Christopher Colwell

Dr. Colwell has practiced Emergency Medicine at UCSF School of Medicine since 2016. Prior to that, he was in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Denver Health from 1998 to 2016. He completed his undergraduate work at the University of Michigan and then went to medical school at Dartmouth Medical School, graduating in 1992. He completed his residency in Emergency Medicine at the Denver Affiliated Residency in Emergency Medicine (Denver General) in 1996 and worked at the University of Michigan from 1996 to 1998 before accepting a job as the Associate Medical Director of EMS at Denver General (now Denver Health) in July of 1998. He was promoted to Medical Director of the Denver Paramedic Division, Denver 911 System and Denver Fire Department in 2000 and was in that role for 10 years before taking over as Chief of Emergency Medicine at Denver Health in 2009. He was the physician at the scene for the Columbine High School shootings and treated victims of the Aurora Theater shooting in the Emergency Department. His academic interests including publications and national speaking have focused on trauma and EMS issues in addition to Disaster Planning and MCI management. Dr. Colwell has served on the faculty of ACEP Scientific Assembly since 2005. He is an editor for EMRAP’s Corependium textbook in Emergency Medicine as well as Roberts and Hedges Clinical Procedures in Emergency Medicine and is also a contributor to Rosen’s Emergency Medicine Concepts in Clinical Practice textbook, Harwood-Nuss’ Clinical Practice of Emergency Medicine, and Up-To-Date, among others. He has received numerous teaching awards including the 2021-2022 ACEP Outstanding Speaker of the Year award and the Corey M. Slovis Award for Excellence in Education given by the U.S. Metropolitan Municipalities EMS Medical Directors Consortium in 2015. He has also served on the Board of the National Association of EMS Physicians (NAEMSP) from 2023 to 2025. His primary focus is on Trauma and EMS and he is board certified by the American Board of Emergency Medicine in both Emergency Medicine and EMS.