Doctors Without Walls has added Dr. Anthony Catalano to its Board of Directors. Dr. Catalano is a board-certified emergency medicine physician who serves the Santa Barbara County community.
Dr. Catalano earned dual degrees in classics and biology from USC before matriculating to the USC Keck School of Medicine and completing his residency in emergency medicine at UCLA.
As an emergency physician, he has practiced in tertiary academic referral centers, large county hospital systems, and critical access single-coverage emergency departments. He moved to Santa Barbara nine years ago.
After completing the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department Search and Rescue Academy, Dr. Catalano has responded to major emergencies including the Montecito Debris Flow, and currently serves as medical director for the Santa Barbara County Search and Rescue Team.
Over the past decade, the Search and Rescue Team has expanded its medical capabilities and is now certified as an official prehospital EMS medical provider under Dr. Catalano’s leadership.
Dr. Catalano’s professional interests include simulation and medical education, wilderness and environmental medicine, prehospital care and EMS systems development, tactical medicine, and event and mass gathering medicine.
He previously served for seven years as medical director for AMR in Santa Barbara County, including throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and worked with regional prehospital committees focused on stroke, STEMI, and trauma systems of care. He also serves as a board member for the Santa Barbara County Clinics.
Outside of the hospital, Dr. Catalano is an avid endurance athlete and outdoor enthusiast whose personal pursuits mirror his professional commitment to emergency and wilderness medicine. He has served twice as race physician for the Amgen Tour of California UCI professional cycling race.
A marathon and half-marathon finisher, he has also completed multiple long-distance cycling endeavors, including biking 3,700 miles from Los Angeles to Baltimore as part of the Ride: Well Bike Tour, raising more than $100,000 to support clean water projects and medical clinics in Kenya.