Biography

Dr. Mark Brandenburg is board-certified in emergency medicine, and has practiced emergency medicine in Oklahoma for over 25 years. He attended the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine for his medical school and Emergency Medicine residency training. He received his Master of Science in Epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Throughout his career Dr. Brandenburg has been active in clinical and public health research, and he has published approximately 40 peer-reviewed papers and two textbook chapters. His research on blood gas analysis in the late 1990’s kickstarted a new effort of inquiry and understanding into the differences between arterial and venous blood gas data in critically ill patients. His epidemiological work on protective headgear in bull riders led to the sport using helmets as standard safety equipment. Other areas in which Dr. Brandenburg has worked and published include disaster response and the prescription opioid epidemic. He was principal author of the Opioid Prescribing Guidelines for Oklahoma Emergency Departments and Urgent Care Clinics.

Currently Dr. Brandenburg is a Medical Director with the Oklahoma Health Care Authority (Medicaid) where he helps to shape and improve the quality of healthcare for over 1.2 million Oklahomans. Previously, Dr. Brandenburg worked for 13 years in the Trauma Emergency Center at St. Francis Hospital (Tulsa), where he received the C.T. Thomas Award for Excellence in Trauma Care, Champions of Safe Kids Award, and OU Crimson Apple Award for Teaching Medical Students and Residents. Other positions he has held include Emergency Medicine Residency Program Director at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine; and Chief Medical Officer of Bristow Medical Center, where he also served as Director of Emergency Medicine for 10 years.

Dr. Brandenburg and his wife live in Tulsa, and have two boys of whom they are very proud – one attending university in Austria, and the other serving in the United States Marine Corps as a combat communications specialist