05/27/2025
In honor of Emergency Medicine day, we would like to again highlight the Emergency Medicine experience of our medical director Dr. Lawner with a reposting of his bio! Enjoy these picture from his latest EM adventures!
Ben’s interest in emergency medicine began at an early age. He considered paramedics Johnny Gage & Roy DeSoto as childhood friends & was often spotted at daycare donning a plastic “squad 51” fireman’s hat. After “Emergency!” was canceled, 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 & 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 & remained “stuck on the box (ambulance).” He graduated from Nova Southeastern University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2005 & completed his emergency medicine residency training at the University of Maryland. He served as a Chief Resident & Faculty Development Fellow for the 2008-2009 academic year & completed an EMS fellowship jointly sponsored by UMBC, UMD, & the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems (MIEMSS). Ben’s current academic interests include medical education, critical care transport, & 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 & the Maryland ExpressCare Critical Care Transport Team. In 2023, he was recognized as the EMS Physician of the Year by the Maryland Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians. He is a board member and Fellow of the Air Medical Physician Association.
If you see Dr. Lawner in your travels please thank him for his service in emergency medicine!