2023 Annual Scientific Meeting

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David Doolette began breath-hold diving as a teenager in the Mediterranean and learnt open-circuit scuba in 1979, initially diving the shipwrecks along the Atlantic coast of the USA. He completed a BSc (Hons) at the University of Adelaide in 1984. During this time he developed an interest in diving physiology and was introduced to cave diving. After several years prolonging his adolescence working as a full time dive instructor, he returned to academia and was awarded a PhD from the University of Adelaide in 1995 for investigations into the neurophysiology of cerebral hypoxia. During this time he planned and conducted among the first technical dives in Australia. His postdoctoral work was in pharmacokinetics, and he continued investigations of blood:tissue exchange of inert gas as a Research Fellow.

Since 2005, he has been a Research Physiologist at the US Navy Experimental Diving Unit, responsible for development and testing of decompression procedures and manned evaluation of closed-circuit UBAs and procedures. He is also an Assistant Research Professor at Duke University. When he remembers to pay his dues he is a member of the Cave Diving Association of Australia, the Australian Speleological Federation, Global Underwater Explorers, and the Woodville Karst Plain Project, where he remains an avid cave explorer; he has been a member of the Undersea Hyperbaric Medical Society since 1987 and received their 2003 Oceaneering International Award. He has been a member of the South Pacific Underwater Medicine Society since 1990 and was the Society's Education Officer from 2001 to 2004.

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Gerardo Bosco MD PhD
Associate Professor
Director: Master II level in Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine

Lab: Environmental and respiratory physiology

Professional address: Dept of Biomedical Sciences, Physiological Lab, Via Marzolo 3, Università di Padova

Education:
MD, Università G d’Annunzio (Ud’A) Chieti
Residency in Underwater and Hyperbaric Medicine, Ud’A Chieti
PhD in Muscle pathophysiology, U d’A Chieti
Residency in Nutritional Sciences, Ud’A Chieti

Education post-MD degree
-Research Scientist, Dept. Anesthesiology and Physiology, SUNY, Syracuse NY
-Visiting professor for HBO, Università di Greifswald, Germania, SUNY Syracuse, USF Tampa
- Internal and Hyperbaric Medicine Physician at Ravenna HBO Center, Brescia HBO,Villa Pini Chieti, Policlinico Abano Terme, Padova HBO
-Medical Chief CEMSI, Istituto salernitano di medicina iperbarica
-Membership Directive Board Italian Society of Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine, EUBS, UHMS, SIF
Consultant for HBO, ATIP Hyperbaric Medical Center Padova, Domus medica RSM.
-International Faculty Duke Dive Medicine, USA
2011- Assistant Professor (MEDF-01), Physiological Lab, University of Padova.
2017- Associate professor
2021-2022 President of SIMSI - Società Italiana Medicina Subacquea e Iperbarica

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Dr. Gelly has been involved in hyperbaric medicine and wound care since 1991. Past positions have included Medical Directorships at academic and community hyperbaric medicine and wound care programs. She started a non-hospital affiliated hyperbaric medicine center which was one of the first UHMS accredited centers. She has been actively involved in billing and reimbursement issues for both facilities and physicians. Until recently, she was the Medical Director of Hyperbaric Physicians of Georgia, a group of physicians dedicated to the practice of hyperbaric medicine and wound healing, with 5 subspecialty boarded physicians in its membership. In addition to lecturing nationally on hyperbaric medicine and wound healing for many years, she was the president of the Gulf Coast Chapter of the UHMS from 2005-2007. Currently, she serves as the Emeritus Medical Director of Hyperbaric Physicians of Georgia, and as C.E.O. for HyperbaRXs.

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Dr. Ian Grover, MD is an Undersea & Hyperbaric Medicine Specialist in San Diego, CA and has over 29 years of experience in the medical field. He graduated from UNIVERSITY OF IOWA in 1994.

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Jacek was born in 1966 and raised in Gdynia, which is a city located in Poland on the south coast of the Baltic Sea. He was educated at the Medical University of Gdansk. Still as a medical student, and already advanced recreational diver, he joined the research group in the newly created Hyperbaric Centre of the Institute of Maritime and Tropical Medicine in Gdynia doing research on saturation decompression on nitrox, heliox and trimix, so his MD thesis was devoted to modelling of extremely long decompressions using different breathing gases. Later on, Jacek completed full clinical training in anaesthesia and intensive care and worked for several years in the Department of Anaesthesiology of the Medical University of Gdansk, still cooperating with the hyperbaric group in Gdynia. Then he decided to dedicate his professional life to diving and hyperbaric medicine and started to work fulltime in the Hyperbaric Centre, where he is now chief of research and education. This centre also includes the Intensive Care Unit and it is equipped with several multiplace hyperbaric chambers, a dry saturation diving simulator with a ‘wet pot’ and has the status of the Polish National Centre for Hyperbaric Medicine. Working here gave Jacek the opportunity to complete training in technical diving as well as the use of many types of recreational, professional and military diving equipment. Since 2005, he has been Secretary General of the European Committee for Hyperbaric Medicine (www.ECHM.org), and since 2015 he is the President of the European Underwater and Baromedical Society (www.EUBS.org). He has been involved in the international cooperation between European diving and hyperbaric centres (COST-B14, OXYNET, PHYPODE, DAN), as well as in the UHMS International Web-based Education Initiative. His professional interests include saturation decompression, long decompression after deep bounce dives, HBOT in critically ill patients and HBOT for necrotizing soft tissue infections.

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Dr. Feldmeier received his D.O. degree from The Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1979 with USAF sponsorship and completed residency training in Radiation Oncology at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, Texas in 1985. He received a fellowship certificate from the USAF Hyperbaric Medicine Fellowship Training Program at Brooks Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas and was a staff physician there from 1980 to 1982. Dr. Feldmeier was simultaneously the Chief of Radiation Oncology and Chairman of the Hyperbaric Medicine Department at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Medical Center in Dayton, Ohio before separating from the USAF in 1985. Dr. Feldmeier has served as the Chief of Radiation Oncology at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, Grace Hospital in Detroit, MI and the Chairman of Radiation Oncology at the University of Toledo Medical Center from which he retired in 2013 with the award of Professor Emeritus. Dr. Feldmeier has authored numerous publications in both radiation oncology and hyperbaric medicine. He has been the editor of the Undersea & Hyperbaric Medical Society (UHMS) Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Committee Report. He served as review editor of Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine. He is a Fellow of Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine and Past- President of the UHMS. He currently co-chairs the UHMS Research Committee. He is a Fellow of the American College of Radiation Oncology.   He is a medical consultant to International ATMO. He is the only physician in the U.S. board certified in both Radiation Oncology and Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine.

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Matthew Makowski is a pulmonologist in Durham, NC specializing in adult pulmonology. He graduated from Indiana University School of Medicine. Matthew Makowski is affiliated with Veterans Health Administration (VA) and Durham VA Medical Center.

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Parambir Dulai, MBBS, is a board-certified gastroenterologist with expertise in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Dr. Dulai's research focus is on IBD, which includes ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. He is the recipient of the 2019 American Gastroenterology Association research scholar award and currently runs a multi-center clinical trial. Dr. Dulai is a reviewer in gastroenterology journals and presents his research at national and international conferences.

As an assistant professor in the Department of Medicine, he trains medical students, residents and fellows at UC San Diego School of Medicine.

Dr. Dulai completed his gastroenterology fellowship, which included a focused year of IBD training, at UC San Diego School of Medicine. He also served as the chief gastroenterology fellow. He completed a residency in internal medicine at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, where he was a chief resident. He earned his medical degree (MBBS) from Dayanand Medical College and Hospital. He is board certified in internal medicine and gastroenterology.

Dr. Dulai is a member of the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, American College of Gastroenterology, and the Gold Humanism Honor Society.

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Dr. Peter Witucki, MD is a Undersea & Hyperbaric Medicine Specialist in San Diego, CA and has over 28 years of experience in the medical field. He graduated from Loyola University Of Chicago/Stritch School Of Medicine medical school in 1994. He is affiliated with UCSD Medical Center.  Dr. Witucki joined the faculty of the Department of Emergency Medicine at UCSD in 2003. He works clinically in the Emergency Dept as well as at the Hyperbaric Chamber and holds board certifications in both specialties. He was a former Diving Medical Officer in the US Navy and has worked with SEALs, Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Submarine Forces in both an active and reserve capacity. He serves on the San Diego Diver Death Review Committee helping to investigate diving deaths in our county. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society. His academic and research interests include medial education and diving medicine.

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Professor of Anesthesiology;
Medical Director, Hyperbaric Center;
Professor of Medicine;
Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine:
Research interests include the study of cardiorespiratory function in humans exposed to environmental conditions ranging from 200 feet of seawater depth to high altitude, gas exchange during diving, the pathophysiology of high altitude pulmonary edema, the effect of anesthesia and postoperative analgesia on pulmonary function and monitoring of tissue oxygenation. Ongoing human studies include mechanisms of immersion pulmonary edema and the effect of chemosensitivity on postoperative ventilation and gas exchange.

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Dr Hardy is a graduate of University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, and completed Emergency Medicine residency and Hyperbaric Medicine fellowship at Louisiana State University in New Orleans. He holds academic positions with both Louisiana State University as well as Tulane University in the teaching of medical students, Emergency Medicine residents, and Hyperbaric Medicine fellows. In his 21 years with LSU, he has served in numerous leadership positions including Associate Director of Emergency Services and the Clinical Director of Emergency Preparedness. Dr Hardy has over 25 years in education, with continued emphasis on out of hospital medicine in both civilian and law enforcement/military contexts. Currently, he serves on the National Board of Diving and Hyperbaric Medical Technologists, where he has special emphasis on diver medic education and standards. As part of a remote diving medicine response team, he has been involved in the care of numerous complex diving injury cases, and has been a national level lecturer on management of diving injuries and illnesses. In his free time, he continues to be an active diver, martial artist, and sworn tactical medicine provider.

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Stephen R. Thom, MD, PhD, Professor of Emergency Medicine and our department’s Director of Research studies the role of vasculogenic stem cells in diabetic wound healing, nitric oxide in cytoskeletal regulation of neutrophil β2 adhesion molecules, and pro-inflammatory microparticles in the pathophysiology of decompression sickness. His work is funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Office of Naval Research, and the US Air Force.

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Pr Costantino "Tino" Balestra started to study neurophysiology of fatigue then started studies on environmental physiology issues. He teaches physiology, biostatistics, research methodology, as well as other subjects. He Is the Director of the Integrative Physiology Laboratory and a full time professor at the Haute Ecole Bruxelles-Brabant (Brussels). He is VP of DAN Europe for research and education, Immediate past President of the European Underwater and Baromedical Society.

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Tony Alleman, MD is a Louisiana native who joined Regional One Health to treat patients in the hyperbaric oxygen therapy facility in our Wound Care Center.

Dr. Alleman earned his medical degree and completed his residency as co-chief resident in family practice at Louisiana State University Medical School in Shreveport. He is board-certified in occupational medicine, undersea and hyperbaric medicine and addiction medicine.

Dr. Alleman completed two fellowships: one in hyperbaric medicine at LSU, New Orleans and one in occupational medicine at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina.

He became interested in hyperbaric medicine while working as an occupational medicine physician in Lafayette, Louisiana. After Hurricane Katrina he recruited a physician from New Orleans who treated commercial divers. To further his own knowledge, Dr. Alleman completed his hyperbaric fellowship and earned board certification in undersea and hyperbaric medicine.

“It’s a wonderful treatment for a very diverse group of conditions,” Dr. Alleman said of hyperbaric medicine. “In many cases it offers a patient their best or only chance at recovery.”

Dr. Alleman was chairman of the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society committee that published the UHMS Medical Fitness to Work Guidelines for Multiplace Inside Attendants 1st edition. He is chairman of the Association of Diving Contractors Physician’s Diving Advisory Committee and has been on the faculty of the UHMS fitness to dive course for six years.