John Westhoff, M.D., MPH

Summary

Dr. John Westhoff joined UNR in 2021 as faculty in the Office of Medical Research and serves concurrently as Assistant Dean of Student Research.

Dr. Westhoff is board certified in Emergency Medicine, Public Health and General Preventive Medicine, and Occupational Medicine. He is a Fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians (FACEP), a Fellow of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (FACOEM), and a Fellow of the Academy of Wilderness Medicine (FAWM).

Having spent most of his career as a self-described "academic in exile," he will probably always feel like a failure to the degree that he is not a Nobel prize-winning Physicist at a major international laboratory. Even so, Dr. Westhoff has a broad range of academic interests, including (but not limited to) physician-physician communication, computer-assisted electrocardiogram interpretation, the impact of online (mis)information on healthcare utilization, the potential for new media to increase health literacy, the abject failures (and bright future) of Electronic Medical Records, and mountaineering injury epidemiology.

A graduate of Munich American High School and a retired Army Colonel, Dr. Westhoff lived abroad for over thirteen years, including multiple assignments in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. He is an ardent supporter of Germany's "Rekordmeister," i.e., FC Bayern München, and enjoys alpine skiing, backpacking, trail running, and living in a van down by the river (#vanlife).

A compensated introvert and semi-closeted geek, Dr. Westhoff's impulse to live in his parents' basement eating takeout and playing massively multiplayer online games was narrowly suppressed by a heroic and rewarding sense of civic and familial duty. Accordingly, he has extensive experience as a clinician-leader, and has been happily married to the former Rachel Rackham of Thousand Oaks, California, for almost thirty years. They have five wildly successful children, three brilliant daughters-in-law, and two grandchildren that are clearly geniuses.

Professional Experience

• Chief, Dept. of Emergency Medicine, William Beaumont Army Medical Center, El Paso, TX (Jul 2018 - May 2020)
• Chief, Emergency Medical Services, 131st Field Hospital, Bagdad, Iraq (Jan 2019 - Jul 2019)
• Chief, Dept. of Preventive Medicine, Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany (Aug 2016 - Jul 2018)
• Chief, Division of Primary Care, Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany (Jul 2015 - Aug 2016)
• Medical & Technical Director, U.S. Army Public Health Command Region-Pacific, Japan (Jul 2012 - Jul 2015)
• Chief, Division of Primary Care and Community Medicine, General Leonard Wood Army Community Hospital, Fort Leonard Wood, MO (Dec 2007 - Mar 2009)
• Chief, Emergency Medical Services, 21st Combat Support Hospital, Baghdad, Iraq (May 2006 - May 2007)
• Chief, Dept. of Emergency Medicine, General Leonard Wood Army Community Hospital, Fort Leonard Wood, MO (Jul 2005 - Jul 2008);
• Officer in Charge, U.S. Army Health Clinic, Pine Bluff Arsenal, AR (Jul 2000 - Jun 2002)

Specialties

• Emergency Medicine
• Preventive Medicine
• Occupational Medicine
• Wilderness Medicine
• Epidemiology

Education