About Us

The Post Cardiac Arrest Service (PCAS) is a multidisciplinary group dedicated to improving care and outcomes for patients who survive CPR. A physician is on call to consult on post-cardiac arrest patients at any time during their recovery (minutes to years after CPR). A large number of physicians, nurses, investigators, and other stakeholders provide input from many disciplines on protocols, best practices, and care of these patients.

Started in 2007 and based at UPMC-Presbyterian, this service grows each year. PCAS sees over 350 post-cardiac arrest patients per year. Patients treated by PCAS demonstrate the highest survival in the region. Patient survival continues to be improved for years after resuscitation.

Our Team

Clifton Callaway

MD, PhD, Professor, Vice-Chair, and Ronald D. Stewart Endowed Chair in Emergency Medicine Research

Clifton Callaway, MD, PhD is Professor, Vice-Chair, and Ronald D. Stewart Endowed Chair in Emergency Medicine Research at the University of Pittsburgh.  His research efforts focus on post-cardiac arrest care, particularly improving brain recover...

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Patrick Coppler

PA-C

Patrick J. Coppler, PA-C is a resuscitation researcher and Certified Physician Assistant within the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. His current research interests include investigation of clinical and electrographic ...

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Ankur Doshi

MD, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine, Director of the UPMC Post Cardiac Arrest Service, and Co-Director of the University of Pittsburgh Center for Cardiac Arrest Survival

Ankur A. Doshi, MD is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine, Director of the UPMC Post Cardiac Arrest Service, and Co-Director of the University of Pittsburgh Center for Cardiac Arrest Survival. Dr. Doshi is a clinician who has taken care of p...

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Byron Drumheller

MD, FACEP, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine

Byron Drumheller, MD, FACEP, is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine. Dr. Drumheller completed emergency medicine residency training at the University of Pennsylvania and subsequent surgical critical care and research fellowship training at t...

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Jonathan Elmer

MD, MS, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Critical Care Medicine

Jonathan Elmer, MD, MS is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Critical Care Medicine. Dr. Elmer graduated from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in 2008 and completed residency in emergency medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital/Bri...

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Frank Guyette

MD, MS, MPH, Professor of Emergency Medicine, Medical Director of STAT MedEvac.

Francis X. Guyette, MD, MS, MPH, is a Professor of Emergency Medicine and the Medical Director of STAT MedEvac. Dr. Guyette is an EM/EMS physician and founding member of the Post Cardiac Arrest Service. His expertise is in prehospital resuscitation, ...

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Masashi Okubo

MD, MS

Masashi Okubo, MD, MS is an emergency physician and clinical researcher. His primary research domain encompasses the study of cardiac arrest. Employing an epidemiologic approach, he utilizes large datasets to discern patterns and outcomes of cardiac ...

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Cecelia Ratay

DNP, CRNP

Cecelia Ratay, DNP, CRNP is a nurse practitioner and clinical researcher interested in the resuscitation and post-arrest care of cardiac arrest patients across the continuum as well as nursing care of patients with disorders of consciousness....

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Kimberly Schatz

DNP, AGACNP-BC, CRNP

Kim Schatz DNP, AGACNP-BC, CRNP is a nurse practitioner who has spent many years working within Critical Care Medicine. She is interested in the continuum of care post-arrest patients experience. ...

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Alexis Steinberg

MD, MS, Assistant Professor, Department of Neurology, Critical Care Medicine, and Emergency Medicine

Alexis Steinberg, MD, MS is an Assistant Professor, Department of Neurology, Critical Care Medicine, and Emergency Medicine. Dr. Steinberg is board-certified in neurology and neurocritical care and attends in a mixed neurologic intensive care unit an...

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Alexandra Weissman

MD, MS, MPH, Assistant Professor of Department of Emergency Medicine

Alexandra Weissman, MD MS MPH is an Assistant Professor with the Department of Emergency Medicine and a member of the Post Arrest Service. Her research focuses on infections after cardiac arrest....

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Clifton Callaway

MD, PhD, Professor, Vice-Chair, and Ronald D. Stewart Endowed Chair in Emergency Medicine Research

Clifton Callaway, MD, PhD is Professor, Vice-Chair, and Ronald D. Stewart Endowed Chair in Emergency Medicine Research at the University of Pittsburgh.  His research efforts focus on post-cardiac arrest care, particularly improving brain recovery after cardiac arrest. The core of this research has been that post-arrest patients require a multidisciplinary, multiorgan, and personalized approach.  He has helped lead several research networks designed to conduct clinical trials in acute care.   Dr. Callaway has contributed to or co-authored advanced cardiac life support guidelines since 2008 as a member of the AHA Emergency Cardiovascular Care Committee and ILCOR Advanced Life Support Committee, particularly focusing on post-cardiac arrest recovery.   

 

Patrick Coppler

PA-C

Patrick J. Coppler, PA-C is a resuscitation researcher and Certified Physician Assistant within the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. His current research interests include investigation of clinical and electrographic characteristics of delayed emergence from post anoxic coma, optimal electroencephalographic monitoring strategies and antiseizure medication management for cardiac arrest related seizures as well as multimodal non-invasive monitoring techniques to optimize cerebral blood flow and neuronal metabolism after hypoxic-ischemic brain injury. His prior clinical experience includes completion of the multidisciplinary critical care advance practice provider residency as well as staff positions in the neurotrauma and neurovascular intensive care units at the University of Pittsburgh Presbyterian Hospital.

Ankur Doshi

MD, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine, Director of the UPMC Post Cardiac Arrest Service, and Co-Director of the University of Pittsburgh Center for Cardiac Arrest Survival

Ankur A. Doshi, MD is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine, Director of the UPMC Post Cardiac Arrest Service, and Co-Director of the University of Pittsburgh Center for Cardiac Arrest Survival. Dr. Doshi is a clinician who has taken care of post arrest patients for the past 15 years and also a researcher and educator. His area of study includes community interventions for cardiac arrest and other life-threatening diseases. He is an undergraduate medical educator and mentor at the University who has developed unique longitudinal medical courses and intensive summer programs. He has received the Sheldon Alder Award for Innovation in Medical Education, the Donald S. Fraley Award for Outstanding Contribution as a Mentor for Future Physicians as well as Clerkship Preceptor of the Year and Small Group Facilitator of the Year Awards.

Byron Drumheller

MD, FACEP, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine

Byron Drumheller, MD, FACEP, is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine. Dr. Drumheller completed emergency medicine residency training at the University of Pennsylvania and subsequent surgical critical care and research fellowship training at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland. His expertise focuses on advanced hemodynamic and neurological monitoring techniques that can be used to individualize patient diagnosis and treatment. For intra-arrest management, he is studying the use of invasive blood pressure monitoring to guide CPR and cardiac arrest resuscitation. Additionally, he is an international expert on the use of Resuscitative Endovascular Balloon Occlusion of the Aorta (REBOA) for cardiac arrest. In post-arrest patients, his work focuses on invasive neuromonitoring technologies, such as jugular venous oximetry and brain tissue oxygen measurement, that can be used to characterize and treat subgroups of patients with particular disease pathophysiology.

Jonathan Elmer

MD, MS, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Critical Care Medicine

Jonathan Elmer, MD, MS is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Critical Care Medicine. Dr. Elmer graduated from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in 2008 and completed residency in emergency medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital/Brigham and Women’s Hospital combined training program.  He completed critical care medicine and neurocritical care training at University of Pittsburgh before joining as faculty. His research is focused on improving delivery of acute post-arrest care to improve patient outcomes. Specific domains of his work include elucidating the effect of neurocritical care and systems of care on patient outcomes; advancing the science of neurological prognostication and post-arrest risk stratification; and developing robust methods for analysis of continuous, correlated physiological and electroencephalographic (EEG) data. His is PI of two R01 grants to support these efforts.  Clinically, he attends in the neurovascular and neurotrauma intensive care units and on the Post-Cardiac Arrest Service (PCAS) at UPMC Presbyterian Hospital and directs the Organ Donor Support Team (ODST). He has mentored numerous trainees ranging from undergraduates to early career faculty.

Frank Guyette

MD, MS, MPH, Professor of Emergency Medicine, Medical Director of STAT MedEvac.

Francis X. Guyette, MD, MS, MPH, is a Professor of Emergency Medicine and the Medical Director of STAT MedEvac. Dr. Guyette is an EM/EMS physician and founding member of the Post Cardiac Arrest Service. His expertise is in prehospital resuscitation, critical care transport and clinical trials development. He has authored over 175 scientific works on resuscitation and prehospital care. His research interests include improving systems of care and regionalization of cardiac arrest care.

Masashi Okubo

MD, MS

Masashi Okubo, MD, MS is an emergency physician and clinical researcher. His primary research domain encompasses the study of cardiac arrest. Employing an epidemiologic approach, he utilizes large datasets to discern patterns and outcomes of cardiac arrest. His research sphere includes the examination of prehospital resuscitative interventions, performed by emergency medical services personnel. Dr. Okubo's research endeavors to determine the impact of these prehospital interventions on the patient's ultimate health outcomes. Moreover, Dr. Okubo is intrigued by the variations in cardiac arrest outcomes. These variations provide insights into why different patients experience divergent recovery trajectories post cardiac arrest.

Cecelia Ratay

DNP, CRNP

Cecelia Ratay, DNP, CRNP is a nurse practitioner and clinical researcher interested in the resuscitation and post-arrest care of cardiac arrest patients across the continuum as well as nursing care of patients with disorders of consciousness.

Kimberly Schatz

DNP, AGACNP-BC, CRNP

Kim Schatz DNP, AGACNP-BC, CRNP is a nurse practitioner who has spent many years working within Critical Care Medicine. She is interested in the continuum of care post-arrest patients experience. 

Alexis Steinberg

MD, MS, Assistant Professor, Department of Neurology, Critical Care Medicine, and Emergency Medicine

Alexis Steinberg, MD, MS is an Assistant Professor, Department of Neurology, Critical Care Medicine, and Emergency Medicine. Dr. Steinberg is board-certified in neurology and neurocritical care and attends in a mixed neurologic intensive care unit and on the University of Pittsburgh Post-Cardiac Arrest Service. Dr. Steinberg is focused on improving outcomes of patients in coma, specifically patients with hypoxic ischemic brain injury. Her work has confirmed that the process of neuroprognostication is common, imprecise, variable and may result in many preventable deaths. Therefore, she studies physicians' cognitive approach to neuroprognostication after acute injury with a focus on anoxic brain injury. Dr. Steinberg's goal is to develop interventions to improve prognostication, which will prevent both the inappropriate withdrawal of life-sustaining therapies in recoverable cases and futile care in cases where recovery is impossible.

Alexandra Weissman

MD, MS, MPH, Assistant Professor of Department of Emergency Medicine

Alexandra Weissman, MD MS MPH is an Assistant Professor with the Department of Emergency Medicine and a member of the Post Arrest Service. Her research focuses on infections after cardiac arrest.