Dr. Mary Ann Cooper is an emergency physician whose main area of interest is electrical and lightning injuries. She received her BS and MD from Michigan State University (1971, 1975) and trained in Emergency Medicine (EM) at the University of Cincinnati. As an early pioneer in emergency medicine, she helped design training and accreditation standards in the field as well as serving on the governing boards of several national EM organizations and as an Oral Board Examiner for more than a decade. She has become known as the international expert on lightning injuries and has received numerous awards from both the medical and lightning communities for her work. In 2003, she became the first physician to be awarded a fellowship from the American Meteorological Society and has been awarded the International Conference on Lightning Protection Scientific Committee’s Award for ‘outstanding contribution to lightning science by research or teaching’ in 2014. She is the author of 6 books and monographs, 61 peer reviewed publications, 2 letters to the editor, 3 editorials, 101 chapters and many informal papers. She has served as a trainer for the National Weather Service, given hundreds of media interviews worldwide on lightning and lightning injury prevention, and served as an invited expert for several international lightning protection conferences. After retiring from the University of Illinois, Dr Cooper was awarded Professor Emerita and continues working internationally to mentor young lightning scientists, prevent lightning injuries, educate and raise awareness of lightning safety. She has served as a Board Member of the Lightning and Electrical Shock Survivors, International, support group for over 25 years and currently serves as the Founding Director of the African Centres for Lightning and Electromagnetics.
Ron Holle is a meteorological consultant in Oro Valley, Arizona. Ron has worked extensively in