Our History

Tampa General Hospital

The History of USF Emergency Medicine

In 1996 The University of South Florida College of Medicine (USF) and Tampa General Hospital (TGH) appointed a joint committee that created the Emergency Medicine Care Center (EMCC). After a national search, Dr. David Orban was recruited from the University of Florida as the Medical Director and Chief of the new EMCC. TGH was transitioning from a public county hospital to a private, not-for-profit healthcare system while USF was developing into one of the foremost academic referral centers in the state of Florida. Concomitant with the improvements in the health center, the EMCC was also growing at a rapid pace, and replacement of all moonlighters with academic EM faculty members happened quickly.

In 2000, a full academic Division of Emergency Medicine was established at USF. Dr. Kelly O’Keefe was the first Residency Program Director, and working together, the new division successfully submitted an application to start a new EM residency program at USF which was inaugurated on July 1, 2003. The original Core Faculty included David J. Orban (Chief), Kelly P. O’Keefe, (first Residency Director), Michael Omori, David H. Hackstadt, Catherine Carrubba, and Richard Paula.

The USF Emergency Medicine Residency accepted its first class in 2003. The residency program was established as a PGY 1-3 program with 6 residents per year, and over the next 4 years expanded to 10 residents per year. Over a nearly 20-year program history, our EM Program Directors include: Kelly O’Keefe and Charlotte Derr. Our Associate Program Directors include Charlotte Derr, Rachel Semmons, and Enola Okonkwo. Click here to view the Emergency Medicine team.

Important Milestones

  • 1985: Designation of TGH as a Level 1 Trauma Center
  • 1985: Designation of TGH as a State Burn Center
  • 1987: Designation of TGH as a State Poison Control Center
  • 1988: Aeromed Helicopter LifeFlight program based at TGH is inaugurated
  • 1996: USF and TGH establish the Emergency Medical Care Center
  • 2000: USF Establishes a full academic Division of Emergency Medicine
  • 2002: USF Application for a new residency program approved by the RRC-EM
  • 2002: State Designation as a Level 1 Pediatric Trauma Center
  • 2003: USF Emergency Medicine Residency begins
  • 2005: Founding of the Emergency Medicine Administrative Fellowship by Dr. Orban
  • 2006: Founding of the Division of Emergency Ultasound by Dr. Charlotte Derr
  • 2007: USF EM Residency expands to 10 residents per year 2012
  • 2007: Founding of the USF EMS Fellowship by Dr. Catherine Carrubba
  • 2007: Move to the new TGH Emergency Center located in the West Pavilion
  • 2008: Designation as a STEMI Receiving Center
  • 2010: Designation as a Primary Stroke Center
  • 2010: Founding of the Ultrasound Fellowship by Dr. Charlotte Derr
  • 2012: Founding of the USF EMS Fellowship by Dr. Catherine Carrubba
  • 2013: Founding of the USF EM Division of Research by Dr. Jason Wilson
  • 2015: Dr. Jason Wilson named Director of TGH Office of Clinical Research
  • 2015: Founding of the USF EM Division of EMS by Dr. Rachel Semmons
  • 2015: Founding of the USF Critical Care Medicine Fellowship
  • 2016: Opening of the TGH Brandon Healthplex – Freestanding ED
  • 2017: Dr. Charlotte Derr named EM Residency Program Director
  • 2019: Founding of the USF EM Division of Toxicology by Dr. Justin Arnold
  • 2020: Founding of the USF EM Simulation Fellowship by Dr. Ryan McKenna

Dr. Orban continues as the academic head of USF Emergency Medicine but divested the TGH ED operations to Dr. David Wein who continues as Facility Medical Director and hospital chief at TGH. USF EM now includes over 50 emergency medicine faculty at two sites: Tampa General Hospital main ED on Davis Island in downtown Tampa and TGH Brandon Healthplex in Brandon, FL. USF EM is an ACGME-approved emergency medicine residency training program with a total of 30 emergency medicine residents and five fellowships. The program has trained almost 160 emergency physicians. A significant number of graduates have chosen careers in academic medicine at some of the country’s most prestigious medical schools.

National Leadership

A number of USF EM faculty have served on editorial boards of emergency medicine peer-reviewed journals worldwide.

  • David Orban has served 30 years on the National Council of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), is a past President of the Florida College of Emergency Physicians (FCEP) and is a founding member of the Association of Academic Chairs of Emergency Medicine (AACEM).
  • Charlotte Derr, our Program Director, was the inaugural Head of the USF Emergency Ultrasound Section and continues to serve as our Ultrasound Fellowship Director. She has presented her work at numerous national and international meetings for ACEP, SAEM, IndUS-EM (India) and the American College of Osteopathic Emergency Physicians (ACOEM). Dr. Derr also sits on the board of directors for Gulfcoast Ultrasound Institute which is recognized as the world-wide leader in continuing medical education (CME) within the ultrasound medical community.
  • Jason Wilson heads the USF Emergency Medicine Research Section and is responsible for organizing and creating a longitudinal research curriculum for the residency program. He has published in numerous national peer-reviewed journals and serves as a national expert for ACEP in the areas of bleed management and atrial fibrillation. Dr. Wilson is also a national healthcare consultant for Pfizer, Janssen, Gilead and Portola Pharmaceuticals.
  • Enola Okonkwo is currently doing the National CORD Residency Administration Fellowship which provides in depth education on the administrative, legal and accreditation aspects of running an Emergency Medicine residency program. Dr. Okonkwo also actively participates in research and recently became the principal investigator on a sponsored drug trial for COVID patients.
  • Justin Arnold heads the USF Emergency Medicine Toxicology Section and is the Medical Director for the Florida Poison Information Center, which is based in Tampa. He is a member of the national AAPCC Medical Directors’ Advisory Council and is a regular speaker at national and international toxicology conferences. Justin is also an abstract reviewer for the national ACMT Research Committee, the AACT Abstract Review Committee and the Western Journal of Emergency Medicine. He is an Editorial Board member for the international journal TOXINZ.
  • Ryan McKenna, our Simulation Section Director, is also the Fellowship Director for the Interprofessional Simulation Fellowship at USF Health Center for Advanced Learning and Simulation (CAMLS). He is the Immediate Past Secretary and Member-at-Large of the National SAEM Simulation Academy and was recently elected Co-Chair of the SAEM Simulation Fellowship Approval Taskforce. Dr. McKenna has served as a member of the ACEP National Council since 2018 and is currently a member of the Government Affairs Committee of the Florida College of Emergency Physicians (FCEP).