February 26, 2024, Santa Rosa, CA – Santa Rosa Junior College (SRJC) Associate Faculty instructor Chris Lebaudour, who has taught at SRJC for 40 years and will be retiring in this spring, just received the 2023 EMS Education of the Year Award for the state of California.

Chris began teaching at SRJC at the age of 23. He is currently serving as EMS Administrator for the County of Marin. He previously held roles as Director of Education for REACH Air Medical Services and Director of Learning and Organizational Development at Falck. 

Chris has been on the NAEMSE Board for 6 years, and was integral in developing the 2009 National EMS Education Standards and the NAEMSE instructor courses IC1 and IC2.  Chris has been an active participant in multiple NAEMSE committees, including Education, Distance Learning, and Education Standards, and has conducted multiple national educational workshops for new and experienced educators. He has been a mentor for the NAEMT Lighthouse Leadership Mentor Program in 2023-2024. He also helped to develop the ICARE Ethics and Values training program, widely adopted by NAEMSE and numerous EMS organizations across the United States. He was a seasoned presenter at local, regional, state, national, and international conferences for over a decade.

Chris has done his part in training the workforce of the future, including publishing many textbooks. He was the lead author of EMT Complete - A Comprehensive Worktext (Pearson Publishing), lead author of Emergency Medical Responder-First On Scene (Pearson Publishing), contributing author to the Foundations of Education: An EMS Approach, 1st edition (Jones & Bartlett), lead author of Emergency Responder - Advanced First Aid for Non-EMS Personnel (Pearson Publishing), and coauthor of The Active Learning Manual for EMT (Pearson Publishing).

Chris stands as a dedicated leader and mentor, having contributed significantly to the development of educational standards, authoring textbooks, and fostering the growth of the next generation of EMS leaders.

Chis will receive the award at an event held on March 22 at the Culinary Institute of America Greystone in St. Helena.