Dr. Damon Darsey, MD

Medical Director, Mississippi Department of Public Safety | CEO, Paladin Emergency Services Consulting

Dr. Damon Darsey is a physician that holds two board certifications in emergency medicine and emergency medical services (EMS) with over twenty years of experience in public safety, field, and emergency medicine.  Dr. Darsey was in academic emergency medicine for over fourteen years, where he was the medical director for a medical communications center, statewide air ambulance service and public safety support division.  In 2021, Dr. Darsey started a healthcare consulting firm that provides support to regional and rural community hospitals in areas supporting the acute care and coordination of patient movement, emergency care, access, and analytics.  He has established over a dozen command/transfer centers and speaks nationally on this topic.

As the lead physician and developer of an “early adopter state” prior to and during the development of FirstNet, he was engaged in the policy, development, technical and political challenges around deploying a dedicated public safety network under the NTIA’s Broadband Technology and Opportunity (BTOP) program.  Since that time, he has testified before Congress (2017) and presented to the FirstNet Board (2019) on the impact that broadband can have on public safety; more specifically on the health and wellness of our own public safety professionals and the impact dedicated public safety broadband can have on pre-hospital medical care.

Darsey has been the principal investigator in nearly $42 million of grants focusing on the clinical and academic interest of improving the communications, care, and coordination of first responders, acute care patient movement and pre-hospital medical care since 2010.  This work is focused on the use of technology to improve pre-hospital clinical outcomes and improve first responder safety.

Currently, Dr. Darsey is the Chief Executive Officer of Paladin Emergency Services Consulting, a firm that provides consulting to counties, cities and agencies on improving pre-hospital and acute care services.  Darsey has provided EMS medical direction for over twelve years and currently provides medical direction to non-transport EMS services, 911 advanced life support services, industries and is the Medical Director for the Mississippi Department of Public Safety/Mississippi Highway Patrol.  His clinical practice is in a rural critical access hospital in Mississippi. Damon lives in Ridgeland, Mississippi with his wife and four kids.