Mary Pat McKay, MD, MPH
Dr. McKay is a Board Certified Emergency Medicine Physician with more than 25 years of academic experience doing transportation safety and injury prevention research – in addition to teaching medical students and residents and taking care of patients. She is currently the Chief Medical Officer for the National Transportation Safety Board in the US. Before joining the Board in 2012, she was named as Professor of Emergency Medicine and Public Health, as Research Director for the Department of Emergency Medicine, and as the Director of the Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the George Washington University. She is the author of dozens of papers and book chapters and has been invited to present her work all over the world. Currently, she serves as Adjunct Professor of Emergency Medicine at GW.
Dr. McKay was inspired by Brian Fildes to join AAAM. She reflects on the moment she decided to join, “we were working on a research project and he asked me, “do you want to go to Sitges, Spain, to present this?” — pretty easy answer. Once there, I found a whole group of people interested in the same topics and ideas, as I was – how do we manage traffic safety? I have said in the past it’s all Brian’s fault – but really it was the community I found at AAAM.”
Dr. McKay joined AAAM in 1999 and has been an active member and leader of the association. She has served on the Membership Committee, been the Chair of the Policy Committee, served on the Board of Directors and the Executive Board, and been elected and served as Secretary as well as President of AAAM from 2012 to 2013.
Dr. McKay shares her best AAAM experience with us. For her, it’s the annual meetings. “Always thought-provoking! I come away with a new idea about how to do something or a research question I’d never considered before.”
Through her journey as a member of AAAM, the one thing that she wishes people knew about the organization is “the value of the multidisciplinary aspect of this association. It really means that I learn something new from my fellow members all the time. A different way of approaching the problem – from the behavioral standpoint, the biomechanics point of view, or the statisticians. I think the interaction really elevates my own work and makes me a better doctor and a better researcher.”
She would like to leave you with this fun fact – “I’m an adrenaline junkie. Yes, I have jumped out of a perfectly good airplane. On purpose! I have also promised all the kids in my life that I will ride any roller coaster they choose – as long as they go with me. Some of them have tried to wear me out but I haven’t chickened out yet. Bridge jumping? Check. Whitewater rafting with crocodiles downstream? Check. Plenty of adventures left to go.”