CONFERENCE CHAIR:
Robert Dachs, MD
Director of Graduate Medical Education
Department of Emergency Medicine
Ellis Hospital, Associate Clinical Professor
Family Residency Program
Albany Medical College
Schenectady, NY

Dr. Robert Dachs is the Director of Graduate Medical Education for the Department of Emergency Medicine at Ellis Hospital in Schenectady, NY. Previously Dr. Dachs served as Vice Chairman for the Department of Emergency Medicine for the past 16 years. Additionally, he is Clinical Associate Professor of Family Medicine at the Ellis Hospital Family Medicine Residency Program and is the previous Research Director for this residency program. Dr. Dachs graduated New York Medical College in 1985. He spent 2 years in General Surgery Residency at Baystate Medical Center, Springfield, MA before moving on to and completing a Family Medicine Residency in Middletown, CT in 1991. Since then, Dr. Dachs has practiced Emergency Medicine full-time in the Albany-Schenectady region of New York State. During his career, Dr. Dachs has published extensively on a variety of acute and primary care topics. He has lectured nationally for many years on a broad range of topics and is a faculty member for the AAFP Board Review courses. He also developed the first Continuing Education program on Emergency and Urgent Care for Family Physicians for AAFP in 2001 and was Chairman for this course for 10 years. He has received “Teacher of the year” awards on a number of occasions from his residents and continues to have a passion for teaching. Most recently, he successfully developed the "Emergency and Urgent Care Course for Primary Care Providers" for cmemeeting.org.

Rebecca B. Bloch, MD
Medical Director
Maine Medical Center Urgent Care Plus
SANE Program at MMC
Assistant Medical Director
Maine Medical Center’s Emergency Services
Portland, ME

Dr. Rebecca B. Bloc is the Medical Director at Maine Medical Center Urgent Care Plus and an Assistant Medical Director at Maine Medical Center’s Emergency Department. She serves as the Medical Director for the SANE program at MMC and directs their Women's Health curriculum. She is Board certified in Emergency Medicine and is an Assistant Professor at Tufts University School of Medicine. Dr. Bloch received her medical degree from University of California San Diego Medical School.

George L. Higgins III, MD, FACEP
Emeritus Professor of Emergency Medicine
Maine Medical Center
Tufts University School of Medicine
Portland, ME
Emergency Partner
BlueWater Health
Brunswick, ME

Dr. George L. Higgins graduated from Tufts University School of Medicine, is board certified in both Emergency Medicine and Internal Medicine, is a Fellow in the American College of Emergency Physicians, and currently holds the rank of Professor Emeritus in Emergency Medicine at Maine Medical Center, an academic medical center located in Portland, Maine. For many years, he chaired MMC’s Department of Emergency Medicine, where he was privileged to advance the academic mission of the department and to be involved with the establishment of a successful resident training program in Emergency Medicine. His career path also provided him with attractive administrative opportunities, initially as the Associate Vice President of Performance Improvement and then as the Chief Medical Officer and Vice President for Medical Affairs for the institution. Eventually he returned to his true passion of caring for patients; teaching residents, APPs and medical students about the exciting field of Emergency Medicine; and overseeing scholarly productivity as Director of Research. He also provides clinical services to small, rural hospitals, most recently Nantucket Cottage Hospital located on Nantucket Island, an experience he finds challenging, meaningful and professionally rewarding.