Edward M. Racht, MD, Receives NAEMT’s Most Prestigious 2026 Rocco V. Morando Lifetime Achievement Award

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Ridgeland, Miss. — Edward M. Racht, MD, will be recognized with the 2026 Rocco V. Morando Lifetime Achievement Award for his exceptional contributions and solid leadership in the field of Emergency Medical Services (EMS). The award is NAEMT’s most prestigious, generously sponsored by the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians (National Registry). The presentation will be made during NAEMT’s General Membership Meeting on Wednesday, September 30 in Orlando, Florida, held in conjunction with EMS World Expo.

Chief Christopher Way, BS, President of NAEMT, said: “It is a privilege to honor Dr. Racht with this very prestigious award. He has been a visionary leader in the EMS profession for years and is truly passionate about our field, our patients and, most importantly, our EMS clinicians! He has provided leadership in some of our most challenging times and because of that we (EMS) are better! When I think about lifetime achievement, very few people have dedicated their lives to their craft like Dr. Ed Racht. I offer my humble congratulations for a well-deserving honoree!”

“The National Registry is proud to sponsor this award and to recognize Dr. Edward Racht for the extraordinary contributions he has made throughout his career,” said W. Scott Gilmore, MD, FACEP, NRP, Board Chair of the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians. “Dr. Racht’s lifetime of leadership, service, and dedication to advancing EMS has touched countless clinicians, patients, and communities. It is a privilege to celebrate not only his remarkable accomplishments, but the lasting impact he has made on the profession and the people who serve within it. We’re honored to recognize a career that so clearly reflects a deep and enduring commitment to EMS.”

Dr. Racht is Chief Medical Officer of Global Medical Response, the nation’s largest air and ground EMS provider, and has been involved in EMS and healthcare systems for more than 35 years. He previously served as Chief Medical Officer and Vice President of Medical Affairs for Piedmont Newnan Hospital in Georgia, and spent 13 years, from 1995 to 2008, as the first full-time Medical Director for the Austin/Travis County EMS System, a combination of municipal third service, fire-based, volunteer, and career EMS agencies that was nationally recognized in the Institute of Medicine’s report on the state of emergency care for its collaborative approach to healthcare integration.

Racht earned his undergraduate and medical degrees from Emory University and completed his residency at the Medical College of Virginia, where he later served as Assistant Professor of Medicine and Associate Chief of the Medicine Section of Emergency Medical Services. He was appointed by two Virginia governors to three successive terms on the Virginia State EMS Advisory Board, and served for nine years as the appointed Chair of the Texas Governor’s EMS & Trauma Advisory Council. He also served as the Federal Medical Advisor for the NHTSA Educational Standards Project, a consultant to the World Bank, and a U.S. EMS program director under the American International Health Alliance EMS project. He also served as Chair of the Texas EMS, Trauma and Acute Care Foundation. In 2019, he was appointed an Emergency Services District Commissioner for ESD 14/Volente Fire Department, and later elected as a City Council Member and Mayor Pro Tem for the Village of Volente, Texas.

Racht has been active in the national evaluation of medical operations, clinical practices, and best-practice EMS system design, including as an invited participant in the U.S. Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response’s Mass Casualty Trauma Triage Consensus process, and served as a frequently featured national subject expert during the COVID-19 pandemic. Racht has passionately pursued EMS as a “practice of medicine” since the start of his career, and in his early years was featured in a cover article in JEMS magazine on the “New Breed of Medical Directors.”

His many honors include being named EMS Medical Director of the Year for the State of Texas, the American Heart Association’s Paul Ledbetter, MD, Physician Volunteer of the Year Award, and recognition as a “Hero of Emergency Medicine” by the American College of Emergency Physicians. In 2015, he was the first recipient of the Joseph P. Ornato Excellence in Clinical Leadership Award, and in 2011 received the Slovis Award for Educational Excellence from the US Metropolitan Municipalities Medical Director Consortium. He is also the third inductee in the Texas EMS, Trauma and Acute Care Foundation Hall of Fame.

About NAEMT – Formed in 1975 and more than 110,000 members strong, NAEMT is the only national association representing the professional interests of all emergency and mobile healthcare clinicians. NAEMT members work in all sectors of EMS, including government agencies, fire departments, hospital-based ambulance services, private companies, industrial and special operations settings, and in the military.

About the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians – The National Registry, established in 1970 as a non-profit organization, is the Nation’s Emergency Medical Services Certification organization. The National Registry is accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA), the accreditation body of the Institute for Credentialing Excellence. The National Registry maintains NCCA accreditation for each of the four certification programs: Emergency Medical Responder (NREMR), Emergency Medical Technician (NREMT), Advanced Emergency Medical Technician (NRAEMT), and Paramedic (NRP). Credentialing protects the public, assures consumers that professionals have met standards of practice, advances the EMS profession, and establishes standards of professional knowledge, skills, and practice.