William Tollefsen, MD is the EMS and MIH Medical Director for South Shore Health. Dual-boarded in Emergency Medicine and EMS Medicine, Dr. Tollefsen works clinically as an Emergency Physician at South Shore Health in addition to his role as EMS Medical Director.

One of few physicians in the country to receive the prestigious "FAEMS" recognition, Dr. Tollefsen is also the Medical Director for OEMS Region IV, serving 61 cities and towns of the Metro-Boston EMS Council. As the current EMS Medical Director for eight municipal and three private ambulance services on the South Shore, Dr. Tollefsen interacts and provides oversight for over 400 Paramedics.

Dr. Tollefsen graduated from New York Medical College and completed residency training in Emergency Medicine at Harvard University, Brigham and Women's, and Massachusetts General Hospital. He completed a fellowship in Emergency Medical Services and Critical Care Transport at the University of Massachusetts, where he worked as an Emergency Physician and Flight Physician for UMASS LifeFlight. He completed an MBA at the Isenberg School of Management at UMASS Amherst, and holds a Master of Medical Science degree from the Boston University School of Medicine.

A former pre-hospital provider, he is actively involved in EMS system design, paramedic education and Critical Care Transport Systems. He works closely with multiple EMS, Fire and Law Enforcement agencies throughout Massachusetts.

His research interests include systems of care, resuscitation, airway management, and paramedic education.

I have been a vascular surgeon for more than 25 years since completing my training at the then Deaconess Hospital in Boston. A native New Englander, I returned to my home state to practice, and was Chief of Vascular Surgery at Brown/Rhode Island Hospital until I left to join the team at Brigham Vascular Surgery in October 2016. Having led an academic department for many years, I sought to bring that level of experience with state-of-the-art vascular care to the community hospital setting and was recruited specifically to lead the division at South Shore Hospital. Since my arrival, South Shore Health has supported this vision for vascular care, opening a new Endovascular OR Suite for complex aneurysm repair; developing a multidisciplinary limb preservation team together with Podiatry, Plastic Surgery, and the Wound Care Center; and organizing community outreach and education events to allow for screening and prevention of vascular disease.

In my occasional free time, I am an avid boater and the South Shore has proven to be the perfect environment for me to pursue my other passion!

I believe that the relationship between patient and doctor should always be collaborative; it is the providers role to imbue knowledge and guidance, but concomitantly, give the patient agency in a combined decision-making process.

I believe wholly in health equity and the belief that we all deserve a fair and equal chance at leading a healthy life - a chance that should be unfettered by socioeconomic status, culture or creed. I believe that the treatment of an individual should be holistic in approach and because of this, I tend to build deep and lasting relationships with my patients. Even the highest medical acumen is deemed useless without rapport and essential communication with the patient. Having the opportunity to live in many different areas of the world has exposed me to different demographics, cultural settings and clinical maladies. Because of this, I think I am able to provide a unique scope of medicine that can better serve my patients. I have worked in both urban and suburban settings - providing health care to some of our communities most underserved - and I have also provided medical support in the international setting. Prior to medicine, I worked in academic research as a virologist studying Ebola virus. My time doing science research helped further cultivate my love and understanding for disease processes from a fundamental and physiological standpoint, allowing me to better understand and identify treatment modalities in the clinical setting. I originally hail from New York but I have been many places since. I have a vast sneaker collection that only out preforms my record collection, I love riding my bike and I am almost a blue belt In Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I travel as much as possible, cook whenever I can, and I love staying active with surfing, snowboarding, and running. Occasionally, I even read book here and there, and I love my two cats Roger and Tio.