Brock Blankenship, MD, FAAEM
Director, Simulation Laboratory; Associate Professor
- blankenshisb@mail.etsu.edu
- 423-439-8447
- VA178/C110
I was born in Nashville and lived in Tennessee into my high school years. I graduated
high school and entered the military in Kentucky. After serving 2 combat deployments
in the Balkans, working with the special operations community, I decided that I would
pursue a career in medicine.
I departed the military and started college immediately at the University of Tennessee, then came to Quillen for medical school (AOA, Class of 2004). East Tennessee became my new home and despite spending a few additional years away for residency at Wake Forest, we knew this is where we would come back to. We moved back to the region in 2007, and I worked as an attending emergency physician in a couple Virginia hospitals.
In 2016, I took the Simulation Laboratory Director job where I get to impact future
generations of physicians through clinical-based experiential learning.
My background in simulation was largely based on training special operations military
medical personnel at Wake Forest through a program I created there in 2009 - Operational
Medicine Division. The program was very successful and continues to benefit the department
of defense today. Being active clinically, in the emergency department, helps create
realistic learning opportunities for our students. I have an exciting job where I
get to teach some of the best and brightest additional critical-thinking skills. On
top of directing the simulation laboratory, I am the academic advisor for the Emergency
Medicine Interest Group while also completing my Fellowship in the Academy of Wilderness
Medicine which has always been an area of interest. I continue to mentor many QCOM
students who are interested in emergency medicine. Another area of interest is NGO
Humanitarian work - mostly international disaster response. Over the past 10 years,
I have served in Iraq, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Ukraine, among other places.
My wife, children and I love being in East Tennessee. We currently reside in Kingsport, which is a great city. Schools, sports, and community pride are some of its greatest strengths. When not working, you are likely to find us on the lake, in the mountains, or at a sport’s fields around our region.