Medical Director of Disaster & Emergency Preparedness
Pediatric Emergency Medicine Physician, Children’s Minnesota
Adjunct Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota

Dr. Nita Gupta, MD is a board-certified pediatric emergency medicine physician at Children’s Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is the Medical Director of Disaster & Emergency Preparedness and formulated the hospital’s first succinct reunification plan for children. Dr. Gupta is the chair for the Mass Casualty Incident Preparedness Subcommittee after leading efforts for Children’s Minnesota Annunciation School Shooting. She is the lead principal investigator from Children’s Minnesota for HHS ASPR Region V for Kids, a Pediatric Disaster Center of Excellence. Within Region V for Kids, she co-leads the Communications and Reunification Workgroups where she oversees disaster content dissemination and helped develop a pediatric reunification educational series for adult and children’s hospitals. Dr. Gupta is a subject matter expert in pediatric reunification with prior published research determining predictors for better pediatric reunification for both adult and children’s hospitals. Additionally, Dr. Gupta is co-chair for the Media & Outreach Subcommittee for the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Children and Disasters. Dr. Gupta completed pediatric emergency medicine fellowship at Nationwide Children’s Hospital/Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio and pediatric residency at Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital/Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri.

Clinical Associate Professor in the Dept of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, School of Medicine
Co-Lead, Behavioral Health Strike Team, Washington State Dept of Health

Dr. Tona L. McGuire is a pediatric psychologist working primarily with children and families. She is Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington, School of Medicine. She has been involved in disaster preparation and response for 17 years both in her local community as well as internationally, and codeveloped the Health Support Team, a disaster behavioral health curriculum and training. Currently Dr. McGuire sits on the Mental Health Workgroup of the Western Regional Alliance for Pediatric Emergency Management (WRAPEM), an ASPR funded Pediatric Disaster Center of Excellence, and sits on the Mental Health Domain for the Pediatric Pandemic Network, a national HRSA funded grant .The mission of the Pediatric Pandemic Network is to leverage the resources and expertise of children’s hospitals in collaboration with national partners to empower all healthcare systems and their communities to be prepared to provide high-quality pediatric care in everyday emergencies, disasters, and global health threats. She is Behavioral Health representative for the Disaster Clinical Advisory Committee, which plans for the impact of disasters on the regional Puget Sound healthcare system, as well as the State Disaster Medical Advisory Committee which advises the Secretary of Health during disasters. Dr. McGuire was Co-Lead for Washington State Department of Health’s Behavioral Health Strike Team in response to the COVID pandemic. She is the project developer and Clinical Director for the Stepped Triage to TF-CBT project with the Washington State Healthcare Authority and the University of Washington Psychological Services and Training Center.

Critical Care Transport Team Manager
Golisano Children’s Hospital

Niki Shimko has led the pediatric neonatal transport team for over 13 years and has over 27 years of professional nursing experience. Niki is the current President of the Florida Neonatal Pediatric Transport Network Association and a board member of the Florida Association of Critical Care Transport Specialists. In this role, she has enhanced the state-wide disaster response for neonatal and pediatric patients. She was instrumental in spearheading the evacuation of Golisano Children’s Hospital after Hurricane Ian.

She is also a member of the Florida EMS for Children Advisory Council and an Executive Board Member of the National Pediatric Disaster Coalition. Recently, she has become a TEEX instructor for Pediatric Disaster Response and Emergency Preparedness.

System EMS Medical Director, WellSpan Health
Director, Division of EMS
Department of Emergency Medicine
WellSpan York Hospital

Dr. Flamm is an EMS and Emergency physician who serves as System EMS Medical Director for WellSpan Health and Director of EMS Division of the Department of Emergency Medicine, WellSpan York Hospital. He started his journey in EMS in the late 90s, completed paramedic course in 2001 and has been involved with EMS for over 25 years. Dr. Flamm completed medical school in New York and Emergency Medicine Residency and EMS Fellowship in Pennsylvania where he has been practicing since. He serves as core faculty for the emergency medicine residency program at York Hospital where he teaches residents and medical students. Dr. Flamm serves as a Medical Team Manager with FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Pennsylvania Task Force 1, as the co-chair of PACEP EMS committee, as a Pennsylvania delegate to national ACEP council, committee member of the national ACEP EMS and Disaster Medicine committees, and holds leadership roles in many other local, regional and national Emergency and EMS groups. Dr. Flamm has presented regionally and nationally and published dozens of peer reviewed studies in the field of EMS, emergency medicine, public health and disaster medicine.