ECU Health - EMS Fellowship

09/19/2026

Timothy Cookson, MD serves as the Assistant Medical Director for EastCare Critical Care Transport, where he focuses on mainly the ALS/BLS Divisions. He completed his Emergency Medicine residency training in Florida at a high-volume, approximately 90,000-visit-per-year emergency department before completing an EMS Fellowship here at ECU.

His professional interests include residency/fellowship education, continued education with EastCare, disaster medicine, and TEMS. He particularly enjoys working with residents in the Emergency Department but even more so prefers working with EMS, where the clinical environment is often less controlled, the equipment is occasionally less cooperative, and there is rarely a conveniently located CT scanner.

Dr. Cookson also works with his local law enforcement agency’s Emergency Response Team and as of August, joining the medical support with the U.S. Marshalls Task Force. His interest in emergency medicine, EMS, and aviation began at an early age, largely influenced by his father, who served as a K-9 police officer before transitioning to rotary-wing air support with his police department. Growing up around police dogs and helicopters undoubtedly contributed to his eventual realization that a traditional 9-to-5 career was probably never going to happen.
Education remains one of his greatest professional passions. He was recently honored with the Emergency Medicine Faculty Teaching Award. A year ago, he was offered the opportunity to become the Clinical Instructor for the EMS Elective for Medical students with Brody School of Medicine, something he is proud of because of the garnered interest in Emergency Medicine residency and EMS subspecialty these prospective students have shown.
Outside of work, Dr. Cookson enjoys surfing, traveling, and eating bomb food. When he isn't working, he prefers to spend his time doing home improvement projects or spending time new with his beautiful family.

09/16/2026

09/11/2026

Stephen E. Taylor, PhD, MHS, FAEMS, is an EMS educator, researcher, and systems leader whose career spanning more than four decades has evolved from frontline paramedicine and critical-care and flight EMS to public-safety administration, regional trauma leadership, and statewide EMS service. His leadership experience includes serving as a deputy public safety director, president of the Eastern Regional Advisory Council with a focus on regional trauma-system collaboration, and as a member of the North Carolina State Advisory Council. His broader public-safety experience includes coordinating complex multiagency operations for major public events and disaster response, working across local, state, and federal partners to support emergency operations, recovery, critical infrastructure, and the movement of personnel, equipment, and technology. Across these roles, he has worked through multidisciplinary partnerships focused on trauma care, cardiac-arrest outcomes, pain management, operational safety, risk reduction, and stronger collaboration among EMS agencies, hospitals, communications centers, and public-safety organizations. He currently serves with ECU Health and the Division of Emergency Medical Services at East Carolina University’s Brody School of Medicine, where his role helps connect operational EMS with ECU Health and academic medicine through education, quality and performance improvement, clinical system development, research, and regional partnerships—reinforcing EMS as an integral part of the continuum of care and its influence on patient outcomes and health-system effectiveness. He also serves as faculty for the EMS Fellowship and supports the professional development of EMS clinicians, emergency medicine residents, and medical students.

Dr. Taylor’s academic and professional work is grounded in this clinical and operational experience and focuses on questions with practical relevance to EMS. His contributions include clinically relevant EMS research, professional education, resuscitation, patient safety, quality improvement, and the use of prehospital data to inform practice, learning, and patient outcomes. His research includes peer-reviewed work on EMS continuing education, prehospital airway management, and clinician and system performance, with findings disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and professional presentations. He also serves as a peer reviewer for journals in EMS and emergency medicine, including Prehospital Emergency Care, contributing to the evaluation and advancement of scholarship across prehospital care and emergency medicine. Across more than four decades of an evolving EMS career, his approach has remained consistent: connecting people and organizations, learning from practice and evidence, embracing new ideas and technologies, and translating data into meaningful change that strengthens clinicians, advances EMS practice and education, supports more effective systems of care, and improves patient outcomes.

08/30/2026

While Dr. Thead is a Southern California native, she came to North Carolina for college and never looked back. After competing in college golf, she found her way into an EMT course, initially hoping to gain some clinical experience before applying to medical school. What began as a way to explore medicine grew into a seven-year career in EMS as a paramedic in North Carolina, where she served in a variety of roles and developed a passion for prehospital medicine and education. She eventually circled back to medical school at Campbell University, then made her way east to ECU for residency and fellowship. Along the way, she has developed a passion for education, mentorship, community paramedicine, and caring for the patients of Eastern North Carolina. She is excited to continue her career with ECU and will be serving as an assistant medical director for Pitt County. Outside of work, she enjoys traveling, playing golf, and spending time with family.

08/22/2026

08/20/2026

Dr. Juan March, MD, FAEMS, FACEP, serves as a Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine and holds dual board certification in Emergency Medicine and EMS. His lifelong passion for prehospital care started early; he became involved in EMS at the age of 16 and earned his EMT certification at age 18. He earned his medical degree from Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse, New York, and completed his Emergency Medicine residency at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, where he served as chief resident. Following residency, Dr. March joined East Carolina University (ECU), initially working as an Assistant EMS Medical Director before eventually overseeing EMS operations across four North Carolina counties simultaneously. He led the Division of EMS at ECU as Chief for 25 years before transitioning in 2023 to his current role as Director for Faculty Promotion and Development, in addition to his continued role as Core faculty for the EMS fellowship program.

On a national scale, Dr. March has held prominent leadership positions within the National Association of EMS Physicians (NAEMP), including chairing both the International Affairs and Education committees and serving as the founding president of the North Carolina Chapter. His broader professional contributions include: Board of Directors for the Commission on Accreditation for Prehospital Continuing Education (CAPCE), American Board of Emergency Medicine EMS Examination Standard Setting Advisory Panel, item writer for the National Registry of EMTs (NREMT), serving on the editorial boards of Prehospital Emergency Care (PEC) and JACEP Open. He has lectured national and international on numerous EMS topics and publishing over 40 full length research manuscripts focused primarily on EMS education, airway, breathing, circulation.

08/19/2026

EMS fellows assisting Pitt County EMS with the Health Science Academy visit. 

08/10/2026

Dr. Ashley M. Lutrick’s interest in medicine was shaped by an early passion for the impact of healthcare disparities. Born and raised in Des Moines, Iowa, after her family immigrated from Laos to the United States in the 1970s, she developed an interest in caring for patients in resource-limited environments and navigating healthcare systems with limited infrastructure. She pursued her medical degree at A.T. Still University, Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine, followed by residency training in Emergency Medicine at the University of Arizona. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Lutrick developed a particular interest in EMS and disaster medicine, particularly in the challenges of providing high-quality care in resource-limited and infrastructure-constrained environments. This led her to pursue fellowship training in Emergency Medical Services at Wake Forest University.

Her combined interests in emergency medicine, disaster medicine, and systems of care naturally led Dr. Lutrick to critical care transport. She is particularly passionate about the challenges of safely transporting critically ill patients and ensuring they receive timely access to definitive care. In 2023, she joined the faculty at East Carolina University as Associate Medical Director of ECU Health EastCare, a high-volume, multi-base air and ground critical care transport program serving 39 counties across Eastern North Carolina. Her professional interests include quality assurance and improvement, clinician education, and protocol and policy development. Dr. Lutrick was recognized for her contributions as a 2025 Association of Air Medical Services 40 Under 40: Rising Leader in Medical Transport, honoring her contributions to the field of air medical transport.

In addition to her academic and clinical responsibilities, Dr. Lutrick serves as a Physician Medical Officer with North Carolina-1 Disaster Medical Assistance Team and is a member of the North Carolina State Medical Assistance Team. She has participated in disaster response operations, most recently providing medical support in Western North Carolina following Hurricane Helene.

Outside of medicine, Dr. Lutrick enjoys traveling, outdoor activities, golf, and spending time with family, friends and pets.

08/01/2026

Andrew J. Bouland, MD, FACEP, FAEMS

A native of Baltimore, MD, Dr. Bouland grew up in its suburbs. He began his EMS career in 2007 as a volunteer EMT and firefighter and has maintained involvement in EMS ever since. He completed his undergraduate education at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA and completed his medical education at University of Maryland, Baltimore. He completed his emergency medicine residency in Roanoke, VA at Virginia Tech Carilion and EMS fellowship at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, NC. Dr. Bouland joined the faculty at ECU in 2020 following completion of EMS fellowship.

As faculty, Dr. Bouland serves as Program Director of the EMS fellowship, a role he took on in July 2026 after having previously served as Assistant Program Director. He also serves as Medical Director for Wilson County EMS, Associate Medical Director for Pitt County EMS, and Medical Director for the EMS programs at Wilson Community College and Lenoir Community College. His interests include management of pseudo-PEA in cardiac arrest, Sudden Ambulance Death Syndrome, prehospital blood transfusion programs, and Emergency Medical Dispatch. Among his professional accomplishments, he is particularly proud of the implementation of a prehospital blood transfusion program for Wilson County EMS, and he looks forward to continuing to push the limits of prehospital resuscitation to improve survival of the most critical patients that EMS clinicians encounter. In his spare time, Dr. Bouland enjoys travel and spending time with his family.

07/22/2026