Dr. Andrew Dennis grew up in the 1970s watching Emergency, S.W.A.T. and Adam 12 - hit television shows that featured paramedics, police officers and an intrepid SWAT team. Today, Dr. Dennis lives all three of those shows.
He's a trauma and burn surgeon in Chicago's Cook County Hospital - one of the busiest urban trauma centers in the country - where he treats on average more than 20 critically injured patients a day. He's a sworn police officer and member/medical director of two Chicago regional SWAT teams. Dr. Dennis founded Citizen MD that teaches life saving tactics to law enforcement officers, educators and corporate leaders. Additionally, he is a surgical inventor and active clinical researcher.
Trauma Surgeon
"I have the greatest job in the world. I am able to marry my world of medicine to my world of law enforcement and emergency medical services. It is a unique honor and privilege to do so,” Dr. Dennis says.
As a trauma surgeon and law enforcement officer Dr. Dennis is unique in his ability to handle life threatening situations in the hospital and in the field. Through Medical Tactics, he has developed an educational program to teach non-emergency workers how to handle trauma situations - whether that involves workplace violence or a distraught teenager intent on shooting up a school. He is widely quoted in the media as an expert who speaks about law enforcement and trauma care.
SWAT Team Member
President, POLICE.MD
Trauma Emergency Trainer
"It's beyond first aid," said Dr. Dennis. "We focus on perception, decisions and actions and how they inter-relate."
Dr. Dennis started PoliceMD in 2007 and with his colleagues developed the PoliceMD curriculum for law enforcement, and then expanded it to the general population. It is intended to give individuals the tools to prevail when faced with a life-threatening injury. He created the Trauma Rapid Intervention Kit (TRIK), a compact street medical survival kit that completes the medical tactics training.
Inventor, Researcher & Author
“It’s all about living the adventure and paying it forward,”
- Dr. Dennis is an innovator in the world of surgery, inventing the Trans Abdominal Wall Traction (TAWT), a device that allows surgeons to close what once were believed to be non-closeable open abdomens.
- Dr. Dennis’ research has focused on surgical management of the open abdomen, electronic control weapons such as TASERS, and responses to disaster both in and out of the hospital.
- Dr. Dennis is an author, publishing articles in law enforcement and peer-reviewed surgical and medical literature. He has written the book, “Officer Down: A practical tactical guide to surviving injury in the street” published by Kendall Hunt.
- Dr. Dennis is frequently featured in local & national media. He was a principle character in the National Geographic Tv Show "Chicago Trauma" and on CNNs' "Chicagoland". Currently Dr. Dennis is the Executive Medical Advisor for the NBC primetime drama "Chicago Med", "Chicago Fire", and Chicago PD".
- Dr. Dennis chairs the Department of Surgery at Midwestern University, Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine in Downers Grove, Ill., and is an Associate Professor of Surgery at Rush University in Chicago.
Despite Dr. Dennis’s extensive schedule he still finds time to spend with his family, including wife Melissa, also a physician, and his two children Minnie and Ethan.