Just a reminder that Dave Dinsmore, Steve Urick, Bill Gordon, and Bill Cobb will be away from the Dive Center during most of January for Working Diver/Divemaster training in Key West. Please contact Laurie Barber, Sondra Huber, or Lisa Glover with any questions during that time.

Twenty-four persons completed a 2-week EMT training course in December. Twenty-one persons completed a 1-week Diver Medical Technician (DMT) course, also in December. DMTs are current divers/EMTs that receive additional training in the recognition and treatment of diving accidents, hyperbaric chamber components and operation, neurological examination, and advanced invasive techniques (IV therapy, intubations, suturing, etc.). Congratulations to all who successfully completed these challenging training programs.

The NOAA Diving Medical Review Board (NDMRB) consists of 5 physicians and a Chairman who are experts in the fields of diving, undersea medicine, and/or hyperbaric medicine. The Board advises the NOAA Diving Program on a variety of medical issues related to diving. Responsibilities of the Board include:

• Recommending medical criteria for divers;
• Recommending safe medical policy and changes in medical operating procedures;
• Reviewing specific diver medical qualifications for compliance with NDP medical policies,
• Reviewing appeals of medically disqualified divers; and
• Providing medical review of diving incidents as requested by the Director, NOAA Diving Program.

NDMRB members serve 5 year terms. The Board currently consists of the following individuals:

C.G. Daugherty, MD - Dr. Daugherty has served on the NDMRB since 1993 and is a graduate of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, as well as the U.S. Naval School of Diving

and Salvage as a Diving Medical Officer, and the Norwegian Underwater Institute in Diving Medicine. He is a long-time consultant to the commercial diving industry, has written a number of diving and hyperbaric medicine articles, and is the author of an excellent Diving Medic handbook.

Richard E. Moon, MD - Dr. Moon has served on the Board since 1997 and is a graduate of McGill University in Canada, as well as the University of Toronto. He is the Medical Director of Divers Alert Network (DAN) and the Duke University Hyperbaric Center. Dr. Moon has written extensively in the field of diving and hyperbaric medicine.

Joseph A. Miller, MD - Dr. Miller has served on the Board since 2000 and is a graduate of Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, PA, as well as the National Naval Medical Center where he completed residency training in Neurology. Dr. Miller is a contributing editor to the Journal of Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine.

Caroline E. Fife, MD - Dr. Fife has served on the board since 2000 and is a graduate of Texas A&M University College of Medicine, and has had extensive training in hyperbaric medicine with the U.S. Air Force, Texas A&M University, and Duke University. Dr. Fife has written extensively in the field of diving and hyperbaric medicine.

Michael C. Ott, MD - Dr. Ott has served on the Board since 2000 and is a graduate of The Bowman Gray School of Medicine, with residency training in Internal Medicine and Pulmonary Medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Florida. He has written a number of articles in diving and hyperbaric medicine, is a NOAA Scientific Diver, and has served as Diving Medical Officer for a number of NOAA special projects including the Aquarius Undersea Diving Habitat and the USS Monitor diving missions.

Captain Michael L. Vitch, USPHS - Captain Vitch has served as the NDMRB Chairman since 2000 and is a graduate of the University Rhode Island, Pace University, and the New York Medical College. He is the Director, Office of Health Services and Pastoral Care, OMAO, a past NOAA Working Diver, and a graduate of the NOAA/UHMS Diving Medicine Course./