Dr. Ciottone is President Emeritus of the World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine, and an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is an Instructor at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health (HSPH), and the Founding Director of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Fellowship in Disaster Medicine, where he has trained over 120 postdoctoral fellows, many of whom are now in leadership positions in the US and around the world.
Dr. Ciottone serves as the Director of Medical Preparedness for the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative at Harvard University, a joint program of the HSPH and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and sits on the faculty committee for the Harvard University Scholars at Risk program. He is a Fellow of the International Board of Disaster Medicine, the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and the American College of Emergency Physicians.
Dr. Ciottone was Commander of the Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT) Massachusetts-2 when it was one of the first federal teams deployed into Ground Zero responding to the 9/11 attacks. He was a Founding Member of the US Department of Homeland Security and has been a consultant to the White House Medical Unit for the past three administrations.
Dr. Ciottone’s field experience includes over 25 years as a practicing emergency physician and more than 500 missions as a flight surgeon on an aeromedical helicopter service. He has conducted training programs in over 30 countries around the world, and has published more than 150 peer-reviewed journal articles on Emergency Management and Disaster Medicine in addition to his textbook “Ciottone’s Disaster Medicine”, now in its 3rd edition and considered the leading textbook in the field.
In 2017, Dr Ciottone was recognized by the Physician to the President for “Outstanding Achievement in Support of the White House Medical Unit and the President of the United States”. He is the 2018 recipient of the American College of Emergency Physicians Disaster Medical Sciences Award, and the 2020 recipient of the American Academy of Disaster Medicine Distinguished Service Award. In 2024, Dr Ciottone was awarded a Doctor Honoris Causa from Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier in France for his work in Disaster Medicine.
David currently serves as principal for D2 Emergency Management Consulting, LLC and serves as faculty as the Director of Hazardous Materials Response for the for the Beth Israel Deaconess/Harvard Medical School Disaster Medicine Fellowship. He contributes to the advisory board for First Line Technology.
David DiGregorio served as the director for the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services Hazardous Materials Emergency Response/Special Operations Division from September of 2016 through April of 2023 after holding the position of deputy director for two years. He retired from the US Army and Massachusetts Army National Guard after 32 years of service in 2014.
Amongst his duty assignments, David served as a non-commissioned and commissioned officer with the 1st Weapons of Mass Destruction-Civil Support Team in the positions of Medical NCO, Physician Assistant and Deputy Commander. Prior to retiring, he held the position of Deputy State Surgeon for the Massachusetts National Guard, earning the Legion of Merit Award, Meritorious Service Medal and several Army Commendation and Army Achievement Medals. He has earned a MS degree in Emergency Management from the Massachusetts Maritime Academy as well as a BS degree and MS degree in Physician Assistant Studies from the University of Nebraska Medical Center. He served on the faculty of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy as a capstone advisor for the graduate level Emergency Management course from January 2015-August 2021.
