Dr. John L. Hick is a faculty emergency physician at Hennepin Healthcare and a Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School. He serves as the Deputy Medical Director for Hennepin County Emergency Medical Services and Medical Director for Emergency Preparedness at Hennepin Healthcare. He is also Assistant Medical Director for LifeLink III aeromedical services.
Dr. Hick has been a member of the American College of Emergency Physicians since medical school in 1991, becoming a Fellow of the College in 2002. He has been a member of the Disaster Preparedness and Response Committee since 2002 and served the Minnesota ACEP Chapter on the Board of Directors for five years and as both an Alternate Councillor and Councillor.
Dr. Hick served the Minnesota Department of Health as the Medical Director for the Office of Emergency Preparedness from 2002-2014, and as the Incident Manager for the COVID-19 Statewide Healthcare Coordination Center in 2020. Since 2013 he has served US Health and Human Services (HHS/ASPR) as an Advisor to the National Hospital Preparedness Program and as a creator and lead editor for the ASPR Technical Resources, Assistance Center, and Information Exchange (TRACIE) website since 2015.
Dr. Hick is an expert on hospital preparedness and formalized the concept of crisis standards of care. He has published over one hundred peer-reviewed articles dealing with hospital preparedness for contaminated casualties, disaster standards of care, and surge capacity. He has been a member of or co-chaired multiple National Academies of Medicine committees and workgroups addressing crisis standards of care and disaster response. In his multiple roles Dr. Hick has been fortunate to learn from many disaster events small and large, including technical rescues, the 35W bridge collapse, two pandemics, multiple national-level special events and responses, and raising two daughters and a stepson and daughter.
