February 24, 2005
Cummins joins ‘Giants of CPR’
Richard Cummins with a “crash cart” used for in-hospital resuscitation.
The American Heart Association (AHA) and the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) have named Dr. Richard O. Cummins, professor in the Division of Emergency Medicine at the UW, as one of their five 2005 Honorees for Emergency Cardiovascular Care at the 2005 International Conference on Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiac Care in Dallas. The five were selected to honor their landmark contributions to CPR and emergency care; authorship of books, articles and education and teaching materials; and development of innovative technological and scientific breakthroughs. The awards are given every five years and the winners are commonly called “Giants of CRR.”
Cummins has been active in many aspects of resuscitation science, including evidence-based analysis of resuscitation research and international collaboration in developing common treatment recommendations. He served as co-editor of the International Guidelines 2000 for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care and helped found ILCOR. Cummins also was an early advocate of pre-hospital automated external defibrillator (AED) use by trained rescuers. He led development of the AHA’s advanced cardiac life-support teaching materials. He is an emergency medicine physician at UW Medical Center.
The other honorees are Dr. Peter J.F. Baskett, emeritus consultant at Bristol Royal Infirmary and Frenchay Hospital in the U.K.; Dr. Bill Keenan, Saint Louis University, St. Louis; Petter Andras Steen, University of Oslo, Sweden; and Dr. Myron L. Weisfeldt, former president of the AHA and physician in chief at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore.
Two UW faculty members are previous winners of the award: Dr. Leonard Cobb in 1992 and Dr. Mickey Eisenberg in 2000. Cobb is now professor emeritus of medicine and Eisenberg is professor of medicine.
