Ben's interest in emergency medicine began at an early age. He considered paramedics Johnny Gage and Roy DeSoto as childhood friends and was often spotted at daycare donning a plastic "squad 51" fireman's hat. After "Emergency!" was cancelled, he inexplicably clung to the TV set for career counseling. Disappointed by the surgeons of, "Trapper John, MD," Ben turned to Howie Mandel (St Elsewhere's Dr.Wayne Fiscus) for further inspiration. True to his out-of-hospital roots, Ben completed EMT school in 1994 and secured his first pair of trauma shears. Until 2001, Ben worked for Alachua County Fire Rescue as a lead paramedic / firefighter. Fortunately for the population of north central Florida, Ben was never detailed to a fire suppression apparatus and remained "stuck on the box (ambulance)." He graduated from Nova Southeastern University's College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2005 and completed his emergency medicine residency training at the University of Maryland. He served as a Chief Resident and Faculty Development Fellow for the 2008-2009 academic year and is completed an EMS fellowship jointly sponsored by UMBC, UMD, and the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems (MIEMSS). Ben's current academic interests include medical education, critical care transport, and resuscitation. In 2018, he was recognized with the Street Medicine Society's John P. Pryor Award for his ongoing commitment to prehospital medicine. Ben Lawner currently serves as the Medical Director for the Baltimore City Fire Department and the Maryland ExpressCare Critical Care Transport Team.
- Prehospital airway management and cardiology
- Critical care transport / aeromedical EMS
- Doodling
- Writing policies, declaratory statements, mandates, and cartoons for submission to the Maryland Board of Nursing and the Joint Commission so that they might, in turn, review their own policies, declaratory statements, and mandates.
