To say Dr. Darren Bean was a high achiever would be an understatement.

Besides his role as a Med Flight physician for six years and the Madison Fire Department's medical director for the past 16 months, he was the director of ultrasound for the UW Hospital emergency department, according to UW Hospital's Web site. He was a member of the hospital's mulidisciplinary trauma committee and the Regional Trauma Advisory Committee.

An assistant professor with the UW School of Medicine who received his medical degree from the University of Vermont College of Medicine, he had subspecialties in clinical research in pediatric and adult sedations, complex airway management, multi-trauma and bedside ultrasound.

The Web site listed his interests as flyfishing, mountain biking and spending time with his family.

"He was always going in 16 different directions," said Fire Department spokeswoman Lori Wirth. "But he got so much done."

Bean was married to Dr. Stacey Bean, an emergency physician at St. Mary's Hospital. A father of two preschool children, Parker and Caitlyn, he also spent as much time as possible with them and his wife at their home near Middleton, Wirth said.

At Fire Department events, Wirth said, "he'd come strolling through with one on the shoulder and another by the hand. He was a very involved father. Honestly I don't know how he did it all."

Fire Chief Debra Amesqua said Bean was instrumental in revising EMS protocols across the county.

"We had been working on that for years," she said, "and Darren came into my office and said he wanted to make them consistent across the board. And low and behold six months later it was done."

She said Bean seemed to be able to accomplish whatever he set out to do.

"It would just happen," she said.