About Joe Acker, Paramedicine and Health Service Leadership Consultant

Since 1990 I have been actively engaged in the field of paramedicine, maintaining a paramedic licence in Canada and paramedic registration in Australia. My professional journey extends beyond paramedicine, encompassing roles as an international health system and emergency services executive, a practitioner in clinical and professional governance, an accomplished university academic, international volunteer, and a published researcher.

Throughout my career, I have held senior leadership and executive roles in large and complex organizations. These include being Deputy Secretary for the Tasmanian Department of Health, Chief Executive at Ambulance Tasmania, Director of Clinical and Professional Practice, and Director of Patient Care Delivery at British Columbia Emergency Health Services. In addition, I have been an Executive Director of Emergency Medical Services at Alberta Health Services, Chief of Emergency Medical Services for the City of Edmonton, and General Manager of the Shock Trauma Air Rescue Society in Alberta.

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Career Profile

Academic Appointments

In 2014, I was awarded the designation of Fellow with the Australasian College of Paramedics. I currently hold academic appointments as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Tasmania, Adjunct Senior Lecturer at Charles Sturt University, and Adjunct Research Fellow in the Griffith University Centre for Social Cultural Research. Notably, I also held the title of Adjunct Professor in Emergency Medicine at the University of British Columbia for five years, between 2018 to 2023. I continue to supervise Master's and Doctoral Students through my university affiliations.

I actively contribute to the scholarly community as a peer reviewer for several international research journals. Some of these titles include Paramedicine, International Journal of Paramedicine, Journal of Paramedic Practice, Rural and Remote Health, Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, BMC Medical Education, and previously, the Irish Journal of Paramedicine.

Publications and Invited Presentations

I have twenty contributions to peer-reviewed journals, accompanied by an additional nine pieces featured in non-peer-reviewed journals. I have authored four book chapters and a multitude of technical reports.

Acknowledging the value of knowledge dissemination, I have presented at more than twenty engagements over the past decade as an invited speaker at top-tier industry and professional conferences.

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