About Brian Pinkston, MD, MPH FAsMA, FAWM, DiMM, DiDDM

Brian has enjoyed outdoor activities from an early age. His love of the mountains was born during summer trips to the Rocky Mountain National Park. Flying in his parents’ Piper Cherokee hooked him on aviation. By the age of 18, he was certified as a PADI scuba diver. Witnessing and assisting several wilderness medical emergencies during his youth piqued his interest in being medically prepared. When he was told he could combine adventure, aviation, and medicine as a US Air Force Flight Surgeon, he was sold. 

During his career, Brian was involved in several notable experiences. He assisted in the aeromedical evacuation of a patient out of North Korea, flew on several aeromedical rescue missions throughout the Pacific, supported humanitarian efforts in Haiti, and supported remains recovery from an aircraft mishap at 13,000 feet on a cliff in Indonesia. He has worked on every continent, providing “good medicine in bad places.”  

Brian’s experience in medical education started in developing curricula for medical lectures. He was the developer/course director for the Caribbean Advanced Disaster Medicine Symposium in 2004 which was attended by medical planners from over 20 countries. He also served as the Chief of the Aerospace Medical Education Division at the Federal Aviation Administration’s Civil Aerospace Medical Institute. In this role, he was responsible for the education of all of the approximately 3500 FAA Aviation Medical Examiners globally as well as the education of aircrew in aviation physiology. During his tenure, his division’s educational program garnered the ACCME’s Accreditation with Commendation – the top certification honor for quality. He has co-authored a book chapter in the operational use of stimulants, a chapter on survival, and two chapters in Davis’ Aerospace Medicine textbook. Brian has served as faculty for the University of Texas Medical Branch and has held adjunct faculty appointments at the University of Utah, Mayo Clinic, USAF School of Aerospace Medicine, and Wright State University. Brian teaches sailing and scuba diving in his spare time.

Credentials