Chapter Town Hall 2026: Northeast Chapter: Diving Medicine
*YOU FIRST MUST LOG IN OR REGISTER YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION*
Virtual: PT: 9am; MT: 10am: CT:11am; ET: 12pm
FEES:
MEMBER: Physician/PhD or Equivalent - $70
MEMBER: Non-Physician/Resident/Fellow/Student - $50
NON-MEMBER: Physician/PhD or Equivalent - $90
NON-MEMBER: Non-Physician/Resident/Fellow/Student - $70
Sponsorships are welcome. Contact uhms@uhms.org
UHMS Cancellation/Refund Policy on Chapter Town Halls: $25 administrative fee will be held on all Chapter Town Hall cancellations from the time you register, until 60 days prior to the meeting/course date. From 59 days to one (1) month prior, 50% of fees will be held on all cancellations. NO REFUNDS will be issued one (1) month before or after the meeting/course date.
Event Properties
| Event Start Date | 10-03-2026 12:00 pm - 5:00 am |
| Location | Virtual platform |
| Categories | UHMS Directly Provided Meeting |
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Alison Brown LaVigne
MD
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Barry Lipsky
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Barry has over 1000 dives since his first dive in 1968. He earned a degree in teaching from Mississippi State Univ. in 1976, and went on to become a certified Alpine PSIA Ski instructor in 1977, an LGS Phase 1 PSD Instructor, NAUI Instructor, and an ACUC instructor. Barry has served as a Trainer in PSD and surface ice rescue I and II programs with LGS since 2006. He also serves as a firefighter, EMT, and Dive Team Captain for Bayport FD.
Jim Chimiak
MD
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Kelly Johnson-Arbor
MD, FACEP, FUHM, FACMT
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Dr. Kelly Johnson-Arbor is a physician who is triple board-certified in Emergency Medicine, Medical Toxicology, and Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine. She completed her undergraduate education at Harvard College and earned her medical degree from Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine. She completed a residency in Emergency Medicine at the University of Rochester, followed by a fellowship in Medical Toxicology at the University of Connecticut. From 2018 through 2023, she served as the co-medical director of National Capital Poison Center. Since 2015, she has served as medical director of hyperbaric medicine at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital. She is an Assistant Professor of Plastic Surgery and Emergency Medicine at the Georgetown University School of Medicine and serves as an associate faculty member of the MedStar Institute for Quality and Safety.
An avid researcher and writer, Dr. Johnson-Arbor has published numerous articles in peer-reviewed medical journals including New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA Internal Medicine, and Annals of Emergency Medicine. She enjoys teaching toxicology principles and hyperbaric medicine to the public as well as medical professionals.
Lieutenant Mason Blacker
MD
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Mason Blacker is a former Navy SEAL, medic, and combat diver who completed medical school at NYU and is now currently a Navy Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine Physician and the Deputy Command Surgeon of Naval Special Warfare Development Group
Michael Cottman
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Michael Cottman is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of 13 books, and Assistant to the Dean for Special Projects and Programs at Morgan State University's School of Global Journalism and Communication. He won the Pulitzer with a reporting team at New York Newsday. He is the author of The Wreck of the Henrietta Marie, chronicling his research and dives on a 17th-century slave ship; Say Their Names: How Black Lives Came to Matter in America; and Segregated Skies: David Harris's Trailblazing Journey to Rise Above Racial Barriers. He has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show to discuss the Henrietta Marie. A longtime member of the National Association of Black Scuba Divers (NABS) and the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), and a contributor to the forthcoming National Geographic Encyclopedia of African American History and Culture, Cottman leads the NextGen Storytellers Scholarship and the Submerged Histories project at Morgan State University's School of Global Journalism and Communication. He worked for The Washington Post, The Miami Herald and NBC News.
| 12:00-12:05 pm |
Introduction/CE Requirements: Zac Gaskill, DO |
| 12:05-1:05 pm |
Still Descending: A Second Wind at 70 — Diving, Discovery, and the Henrietta Marie: Michael Cottman / Alison LaVigne, MD |
| 1:05-2:05 pm |
TBA |
| 2:05-2:10 pm |
BREAK |
| 2:10-3:10 pm |
Surviving an Incident at Sea: An Essential Guide to Passenger Safety Aboard Liveaboards: Barry Lipsky |
| 3:10-4:10 |
Lessons in Performance Mindset from a Navy SEAL/Combat Diver and Building a Culture of Safety in High Risk Diving: Lieutenant Mason Blacker, MD |
| 4:10-4:40 pm |
When routine isn't routine: challenging cases in diving medicine: Kelly Johnson-Arbor, MD |