John Hoyle, MD, has been named the new chair for the Department of Emergency Medicine and associate dean for Simulation at WMed.
In his new role, Dr. Hoyle replaces David Overton, MD, the inaugural chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine, who announced last year his intention to step down from his leadership roles at the medical school following the recruitment of a new department chair.
“It is truly humbling to be given this position and to follow Dr. Overton who has provided outstanding leadership to the department,” Dr. Hoyle said. “Dr. Overton has been an outstanding mentor to the faculty of Emergency Medicine and me. We are all very grateful for his many years of dedicated service to the department and the specialty of Emergency Medicine at the level of the department, residency and nationally.”
At WMed, Dr. Hoyle previously served as the assistant dean for Simulation since July 2021 and he holds dual professorships in the departments of Emergency Medicine and Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine.
Dr. Hoyle’s resume includes the distinction of being the first and, thus far, the only physician in the U.S. to obtain the four board certifications in emergency medicine, pediatric emergency medicine, pediatrics, and emergency medical services.
He is a graduate of Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in biology and psychology in May 1989. He earned his MD degree from the University of Kentucky College of Medicine in May 1994 and completed a combined residency in emergency medicine and pediatrics at Methodist Hospital of Indiana, Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis in June 1999.
“We have a very talented and dedicated faculty and amazing residents,” Dr. Hoyle said. “I look forward to working with and mentoring them as we continue to grow our department.”
Dr. Hoyle has clinical and research interests in pediatric emergency medicine and emergency medical services. Before coming to WMed, he served as associate medical director for the Pediatric Emergency Department at Helen DeVos Children's Hospital in Grand Rapids, a role that involved building a new Pediatric Emergency Department and developing new protocols for sedation and pain management. He also served for 10 years on the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PEACARN) and co-authored many large, definitive pediatric emergency medicine studies, including the PECARN Neuroimaging decision rule.
He is currently the Principal Investigator of a $1.37 million R18 grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) – entitled Augmenting the On-Scene Medic (ATOM) study – and is leading a multidisciplinary team to develop software for the Microsoft HoloLens in order to aid paramedics with pediatric drug dosing.