10 Year Anniversary Podcasts

Pooja Agrawal, MD, MPH

Member-at-Large

Yale Department of Emergency Medicine

It is an honor to be considered for re-election to the SAEM Board of Directors. Working with such an inspiring and driven membership, as well as a dedicated and innovative staff for the past three years has shown me how much can be accomplished by individuals who truly care about the future of Emergency Medicine. I have seen the career development of so many academic emergency physicians supported and accelerated by the opportunities for networking, mentorship, and leadership within SAEM. Serving on the Board of Directors is my way of paying it forward and translating my experience and ideas into a brighter future for academic emergency medicine.

I am an Associate Professor at the Yale Department of Emergency Medicine where I serve as the Director of Global Health Education. I completed residency at the Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency, an MPH at the Harvard School of Public Health and a Global Health Fellowship at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. I have been involved with many aspects of SAEM since residency and can say without hesitation that SAEM has not only shaped but launched my career. After holding various leadership roles with the Academy for Women in Academic Emergency Medicine (AWAEM), I served as President. Through that role, I created new programs, celebrated many successes, and came to recognize the potential for the greater SAEM organization to accomplish even more. I am particularly proud of the AWAEM Internal Funding Award, a program that in only four years has supported over 20 PIs with funding for their research. I have also been actively engaged with the Academy for Diversity & Inclusion in Emergency Medicine (ADIEM), the Global Emergency Medicine Academy (GEMA), the SAEM Equity and Inclusion Committee, the Wellness Committee, as well as several other interest groups. In 2018, I was awarded the AWAEM Momentum Award and in 2023 the AWAEM Social Advocacy in Medicine Award.

We are at an inflection point in Emergency Medicine. Given world events, an important national social conversation, and threats to our workforce, we are compelled to examine and thoughtfully reflect on the work that SAEM does. We must concurrently consider the composition of our membership and leadership to ensure that we are appropriately supporting our diversity while building a community for the next generation of emergency physicians. Actively creating a more inclusive membership and leadership requires being deliberate, strategic, and creative in the development of SAEM programs and initiatives for academic emergency physicians of all types: researchers, educators, administrators, and clinicians. The challenges we face in academic emergency medicine may be substantial, but they are not insurmountable. I would like to continue leading that charge for the greater SAEM membership.