Chad M. Cannon, M.D.

Professional Background

Chad Cannon, M.D., professor of emergency medicine, has served as chair and clinical service chief for the Department of Emergency Medicine since September 2018.

Dr. Cannon earned his Bachelor of Arts in mathematics from Duke University and went on to earn his medical degree from the University of Kansas School of Medicine in 2001. He then completed his residency in emergency medicine at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan before joining as faculty at KUMC in 2004. He has demonstrated exemplary leadership within the Department of Emergency Medicine, the medical center, and the region. He has held several leadership roles for the department as medical director, research director, and vice-chair for over a decade. He recently served five years on the Institutional Review Board, a committee of the KUMC Human Research Protection Program. Dr. Cannon is a fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians, past national councilor, and past president of its Kansas chapter. He has also shown dedication to the community as pre-hospital medical director of Emergency Medical Services at Bonner Springs and Edwardsville in Wyandotte County, Kansas.

Dr. Cannon has actively engaged in multiple interdisciplinary teams to develop and implement quality improvement initiatives, partnering with the Department of Radiology in the optimization of CT utilization in patients with suspected pulmonary embolism, as well as the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine leading to “bench to bedside” implementation and subsequent offerings of several diagnostic tests at the hospital including B-hydroxybutyrate for ketone detection; rapid point-of-care lactate, troponin and BNP tests; an age-adjustable d-dimer for improved diagnosis of venous thromboembolism; and monocyte distribution width as an aid for sepsis detection.

His teaching has encompassed education across the continuum, from paramedics, medical students, residents, fellows, and faculty. Dr. Cannon was an instrumental founding faculty member for the emergency medicine residency program in 2009. He subsequently achieved expansion of the residency program from 24 to 30 residents to address the shortage of board-certified emergency medicine physicians in the state of Kansas. His commitment to teaching and mentoring is also illustrated by his continued role as research director in the department, advising faculty, residents, and students interested in conducting research. Dr. Cannon has successfully positioned the relatively new academic Department of Emergency Medicine to be the leader in the region.

• BS, Mathematics , Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
• MD, University of Kansas School of Medicine
• Residency, Emergency Medicine, Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, Michigan, Detroit, MI

• Board Certified, American Board of Emergency Medicine

Research

Overview

Dr. Cannon has been principal investigator on over 30 multi-center studies and has published over 50 peer-reviewed articles. His research interests include early recognition and management of sepsis; biomarkers that aid in the rapid detection and risk stratification of infection, cardiovascular emergencies, and other shock states; management of hypertensive emergencies; and improving trauma triage using quantitative scoring systems. Recently, he was the principal investigator on a pivotal clinical trial of a COVID-19 rapid point-of-care antigen test in which KUMC was a leading site the nation in study enrollment.