STAT Leadership Podcast

STAT Leadership is a fast-paced, no-nonsense podcast where three emergency physicians—shaped by years in EMS, military operations, rescue work, and disaster response—break leadership down to its essential, actionable core. Across the first ten episodes, they tackle the fundamentals: what leadership is, how it’s developed, and why character, communication, and self-awareness matter more than titles. Through stories drawn from high-stakes medicine, combat deployments, tough calls in the field, and the leaders who shaped them—real and fictional—they explore authenticity, followership, influence, networking, resilience, and the fine line between leading and managing. They don’t shy away from hard truths: leadership is earned, rarely comfortable, and always rooted in trust, consistency, and humility. Whether discussing how to mentor the next generation, handle transitions in command, or keep your head straight under pressure, STAT Leadership delivers grounded, practical insight from people who have led when the stakes were life and death.

Host

J.R. Pickett, MD

Dr. Pickett joined the University of Utah in July as the EMS Fellowship Director. Prior to his move to Utah, he was Chief Deputy Medical Director for Austin/Travis County EMS, Austin Fire Department, and the Texas Ranger Division Special Operations Group, and previously was served as the Director of the Center for Prehospital and Operational Medicine at Wright State University. He has nearly two decades of service in the US Army, 11 in special operations, multiple combat deployments, and a 30 year career in EMS as an EMT, Paramedic, instructor, and Medical Director. He is the non-military vice president of the Special Operations Medical Association, Tactical EMS Chair for the National Tactical Officer’s Association, and serves on the guidelines committee for the Committee on Tactical Emergency Casualty Care (C-TECC) and standards and practice committee for the National Association of EMS Physicians.