In the 1960s and 1970s Pittsburgh was a perfect storm of bright minds with new ideas on how to support the critically ill patient. Peter Safar introduced the “ABCs” of resuscitation and recruited people from all specialties to advance resuscitation science. He also introduced the 1st ambulance service (Freedom House Ambulance Service) staffed by paramedics with medical training beyond basic first aid. Dr. Safar recruited Dr. Ake Grenvik to Pittsburgh, and together they established the 1st multidisciplinary critical care training program (MCCTP). The MCCTP now provides integrated training for accredited critical care programs in anesthesiology, internal medicine, neurology, pediatrics, and surgery. (Education page) The genius and drive of those medical pioneers gave the world CPR and helped shape the field we now call critical care medicine.
Their legacy inspired the creation of the first stand-alone department of critical care medicine in the United States in 2001. Dr. Mitch Fink was the inaugural Chair, and the department has now grown to over 200 members. Since then, our faculty continue to push the boundaries of critical care medicine by pursuing excellence in clinical care, education, and research, and by keeping alive the tradition ‘firsts’ started by our founders and role models more than five decades ago.
