American Hospital Management Company Appoints Gregory Ciottone, MD as Chief Medical Officer

LONGMONT, Colo., July 14 /PRNewswire/ -- American Hospital Management Company (AHMC) effective July 1st, 2008 has appointed Gregory Ciottone, MD to the position of Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Ciottone will be responsible for Continuing Medical Education, Quality Programs and Medical Staff related issues for American Hospital Management Company's network of international managed facilities.

Dr. Ciottone brings over 15 years experience in academic, clinical and international medicine to American Hospital Management Company. Dr. Ciottone is a Board-Certified Emergency Physician and is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, where he currently is the Chair of the Disaster Medicine Section. He has served as Director of the Division of International Disaster and Emergency Medicine and Medical Director for Emergency Management at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where he works clinically in the Department of Emergency Medicine. In addition, Dr. Ciottone holds a Visiting Professorship in Disaster Medicine at Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium and the Universita del Piemonte Orientale in Italy, and has served as the Medical Director for the Office of Security and Investigations, United States Citizenship and Immigration Service, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Washington D.C. Recently, Dr. Ciottone established the Operational Medicine Institute at Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians, of which he has assumed the position of Director. Dr. Ciottone will continue with these appointments while on staff with AHMC.

"I am extremely pleased to welcome Dr. Ciottone to American Hospital Management Company as Dr. Ciottone brings significant academic and practical experience to our medical facilities and physicians. We look forward to working with Dr. Ciottone and to continually strengthen and support the physicians, nurses and other professionals in the communities we serve while accomplishing our mission in meeting healthcare needs locally," stated Randall D. Arlett, President and Managing Director of American Hospital Management Co.

"I am very excited to begin work as the Chief Medical Officer for American Hospital Management Company. AHMC has firmly positioned itself as the world leader in hospital management and administration by creating world class medical centers that maintain quality as their number one goal. Under AHMC management, these institutions have flourished by linking the hospital with the community through local partnerships. It is an honor for me to now join this winning team and I look forward to continuing the tradition of excellence AHMC has become known for," stated Gregory Ciottone, MD, Chief Medical Officer of American Hospital Management Co.

About Greg Ciottone:

Dr. Ciottone is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, where he currently is the Chair of the Disaster Medicine Section. He also serves as Director of the Division of Disaster Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where he works clinically in the Department of Emergency Medicine. In addition, Dr. Ciottone holds a Visiting Professorship in Disaster Medicine at Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium and the Universita del Piemonte Orientale in Italy, and has served as the Medical Director for the Office of Security and Investigations, USCIS, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Washington D.C. Recently, Dr. Ciottone established the Operational Medicine Institute at Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians, of which he has assumed the position of Director.

Dr. Ciottone is a graduate of Colby College, where he was Phi Beta Kappa and awarded numerous awards in Biology and Chemistry. He then graduated the University of Massachusetts Medical School, receiving the Society of Academic Emergency Medicine "Excellence in Emergency Medicine" award. He completed his Emergency Medicine Residency at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center and was selected by the faculty and his peers as Chief Resident. Upon completion of residency, Dr. Ciottone was named to the University of Massachusetts faculty where he rose to the level of Assistant Professor before being asked to join the faculty at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Ciottone has served as Commander of the federal Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT) Massachusetts-2, a Level-1 response team of the National Disaster Medical System, U.S. Department of Homeland Security. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the textbook "Disaster Medicine", published by Elsevier/Mosby in 2006. He is a nationally and internationally known expert in Emergency Management, and has extensive field experience, including 10 years as a Flight Physician for a LifeFlight rescue helicopter system. In 2007 he was named "EMS Physician of the Year" by Central Massachusetts EMS.

Since 1993 Dr. Ciottone has taught throughout Europe and the former Soviet Union where he played a key role in the development of 22 Emergency Medicine training centers, sponsored by the American International Health Alliance (AIHA) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). His division has developed curricula in various areas of Emergency Medicine that have been used to instruct over 40,000 medical and non-medical personnel around the world. In 2004, Dr. Ciottone was one of only two Americans appointed to the faculty of the prestigious European Master in Disaster Medicine.

Through his role as Commander of the DMAT Massachusetts-2, Dr. Ciottone led this level-1 federal disaster response team on numerous deployments, the most notable of which was the World Trade Center response on September 11, 2001, where his was one of the first federal disaster teams into Ground Zero. Remaining on site for 2 weeks, his team treated 400 casualties per day in five field stations. Dr. Ciottone won an Official Citation from the Massachusetts Senate for his work at Ground Zero. Today, he remains an integral part of the American counter-terrorism disaster preparedness program.

In 2001, Dr. Ciottone became an Implementing Partner of the United Nations Disaster Management Training Program. This prestigious title is given to select international experts, allowing them to work as consultants to the family of United Nations organizations. Through this role Dr. Ciottone became an Editor for the UN training module "Disaster Management for Terrorist Events." Currently in production, this manual will be used by the United Nations to train personnel worldwide on the preparedness for and response to terrorist attacks. In 2004 Dr. Ciottone was named to the faculty of the European Master of Disaster Medicine (EMDM). Arguably the premier educational program in Disaster Medicine in the world, Dr. Ciottone was one of only two Americans appointed to the faculty at that time. He continues teaching at the EMDM today.

Dr. Ciottone continues to lecture nationally and internationally on disaster management and counter-terrorism related issues. He is consistently requested as a Key Note Speaker or Chairman at Disaster Preparedness and Response congress' around the world, and is a Founding Member of the United States Department of Homeland Security. He has served as a Disaster Management Fellowship Director for the International Atomic Energy Agency and as the Medical Director for the Tactical EMS Training Program for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA Academy) in Quantico Virginia. He is a consultant to the federal project "ER-One" in Washington D.C. creating the disaster-ready hospital of the future.

About The American Hospital Management Company

American Hospital Management Company (AHMC), a member of the Family Hospital Group of Companies, is a Longmont, Colorado USA based diversified international healthcare system whose focus is on the administration, management, and development of international hospitals and healthcare systems. Founded in 1998, AHMC has grown into the leading international hospital management and administration outsourcing company. The American Hospital Management Company provides turn-key, outsourced administrative and management services to hospitals and health systems. AHMC currently operates medical facilities in Antigua & Barbuda, Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, and Trinidad & Tobago.