Robert E. “Bob” Suter, D.O.’89, M.H.A.’89, FACOEP-D, FAAEM, FACEP, FIFEM, was re-elected to his third board term and elected president-elect of the American College of Osteopathic Emergency Physicians (ACOEP). In July, he returned from a Middle East deployment as a colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, where he served as the commander of the medical and health care forces in the 13-nation CENTCOM region. When home in the U.S., he practices emergency medicine in a variety of settings, from small rural hospitals to major academic medical centers as a professor of emergency medicine.
Suter is a past president of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) and the International Federation for Emergency Medicine, and he served three terms on the board of directors of the American Academy of Emergency Medicine. He was the physician co-chair of the federal project EMS Agenda for the Future, published in 1995. On the board of ACOEP, he has worked hard to mentor osteopathic students, residents and physicians across the U.S., always available for as a coach or mentor. He was the first osteopathic physician to serve in an officer position in the ACEP, serving as secretary-treasurer and as president in 2004-05. He was also the first osteopathic physician on the board of the International Federation for Emergency Medicine, which he served as its president in 2006.
Before deploying, Suter was vice president of quality and health information technology for the American Heart Association and a professor in the department of emergency medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas. In addition to being recognized as an expert clinician, he is the author of scores of studies, papers and textbook chapters in emergency medicine and has given hundreds of presentations worldwide, especially in the areas of evidenced-based practice, emergency medicine, practice management, quality and health policy. He has practiced in nearly every imaginable health care practice setting and has extensive experience in operations and administration, including as a managing partner in a regional emergency medicine group and as the chief operating officer of a 15-hospital multispecialty group of more than 200 providers.
As a colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, Suter has served in Iraq and Afghanistan with the 1st Cavalry and 3rd Infantry Divisions. He is the reserve consultant to the surgeon general for emergency medicine and has commanded the 94th Combat Support Hospital, the 2d Medical Brigade and the 3rd Medical Command-Forward.
