Korey Bell

Korey works as a trainer in the Emergency Preparedness & Response Division at the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment.  He trains people throughout Colorado on being more prepared as individuals, agencies, and communities.  He has also developed two online courses which serve to educate people throughout Colorado on the Public Health response to disasters and crises.

Charles C. Benight, PhD

Chip Benight is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. Dr. Benight earned his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Stanford University with an emphasis in Health Psychology/Behavioral Medicine.  He teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in Clinical Psychology, Health Psychology, and Trauma Psychology. He served as Director of Clinical Training for the Clinical Masters Program from 1996-2004. Dr. Benight founded and is the director of the CU Trauma, Health & Hazards Center and is one of the founders of this conference.

Floyd Buras, MD

Melissa J. Brymer, PhD, PsyD

Melissa J. Brymer is the Director of Terrorism and disaster Programs of the UCLA/Duke University National Center for Child Traumatic Stress.  In this capacity, she is involved with the development of acute interventions, assessment, and educational materials in the area of terrorism, disasters, and school crises.  She has been a consultant for many school districts across the country after school shootings and also with the United Nations Children's Fund in Kosovo.  Following Hurricane Katrina, she provide on-site consultation with school districts in the region. She is one of the primary authors of Psychological First Aid, and is the lead trainer. 

Brian Crawford, MD

Brian Crawford is a Colorado native emergency physician who received his MD from Creighton University.  In addition to his day job as an emergency physician, he serves as chief of the Medical Response Corps' Community Coordination Committee.  He has provided humanitarian relief serving aboard the USNS Mercy as Medical Officer and Medical Liaison for Project Hope post-tsunami in Bande Aceh, Indonesia.

Curt Drennen, PsyD, RN

Curt Drennen, a licensed psychologist, is the Mental Health Disaster Response Coordinator with the Division of Behavioral Health, Colorado Department of Human Services.  He has been working in the area of disaster mental health since 2002. As the section chief of the Disaster Planning and Response Section, Division of Behavioral Health, Curt is working in partnership with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the Colorado Division of Emergency Management to improve the State’s capacity to respond to the psychosocial impact of disaster and pandemic flu. He is one of the founders of this conference.

P.J. Havice-Cover, MA, LPC

P.J. Havice-Cover is the emergency manager for the Colorado Medical Society, doing strategic planning with the medical community across the state.  She serves as a federal reservist with a team in the National Disaster Medical System as a mental health and public information officer.  She is one of the founders of this conference.

Debra Kreisberg, PhD

Deb is the Director of Emergency Preparedness and Bioterrorism Readiness for the Colorado Hospital Association. Her doctoral work at University of Denver focused on International Disaster Relief and Vulnerable Populations. Currently, she is developing Hospital Disaster Preparedness programs with special interest in facility-based integrated medical/behavioral health response models and their applied value in responding to vulnerable populations. Prior to her work at CHA, she worked at the Colorado Division of Emergency Management. 

Tom Pyszczynski, PhD

Tom Pyszczynski is a social psychology professor at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.  His research is focused primarily on terror management theory, which is concerned with the role of self-esteem and cultural belief systems in providing protection against core human fears, especially the fear of death. Over the years Professor Pyszczynski and colleagues have explored the role of terror management processes in a wide range of topics, including self-esteem, self-deception, prejudice, interpersonal relations, altruism, aggression, sexual ambivalence, disgust, depression, anxiety disorders, unconscious processes, aging, human development, and terrorism. He received his B.A. in psychology from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee and his M.A. and Ph.D in social psychology from the University of Kansas.

Maurice Ramirez, DO, PhD

Maurice Ramirez is board certified in multiple spcialties and is the Founding Chairperson of the American Board of Disaster Medicine.  With over a quarter century of experience in field disaster response and two decades of active medical practice, he serves as a Senior Physician-Federal Medical Officer in the National Disaster Medical System.

Gilbert Reyes, PhD

Gilbert Reyes is a clinical psychologist and an associate dean at Fielding Graduate University.  He has responded to a variety of major disasters, teaches nationally and internationally on disaster mental health, and consults with the Terrorism and Disaster Center of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network.  He is currently the head of the Disaster Relief Committee in the Trauma Division of the American Psychological Association.

James M. Shultz, PhD

Jim Shultz directs the Center for Disaster and Extreme Event Preparedness (DEEP Center) and co-directs the Miami Center for Public Health Preparedness. He is also a consultant to the Terrorism and Disaster Center of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network and a member of the Medical Reserve Corps Behavioral Health Task Force.  He has presented more than 300 live seminar training sessions to over 13,000 healthcare professionals in the past three years.