Theodore A. Christopher, MD

Theodore A. Christopher, MD, served as the Green Family Foundation and John and Patricia Walsh Professor and Chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Philadelphia’s Thomas Jefferson University from 2002-2024. He is a Past President of the Association of Academic Chairs of Emergency Medicine (AACEM), the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians, and the Pennsylvania Medical and Philadelphia County Medical Societies, and has been a Pennsylvania Delegate to the American Medical Association for 22 years. He currently serves on the board executive committee of the Philadelphia Health Management Corporation, the city’s premier non-profit public health organization serving Philadelphia’s vulnerable populations, and was a member of the Governor’s State Opioid Crisis and Physician COVID-19 Task Forces, Co-Chairing the Jefferson Health System’s Enterprise Opioid Task Force for 16 years. He also served as Chairman of the University Hospitals’ Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee for more than 20 years. A Summa Cum Laude graduate of Harvard College, Dr. Christopher attained his medical degree at the Icahn School of Medicine of Mount Sinai in New York before completing residencies in Internal Medicine at Brown University’s Rhode Island Hospital, and in EM at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. Dr. Christopher has been active in EM clinical practice, administration, education, and research at Jefferson for 42 years. Under his leadership, Jefferson’s Department of Emergency Medicine has treated millions of patients and has helped establish Thomas Jefferson University Hospital as one of Philadelphia’s premier safety net hospitals. Dr. Christopher has written or co-authored more than 100 peer reviewed articles, published more than 160 abstracts, and lectured nationally and internationally on the social determinants of health, cardiac ischemic injury research, hospital patient access and flow, leadership, and the future of EM and health care. Under his academic leadership, Jefferson’s Department of Emergency Medicine was nationally ranked in specialty-specific NIH funding.