FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
November 9, 2020
CONTACT:
Knight Aerospace – Bianca Rhodes (210) 433-9961 brhodes@knightaerospace.com
KNIGHT NAMES DISTINGUISHED MILITARY DOCTOR JOHANNIGMAN AS CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER
San Antonio, Texas – Knight Aerospace, a leading innovator in advanced aeromedical transportation, has named Jay A. Johannigman, M.D. FACS, as its Chief Medical Officer.
His responsibilities will include overseeing the ongoing development and delivery of the company’s state-of-the-art technology that allows for the fast conversion of cargo aircraft operated by militaries and NGO’s worldwide into full-spectrum flying emergency rooms (Universal Patient Module, UPM) as well as self-contained units for the safe transportation of COVID-19 and other highly contagious patients (Aeromedical Bio-Containment Evacuation Systems, ABES).
In addition to his new role at Knight, Johannigman., F.A.C.S., FCCM also serves as a trauma surgeon at Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas — a position he has held since August 2019.
Previously, he served as the Director of the Institute of Military Medicine at the University of Cincinnati and the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. He was also Director of Trauma, Surgical Critical Care, and Acute Care Surgery at University Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio, from 2001 to 2017. During that time, he oversaw the significant expansion of services across two verified trauma centers to include trauma, acute and elective general surgery, and surgical critical care. He also led the development of West Chester Hospital, including its attainment of a Level III trauma center designation by the American College of Surgeons. He also served as Director of the Surgical Critical Care Service as well as Associate Director of the hospital’s Trauma Service.
Dr. Johannigman is a member of numerous professional organizations, including a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, a member of the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma, a member of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma, and the Western Trauma Society.
Dr. Johannigman, who first began active duty military service with the Air Force in 1990, is now a Colonel in the Medical Corps of the United States Army Reserves. He is currently deployed to the office of COMRS at NATO headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Dr. Johannigman participated in the original formulation of the United States Air Force’s Critical Care Aeromedical Transport Team (CCATT) during his years of active duty at Wilford Hall Medical Center. Over the ensuing thirty years, he has continued to have an active role in Critical Care Aeromedical transport. He was instrumental in the development of the United States Air Force Centers for Sustainment of Trauma and Readiness Skills (CSTARS) at the University of Cincinnati. Cincinnati CSTARS has served as the advanced course training center for all Air Force CCATT teams since 2001.
Since 1994, he has completed seven tours as a combat surgeon – including tours as a CCATT team member–and served in numerous other military medical leadership capacities in Iraq and Afghanistan and currently plays an advisory role to the Uniformed Services Health Sciences University in Washington, DC. Dr. Johannigman is a graduate of the United States Air Force Aerospace Medicine Primary Course and has maintained his rating as a flight surgeon since.
Dr. Johannigman maintains an active clinical practice across the surgical disciplines of trauma, surgical critical care, emergency general surgery as well as an elective practice in general surgery. His research interests include pulmonary failure, critical care monitoring, and controlled loop ventilation. He is the funded principal investigator on seven active protocols and leads a robust research effort. He has participated in the publication of over one-hundred peer-reviewed publications, eighteen book chapters, and one hundred abstracts.
“Jay is a superior surgeon and the finest of men serving the United States. His research and experience in managing the CCAT training program make him the ideal candidate to lead the world into a new and revolutionary means of providing medical evacuation which Knight represents” states Paul K. Carlton, Jr. Lt. General, USAF, MC, (Ret) who serves as Knight’s Senior Medical Advisor.
“We are honored to add Jay to our team. His expertise is unsurpassed, and he will play a significant role in ensuring Knight continues as the premier provider of innovative medical transportation solutions that are saving lives around the world,” said Knight Aerospace President and CEO Bianca Rhodes.
For nearly 30 years, Knight Aerospace has designed and manufactured a variety of roll-on/roll-off VIP and medical products for cargo aircraft. It has delivered products to more than 34 countries throughout the world.
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