Robert Niskanen
President, Take Heart America
Managing Director, Resurgent Biomedical Consulting
Robert A. Niskanen is the Managing Director of Resurgent Biomedical Consulting, LLC, in Seattle. He works with several companies on induced hypothermia, mechanical CPR devices, and airway control as methods to improve resuscitation. In addition, he is the President of Take Heart America, a demonstration project aimed to improve survival from sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) in three U.S. cities.
Previously, he served as a Senior Principal Scientist at Medtronic Emergency Response Systems (ERS) in Redmond, Washington. He was part of the research efforts at Physio-Control Corporation/ Medtronic ERS, for more than 25 years, serving previously as the Director of Research and then VP of Clinical Research. He graduated from the University of Washington with a MSEE in 1976.
Bob has been active in biomedical engineering for more than 30 years. His primary professional interests center on resuscitation, emergency medicine and cardiovascular disease. He has been involved in both technical and clinical research in CPR, defibrillation, ventilation, acute myocardial infarction triage and medical data management. He delights in working with engineers, scientists, physicians, researchers, business professionals and others to solve problems in emergency medicine.
He is active with a number of professional organizations, including the National Association of EMS Physicians, the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine, the American College of Emergency Physicians, the American Heart Association, European Resuscitation Council, and Citizen CPR Foundation. He was active with the National Center for Early Defibrillation during its existence at the University of Pittsburgh.
Bob is convinced that dramatic improvements can and will be made in the survival rate of sudden cardiac arrest through collaboration. He believes an increased emphasis should be place on the role and influence of SCA survivors in fighting this national medical tragedy.
Conflict of Interest
Compensated
Medivance Inc
Jolife AB
Advanced Circulatory
Atrus Inc
CPR Medical Devices
AMR
Take Heart America
Sudden Cardiac Arrest Survival Initiative
Non-compensated
Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation
Society of Academic Emergency Medicine
American Heart Association
National Association of EMS Physicians
European Resuscitation Council