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Founding Principal Investigator
Associate Professor & Director of the Office of Military Medicine
Emergency Medicine and Surgery

Dr. Elizabeth K. Powell, MD is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Surgery at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and a critical care physician at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center. She specializes in emergency, transport, and critical care medicine with advanced expertise in extracorporeal life support (ECMO). Dr. Powell has led transport program development, managed complex mechanical support devices in cardiac and critical care units, and helped build statewide ECMO transport capabilities. She also serves as a Major in the U.S. Air Force Reserve with Special Operations Surgical Teams, where she has secured Department of Defense grants for ECMO training and research in austere environments.

Colonel Bruce Andrew Lynch, MD
Director, C-STARS Baltimore

Col Bruce Lynch is the Director of the Air Force Center for Sustainment of Trauma and Readiness Skills-Baltimore, US Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine, 711 Human Performance Wing, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. He directs the largest Military-Civilian medical partnership in the Air Force. He and his staff of 35 active-duty members and civilians are responsible for the pre-deployment medical training of over 500 airmen annually.

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Richard Betzold, MD
Adjunct Faculty, Department of Surgery

Richard D. Betzold, M.D., FACS, is an active duty Air Force trauma surgeon with the Joint Special Operations Command and a clinical assistant professor in the Division of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery at the UAB Department of Surgery. He earned his medical degree and completed his general surgery residency at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences before completing an Air Force-sponsored fellowship in trauma and critical care at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Dr. Betzold previously served on the faculty at the University of Maryland Medical System R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center and was recently appointed adjunct faculty in the Department of Surgery at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. His clinical and research interests include vascular trauma, minimally invasive trauma surgery, and surgical resident education.

Jody Cantu, PhD
AFRL ERC PAL

Dr. Jody C. Cantu is a Senior Research Biologist and Product Area Lead for En Route Care at the Air and Space Biosciences Division, Product Development Branch, En Route Care Section (RHBAM) of the Air Force Research Laboratory based in Baltimore, Maryland. She is responsible for the technical leadership of the En Route Care section and a ~$14M/year 6.3 RDTE portfolio including strategy, performance, execution, and appropriate customer engagement for products in development. Dr. Cantu previously served as the Senior Scientist and Medical Research Site Lead at the University of Maryland at Baltimore (UMB). She served as AFRL principal investigator (PI) on several Department of Defense funded proposals that studied groundbreaking research on En Route Patient Care and provided technical management for a $49M cooperative agreement. Prior to entering civil service, she served the United States Air Force (USAF) for ten years as a defense contractor with General Dynamics Information Technology at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. During her tenure at GDIT, she performed scientific research for the Radiofrequency Radiation Bioeffects Branch, Bio-effects Division of the Airman Systems Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory at JBSA Fort Sam Houston, Texas. In this role, she conducted state-of-the-art research defining the biological effects of radiofrequency radiation on biological systems. This research was published in 13 peer reviewed journal articles, 10 presentations at international conferences, and numerous USAF technical reports.

Piersson Hoenisch
Laboratory Manager, Principal Investigator

Piersson Hoenisch serves as the laboratory manager in the ARC3 Lab. Prior to joining ARC3, Mr. Hoenisch conducted research at both Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., and UT Southwestern Medical Center. His research interests include using animal models to address life-threatening cardiology and endocrinology cases, as well as pediatric neuro-oncology. His work focused on utilizing novel murine models with varied Nf1 knockout backgrounds to investigate treatments for rare pediatric cancers affecting the central and peripheral nervous systems. Mr. Hoenisch has presented his findings at several conferences, including the Society of Chinese Bioscientists of America. He holds a Bachelor's of Science in Physiology and Neurobiology from the University of Maryland, College Park (2023).

Jackson Taylor
Research Assistant

Jackson Taylor serves as a research assistant in the ARC3 Lab. Jackson previously conducted research at the University of Arizona, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and Bioinformatics. His work has focused on investigating novel biomarkers and molecular mechanisms in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, as well as developing immunoassays for early pathogen detection in plant models. Prior to joining ARC3, Jackson gained clinical experience in trauma and critical care as an emergency medical scribe in the Sunrise Health System.