Kate Elkins, MPH

Kate works in the NHTSA office of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and the National 911 Program. She has a background spanning over two decades in EMS, public health and injury prevention.

Kate has a Master of Public Health degree from Johns Hopkins University with a focus on epidemiology and injury prevention. She has spent her career at the intersection of public health and emergency response. As a paramedic, she is a Captain, paramedic preceptor and was deployed to assist in search and rescue efforts for Hurricane Sandy (2012) and Dorian (2019) as a medical specialist for Maryland Task Force 1 a FEMA’s Urban Search and Rescue team. Kate also teaches college-level public health and paramedic studies.

At NHTSA, Kate works on the Next Generation 911 Grant program and with EMS and 911 stakeholders on projects related to pediatrics, EMS education, rural/tribal issues, mental health, workforce wellness and the COVID-19 response. She is especially proud of her collaboration with (CDC) and (NIOSH) on a study of suicide among first responders. Kate currently attends the federal working group on suicide prevention and the White House interagency policy committee for suicide prevention as an EMS and 911 subject matter expert. In addition, Kate is the Deputy Team Lead for the Prehospital/EMS team of the Healthcare Resilience Working Group (HRWG), which is part of the FEMA/HHS response to COVID-19. As the deputy, Kate has coordinated more than 35 critical documents through a multiagency clearance process, managed product development and team coordination, recruited and managed the administration for a changing team of EMS subject matter experts to respond to the needs of the EMS and 911 communities in the face of the pandemic.