during massive activations for Superstorm Sandy (2012) and the treatment of a patient with Ebola Virus Disease (2014).

Kevin earned his Master of Science in Healthcare Emergency Management from Boston University and his Master of Public Health from Tulane University in Community Health Systems Management.

Scott Draper has more than 30 years of healthcare experience and is the Emergency Preparedness Program Director for UnityPoint Health.  UnityPoint Health consists of 17 Regional Hospitals in Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois, 375+ clinics, 12 Home Care areas of service, 5 affiliate Community Mental Health Centers, and 3 Accredited UnityPoint Health Colleges.  UnityPoint Health employs over 29,000 team members including nearly 1000 providers.  In this role, Scott provides System Emergency Management support to the Market Emergency Management teams including process standardization, regulatory compliance, drill/exercise development, and UnityPoint Health System Incident Command coordination when necessary in alignment with Market Hospital Incident Command structures.

Prior to this role, Scott served for 16 years as the Risk Manager and Safety Officer for UnityPoint Health – Des Moines, overseeing physical environmental safety, emergency management, hazardous materials/waste, and risk management operations and worked for 11 years as a Biomedical-Rehabilitation Engineering, providing assistive technology services to Rehabilitation patients throughout the UnityPoint Health Des Moines hospitals.

Scott has a Master of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering, a Bachelor of Science degree in Construction Engineering (both from Iowa State University) and is certified as a Certified Healthcare Emergency Professional (CHEP), Certified Healthcare Emergency Coordinator (CHEC), Certified Healthcare Operations Professional (CHOP-B), and Certified Healthcare Provider Continuity Professional (CHPCP) through DRI International.

Scott especially enjoys the collaborative aspects of Emergency Management and mentoring others who are newer to the field.  In his spare time he enjoys playing music (bass, guitar, keyboards), reading, exercising, and traveling.

Darcy Golliher has more than 20 years’ experience in healthcare safety and emergency management.  She currently works for CommonSpirit Health, Kansas facilities and is responsible for the emergency management program including developing policies and procedures, exercise development and facilitation, and associate training.  Some of Darcy’s greatest pleasures have been starting a new emergency management program where none has previously existed.

Darcy holds her bachelor’s in Agriculture Business Administration and her Master’s in Agriculture Economics from New Mexico State University.  She is a Kansas Certified Emergency Manager (KCEM) as well as AHEPP’s Healthcare Emergency Management Mastery level (HcEM-M) and a FEMA Master Exercise Practitioner (MEP).  Darcy also served as the Public Information Officer for the Incident Management Team of Kansas for 13 years.  As in the Co-Chair for the CommonSpirit Health Mountain Region Emergency Preparedness and Safety Committee. 

Jory Guttsman is the Director of Emergency Management at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue, an 844-bed Level 1 Trauma Center in New York City. He is responsible for leading the hospital’s emergency management program. Jory previously served in a similar capacity at NYC Health + Hospitals/Harlem. Jory oversees all aspects of emergency management at the nation’s oldest public hospital, and has extensive experience in planning, exercises, and response in a large-scale, urban healthcare facility. Jory serves as the chair of the hospital’s Emergency Management Committee and has led numerous preparedness initiatives for staff and patients at his hospital. In his role, Jory frequently works with numerous local, state, and federal partners to plan for all-hazards. In addition, Jory is the EMS Operational lead for Bellevue in its role as the Regional Emerging Special Pathogen Treatment Center and leads their quarterly exercises. Jory is also an active volunteer EMT in Brooklyn, New York, where he is the Finance Chair of the Board of Directors, and former President and VP of Operations.

Jory has a Master’s in Public Education from Baruch College’s Executive MPA program, and holds numerous certifications, including Healthcare Emergency Manager – Professional (AHEPP), Certified Emergency Manager (IAEM), Certified Healthcare Emergency Professional (IBFCSM), and New York State EMT-B.

Anna Hansen has been the Program Coordinator for AHEPP since 2017. She plans the AHEPP Annual Conference, and manages both the AHEPP Education Committee and the AHEPP Committee for Best Practices Review. Ms. Hansen also participates in the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Partners in Preparedness (PIP) Mentorship Program. PIP helps Critical Access Hospitals and Long Term Carefacilities in Nebraska navigate the COVID-19 Pandemic. Her professional interests include bridging the gap between patient safety and disaster preparedness, as well as the psychological consequences of responding to disasters.

Keith Hansen co-founded the Association of Healthcare Emergency Preparedness Professionals in 2014 and currently co-directs this international organization dedicated to the needs of healthcare emergency managers. AHEPP is dedicated to “Moving Preparedness Forward” through the development of professional standards, certifications, education, and training for healthcare emergency managers.  He is an instructor in the Emergency Preparedness Program and directs the Center for Preparedness & Emergency Response Solutions (CPERS) at the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s College of Public Health. In these roles he has conducted strategic and tactical planning, education, training, and disaster drills/exercises for Fortune 500 companies, higher education, government, local and state public health departments, hospitals, emergency management agencies, and first responders. Keith also serves as an Incident Commander for the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Keith is also a member of the Association of Threat Assessment Professionals.  He is the former Training Officer for the Great Plains Chapter.  He was recently funded by the Department of Homeland Security’s Center for Prevention & Preparedness Partners. The project will create Behavioral Threat Assessment Management training that is specific to the needs in idiosyncrasies of healthcare organizations in the United States.   

Steve Ikuta has more than 40 years of experience in the medical field. He derives great satisfaction from helping hospitals and communities prepare for an uncertain future. He currently coordinates and manages one of Intermountain Healthcare’s emergency management programs. His scope of services includes Cedar City Hospital, Delta Community Hospital, Fillmore Community Hospital, Garfield Memorial Hospital, San Pete Valley Hospital, Sevier Valley Hospital and St. George Regional Hospital and Nevada Medical Group.

Steve graduated from Utah Valley University, magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in Emergency Management Administration Services. He received his AHEPP HcEM-M certification in 2024. He is a Utah Certified Emergency Manager (UCEM) and a FEMA Master Exercise Practitioner (MEP). Steve was a past member of UHERT (Utah Health Emergency Response Team). He was the former chairperson for Southern Utah American Red Cross Advisory Committee and an American Red Cross Board member for Central and Southern Utah. Steve is a past chair for Utah Disaster Advisory Executive Committee. He is a member of the Western Region Burn Disaster Consortium. 

Steve served in his community as a volunteer firefighter for 17 years with Santa Clara/Ivins Fire Rescue. He was their Public Information Officer and Safety Officer. He also served on Utah’s southwest regional hazmat response team. Steve is the recipient of the 2014 American Red Cross Heroes Award for emergency preparedness and a nominee for Homeland Security’s 2014 Rick Rescorla Award for Resiliency.

Originally, from San Diego, Steve has lived in southwest Utah since 1997.

Steve Ikuta has more than 40 years of experience in the medical field. He derives great satisfaction from helping hospitals and communities prepare for an uncertain future. He currently coordinates and manages one of Intermountain Healthcare’s emergency management programs. His scope of services includes Cedar City Hospital, Delta Community Hospital, Fillmore Community Hospital, Garfield Memorial Hospital, San Pete Valley Hospital, Sevier Valley Hospital and St. George Regional Hospital and Nevada Medical Group.

Steve graduated from Utah Valley University, magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in Emergency Management Administration Services. He received his AHEPP HcEM-M certification in 2024. He is a Utah Certified Emergency Manager (UCEM) and a FEMA Master Exercise Practitioner (MEP). Steve was a past member of UHERT (Utah Health Emergency Response Team). He was the former chairperson for Southern Utah American Red Cross Advisory Committee and an American Red Cross Board member for Central and Southern Utah. Steve is a past chair for Utah Disaster Advisory Executive Committee. He is a member of the Western Region Burn Disaster Consortium. 

Steve served in his community as a volunteer firefighter for 17 years with Santa Clara/Ivins Fire Rescue. He was their Public Information Officer and Safety Officer. He also served on Utah’s southwest regional hazmat response team. Steve is the recipient of the 2014 American Red Cross Heroes Award for emergency preparedness and a nominee for Homeland Security’s 2014 Rick Rescorla Award for Resiliency.

Originally, from San Diego, Steve has lived in southwest Utah since 1997.

Rachel Manson is the Manager of Emergency Preparedness at Unity Health Toronto, a large Catholic healthcare network in Canada, including: St. Michael’s Hospital, a teaching and research hospital and adult trauma centre; St. Joseph’s Health Centre, a community teaching hospital; and Providence Healthcare, a rehabilitation hospital and long term care home. She is responsible for all emergency management program development, including: policy and procedure writing, response training for staff and leadership, and emergency operations centre support.

Her interests include advancing emergency management in Canada, preparedness for specialized programs (e.g. pediatrics, dialysis), and the professionalization of emergency management in healthcare. Rachel holds a Master's Degree in Emergency and Disaster Management from York University, and a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and History from Queen's University.

Jacquelyn Marchand was born and raised in New Orleans. She earned her BA and MA in Geography focusing on natural hazards and her PhD in Urban Studies focusing on disaster planning and emergency management for the elderly all from the University of New Orleans. Jacquelyn has a decade of experience in long-term care. She manages day-to-day business operations and continuity as well as facility and population security and resiliency for all disasters and emergencies. Real-life experiences with Tropical Storm Isaac, COVID-19, and Hurricane Ida have highlighted for Jacquelyn the shortcomings in support for long-term care facilities as well as the need for improved planning and response in long-term care facilities. These experiences have helped her to take a more proactive and adaptive approach to disaster preparedness and emergency management, reaching out directly to the elderly population to discover the best way to keep them safe and feeling secure.

David Marsee is an accomplished emergency management professional with over 30 years of experience in public safety, emergency response, and disaster preparedness. He currently serves as the Healthcare Preparedness Coordinator for the Duke Healthcare Preparedness Coalition, where he leads regional planning, training, and response coordination efforts across multiple healthcare organizations. In this role, he also oversees one of North Carolina’s State Medical Assistance Teams (SMAT), providing critical clinical and logistical support during major incidents and emergencies.

David retired from Durham County Emergency Services after 31 years of distinguished service, culminating in his role as Senior Emergency Management Coordinator. Throughout his career, he held several key positions including Paramedic, EMS Education Specialist, Fire Captain, Assistant Fire Marshal, and Emergency Management Instructor. His broad operational background and instructional expertise have made him a sought-after leader in both emergency response and preparedness education.

David holds a Bachelor of Science in Fire Science and Emergency Management from Kaplan University and a Master of Health Administration from Queens University of Charlotte. He is a Certified Emergency Manager (CEM) through the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM), a Master Exercise Practitioner (MEP), a Healthcare Emergency Manager – Professional through Association of Healthcare Preparedness Professionals (AHEPP), and holds additional certifications in Continuity of Operations and Infrastructure Protection.

Kristine (Kristi) is the co-founder and Executive Director of the Association of Healthcare Emergency Preparedness Professionals (AHEPP). An international organization dedicated to the professional development and support of healthcare emergency managers. She is responsible for the day-to-day management of the Association, including partner engagement with organizations such as ASPR, CMS, Joint Commission, and others. She oversees member and vendor relations, marketing and

web design, and the coordination of all AHEPP programming. Kristi was instrumental in the development of the first ever Professional Standards for healthcare emergency managers, and the development of the Healthcare Emergency Management

Certification (HcEM).

Kristi has spent the majority of her career helping healthcare workers prepare for disasters and has extensive clinical experience in clinical laboratory science, embryology, infection prevention, patient safety, employee safety, and disaster preparedness.

She provides expertise in facilitation, training & exercise plan development, disaster preparedness continuing education, conference coordination, and coalition building for healthcare and public health emergency managers. Her passion is collaboration, and she has weaved this concept into all aspects of the Association.

Kristi is trained in Healthcare Business Continuity through DRI International and

certified as a Certified Healthcare Provider Continuity Professional (CHPCP).

Greg Santa Maria, DHSc, MA, NR-P, is the Executive Director of the South Dakota Health Care Coalition (SDHCC). In his role, he has oversight of the coalition ASPR HPP grant and works with four coalition chapters to enhance healthcare preparedness and response, protecting the residents of South Dakota. He has transitioned the SDHCC into one of the first healthcare coalitions with an Area Command, providing operational support to facilities during disasters. A visionary, Dr. Santa Maria speaks frequently at national conferences on innovative concepts in healthcare disaster management. 

In his previous role as Director of Public Safety at Sanford Health in Sioux Falls, he manage enterprise safety, security, and emergency management functions for 44 hospitals and more than 200 senior care locations in 26 states and nine countries. In that role, he coordinated responses to Ebola, H1N1, and multiple mass gathering events. In 2019, in response to hurricane Dorian, he led an incident management initiative in Kissimmee, Florida, that resulted in the safe evacuation of 240 skilled nursing and assisted living residents from several facilities and then transitioned his organization to support a massive response to Coronavirus. Using his expertise in academic disaster research, he implemented an evidence-based emergency management program, creating an ESF-based corporate response plan that functioned successfully during several actual incidents and is now organizational practice.  

From 1996 to 2004, Dr. Santa Maria previously served as the program director for the Saint Vincents Hospital Paramedic Program in lower Manhattan, where he led the Saint Vincent’s Hospital Disaster and Terrorism Preparedness initiative. In 2002, he received a distinguished service award for his participation in the response to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. He is a former paramedic representative to the NYC Regional Emergency Medical Advisory Committee, and he currently serves as a non-physician subject matter expert for the American Academy of Disaster Medicine.  

In his academic research, Dr. Santa Maria studied numerous large-scale international mass casualty incidents. Finding similar decision-making errors in each event, Dr. Santa Maria went on to create an awareness program for first responders in decision-making positions. This program assists responders in better understanding the dissociative effects of stress and the impact of amygdala hijack on decision-making in stressful situations. Dr. Santa Maria also studied the socioeconomic impacts of disasters and is working on a project enhancing disaster resilience among underserved and vulnerable populations.  

Dr. Santa Maria holds a master’s degree in emergency and disaster management and a doctorate in health science focused on global health and politics. He also proudly remains a Nationally Registered- Paramedic, an honor he has been proud of for 32 years. In his spare time, he plays guitar and writes songs for his German Shepherd Dog Brutus.

Molly Schoblocher is a seasoned emergency manager, with over 23 years of experience in local, state, Federal and private sector industries. She is a graduate of Jacksonville State University with a Bachelor's Degree in Emergency Management and Public Safety Communications and received her Master's in Business Administration from Southern New Hampshire University in March of 2024.

Beginning her career as a 911 dispatcher, Ms. Schoblocher's portfolio also includes responses to the 2007 I-35 bridge collapse, the 2008 Midwest floods and the 2009 H1N1 planning while working for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as the mission assignment manager. She is the lead instructor for Northwestern Medicine's Incident Command Team, as well as an instructor for both Hazardous Materials Decontamination for First Receivers and hospital evacuation using the Med Sled evacuation devices. 

For the response to the Highland Park 4th of July Active Shooter, Ms. Schoblocher was Lake Forest Hospital's Planning Section Chief.

Deb Teske, HcEM-M, CEM is a Principal Emergency Management Coordinator for Mayo Clinic, Rochester MN and has worked for Mayo Clinic Emergency Management since 2010.  She has over twenty-three years of prior management and leadership experience as a Naval Officer and County Emergency Management Director. Ms. Teske has personally responded to and managed disasters ranging from small house fires to earthquakes and hurricanes gaining valuable incident management experience.  Deb has conducted numerous courses including teaching for the University of Alaska, City Colleges of Chicago, and University of Phoenix and NIMS classes for FEMA.  Deb’s additional qualification include Certified Health Care Continuity Professional (CHPCP), certified FEMA trainer and Master Exercise Practitioner.

Dr. Patrina (Trina) White began her career in healthcare as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) and Physical Therapist, and soon discovered she also enjoyed healthcare management. Trina’s diverse background includes leadership of physician groups and clinics, service lines, hospitals, ancillary services, ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), home health and various inpatient and outpatient services, as well as planning, opening and operating a new hospital. Trina has over 23 years of broad healthcare leadership experience and over 30 years in healthcare.

Trina loves teaching and has served as an adjunct professor at the University of South Dakota, Methodist College and the University of Nebraska at Omaha. In June 2023, she made the career change of her dreams and joined the faculty at the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Public Health as a full-time assistant professor.

Prior to joining UNMC, Trina worked for Sutter Health as the CEO for Sutter Surgery Center Division, Sutter Care at Home and Walk-In Care 2021-2023, the CEO for Sutter Valley Medical Foundation for the central region 2019-2021, the Chief Administrative Officer of Sutter Maternity & Surgery Center in Santa Cruz 2017-2019, and the Vice President of Operations for the Sutter Bay Medical Foundation -East Bay Region 2016-2017.

Before joining Sutter, Trina served as Chief Administrative Officer of the Orthopedic Service Line at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, CA. Earlier in her career, Trina worked in Omaha, NE including serving as Chief Executive Officer for Nebraska Orthopaedic Associates (now Ortho Nebraska) and in different Director roles for Methodist Health System.

Trina earned her DrPH from UNMC, has a clinical Master’s degree in Physical Therapy from the University of South Dakota and an MBA from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. She is board certified with the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE) and also with the American College of Medical Practice Executives/Medical Group Management Association (FACMPE). 

Throughout her career as a healthcare leader, Trina has strived for strong team engagement and a culture of safety and continuous improvement. Trina enjoys mentoring through various programs, including the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE).

TBD