SAEM Board of Directors

Michelle D. Lall, MD, MHS

President

Emory University School of Medicine

Dr. Lall, a board-certified emergency medicine physician, is a professor at Emory University, where she has been on faculty since 2013. She served as associate residency director for seven years and currently holds the position of inaugural vice chair of diversity, equity, and inclusion for Emory Emergency Medicine. Dr. Lall previously served as the inaugural director of wellbeing, equity, diversity, and inclusion, and as the medical education fellowship director.

Before joining Emory, Dr. Lall was an assistant professor at Wayne State University, starting in 2008. There, she also served as assistant residency director at the Sinai-Grace/Wayne State University Emergency Medicine Residency Program and as the medical student clerkship site director at Sinai-Grace/Wayne State University beginning in 2009. Dr. Lall earned her medical degree from Wayne State University School of Medicine and completed both her residency and chief residency at Emory University.

Dr. Lall is passionate about medical education and focuses on physician wellbeing, as well as the negative impact of bias on equity and inclusion in medicine. She is particularly interested in gender differences in burnout and workplace mistreatment among emergency physicians. She serves as the inaugural chair of the All-Emergency Medicine Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force, a national workgroup addressing bias and disparities in academic emergency medicine.

Dr. Lall is a fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians and is a member of several professional organizations, including the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM), where she continues to serve on the executive committee of the board of directors, the Academy for Women in Academic Emergency Medicine (AWAEM), where she is a past president, the American Association of Women Emergency Physicians, and the Georgia College of Emergency Physicians. She is also a member of the Delta Omega Honor Society.

Throughout her career, Dr. Lall has received multiple honors, including being named faculty teacher of the year twice at Sinai-Grace/Wayne State University and faculty advocate of the year twice at Emory University. In 2020, she was recognized as one of the Emergency Medicine Residents’ Association 25 Under 45 Influencers in Emergency Medicine. Dr. Lall has also received the AWAEM Momentum Award and Mid-Career Award. In 2023, she was selected for the prestigious Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine® (ELAM®) program, an intensive one-year fellowship aimed at expanding the national pool of qualified women candidates for leadership in academic medicine.

Dr. Lall is dedicated to caring for underserved populations in safety-net hospitals, educating and training the next generation of emergency physicians, and serving the academic emergency medicine community.

Jody A. Vogel, MD, MSc, MSW

President-Elect

Stanford University

Dr. Vogel is an associate professor and the inaugural vice chair for academic affairs in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Stanford University.

She earned a Master of Social Work from the University of Michigan and a Doctor of Medicine from Wayne State University School of Medicine. She completed her emergency medicine residency and a clinical research fellowship at Denver Health Medical Center and the University of Colorado Department of Emergency Medicine. In addition, Dr. Vogel earned a Master of Science in Epidemiology from the Colorado School of Public Health in 2013.

Dr. Vogel is an active leader in the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM), having previously served as secretary-treasurer, member-at-large, and resident member on the SAEM Board of Directors. She has dedicated more than a decade to SAEM’s Program Committee, including serving as chair for the 2019 and 2020 annual meetings. She has also contributed to numerous SAEM committees, academies, and task forces, leading national initiatives and strategic planning efforts to advance emergency care research, education, and professional development.

As a dedicated health services researcher, Dr. Vogel focuses on improving emergency care. She has authored numerous publications and has received research support from the National Institutes of Health and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. She also serves on the editorial board of Academic Emergency Medicine.

Dr. Vogel’s contributions to emergency medicine have been recognized with multiple academic awards for leadership and research excellence.

Ava E. Pierce, MD

Secretary-Treasurer

UT Southwestern Medical Center

Dr. Pierce is a professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center, where she serves as associate vice chair of outreach and engagement and co-director of the Joint Admission Medical Program.

She earned her medical degree from Louisiana State University School of Medicine at Shreveport and completed her emergency medicine residency at Emory University School of Medicine. She also completed the Medical Education Research Certificate Program and the AAMC Healthcare Executive Diversity and Inclusion Certificate Program.

Dr. Pierce’s research focuses on medical education, health equity, and cardiac resuscitation. She is committed to implementing innovative changes that enhance excellence in health care and strengthen a diverse workforce dedicated to providing high-quality medical care.

She has been an active leader within the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM), particularly in the Academy for Diversity and Inclusion in Emergency Medicine (ADIEM), where she has served as development officer and president. In recognition of her impact on student and resident academic success, ADIEM awarded her the 2016 Outstanding Academician Award. She has also served on SAEM’s Membership Committee, Ethics Committee, Equity and Inclusion Committee, and as an elected member-at-large on the SAEM Board of Directors.

Dr. Pierce is also a member of the National Medical Association and the AAMC Group on Diversity and Inclusion, as well as a fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians. In 2022, she was appointed as holder of the Michael P. Wainscott, MD, Professorship in Emergency Medicine.

Ali S. Raja, MD, DBA, MPH

Immediate Past President

Massachusetts General Hospital / Harvard Medical School

Dr. Raja is the executive vice chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and a professor at Harvard Medical School. He holds a Master of Public Health from Harvard University, a medical degree and Master of Business Administration from Duke University, and completed emergency medicine training at the University of Cincinnati. He further advanced his expertise with a research fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Dr. Raja is board certified in emergency medicine and clinical informatics and is appointed to both the Department of Emergency Medicine and the Department of Radiology at Harvard Medical School.

An expert in the management of critically ill patients in both the emergency department and prehospital settings, Dr. Raja has served in various high-stakes roles, including as a critical care air transport team commander for the U.S. Air Force, a civilian flight physician, and a tactical physician for several local, state, and federal agencies. He has also served as a physician with MA-1 DMAT.

The author of over 200 publications, Dr. Raja’s current research focuses on improving the appropriateness of resource utilization and operations within the emergency department.

In addition to serving on the SAEM Board, Dr. Raja has been involved with the SAEM Foundation Board and has chaired the SAEM Program Committee and the Trauma Interest Group. He has contributed to several other committees within SAEM. 

Dr. Raja is also on the board of the Massachusetts chapter of the American College of Healthcare Executives, where he serves as President-Elect, and he previously served as the editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine’s Journal Watch Emergency Medicine.

Pooja Agrawal, MD, MPH

Member-at-Large

Yale Department of Emergency Medicine

Dr. Agrawal is an associate professor at the Yale Department of Emergency Medicine, where she serves as the director of global health education. She completed her residency at the Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency, earned a Master of Public Health at the Harvard School of Public Health, and completed a global health fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Dr. Agrawal has been involved with many aspects of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) since her residency and credits SAEM with both shaping and launching her career. She has held various leadership roles within the Academy for Women in Academic Emergency Medicine (AWAEM), including serving as president. In this capacity, she created new programs, celebrated successes, and recognized the potential for SAEM to accomplish even more. She is particularly proud of the AWAEM Internal Funding Award, which has supported over 20 principal investigators in its first four years.

Additionally, Dr. Agrawal has actively contributed to the Academy for Diversity & Inclusion in Emergency Medicine (ADIEM), the Global Emergency Medicine Academy (GEMA), the SAEM Equity and Inclusion Committee, the Wellness Committee, and several other interest groups. In recognition of her contributions, she was awarded the AWAEM Momentum Award in 2018 and the AWAEM Social Advocacy in Medicine Award in 2023.

Cassandra Bradby, MD

Member-at-Large

East Carolina University

Dr. Bradby is an assistant professor and residency program director in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University and ECU Health Medical Center.

A graduate the College of William & Mary where she studied biology, she earned her medical degree from Meharry Medical College. Dr. Bradby completed her emergency medicine residency at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University and Kings County Hospital, where she served as education chief resident in her final year.

Dr. Bradby’s research focuses on medical education, with an emphasis on recruitment, retention, and the impact of diversity, equity, and inclusion. She was an active contributor to the 2022 Consensus Conference on Developing a Research Agenda for Addressing Racism in Emergency Medicine.

Since joining the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) in 2014, Dr. Bradby has taken on multiple leadership roles, particularly within the Academy for Diversity and Inclusion in Emergency Medicine (ADIEM). She has served on the ADIEM executive board since 2019, holding positions as member-at-large, secretary-treasurer, president-elect, president, and immediate past president. She played a pivotal role in developing the Leadership, Engagement, and Academic Pathway Program (LEAP), which supports underrepresented-in-medicine students pursuing careers in academic emergency medicine. As an inaugural member of SAEM’s Equity & Inclusion Committee, she has contributed to strategic planning and the development of DEI curricula.

Jeffrey Druck, MD

Member-at-Large

The University of Utah

Dr. Druck is the vice chair for faculty advancement, DEI, and wellbeing in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Utah School of Medicine, and a professor within the department. Dr. Druck earned his undergraduate degree from Rice University and his medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine. He completed his residency at the Denver Health Residency Program in Emergency Medicine. Dr. Druck is board certified in emergency medicine and has served as an oral examiner for the American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) for the past 15 years.

Dr. Druck is an expert in emergency medicine education and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Before moving to Utah, he served at the University of Colorado as chair of the department’s DEI committee, associate residency director, president of the faculty senate, student affairs dean, and co-director of the Office of Professional Excellence.

In addition to serving on the SAEM Board of Directors, Dr. Druck has served as president of the Academy for Diversity and Inclusion in Emergency Medicine (ADIEM) and co-chair of the SAEM consensus conference on racism in emergency medicine. He has also served on SAEM’s awards committee, program committee, consultation committee, and faculty development committee, and previously directed the Chief Resident Forum, a platform for training and networking among senior residents.

Ryan L. LaFollette, MD

Member-at-Large

University of Cincinnati

Dr. LaFollette is an associate professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Cincinnati. Dr. LaFollette graduated from the University of Cincinnati’s Emergency Medicine Residency program, where he served as chief resident in 2016. Upon graduation, he became an assistant program director, a role he continues to hold. He also serves as a flight physician and a physician member of the Cincinnati SWAT team.

Dr. LaFollette chaired the SAEM Program Committee for SAEM23 in Austin, Texas, and SAEM24 in Phoenix, Arizona. He has held various roles within the Program Committee, including chairing the Medical Student Ambassadors, where he helped double the medical student presence at the annual meeting. 

From 2018 to 2022, he led the didactics program, revamping grading and selection processes and significantly increasing the number of didactic offerings. He also chaired the Virtual Presence Committee from 2018 to 2021 and oversaw the expansion of the SAEM podcasts and the new website. Additionally, he has been a member of the Awards and Education Committee, where he created the FOAMed Excellence in Education Award, first awarded in 2019.

Dr. LaFollette’s academic interests focus on resident education and knowledge translation. He is a leader of the Education Leadership Academy at UC and serves on the UC GME Executive Committee. He is also on the executive board of the UC Emergency Medicine Program Of Women in LeadERship (EMPOWER) and serves as editor-in-chief of TamingtheSRU.com. He has received both the Faculty of the Year (2019) and Mentor of the Year (2023) awards.

Nicholas M. Mohr, MD, MS

Member-at-Large

University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine

Dr. Mohr is a professor of emergency medicine, anesthesia critical care, and epidemiology at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. He also serves as vice chair for emergency care research.

Dr. Mohr earned his medical degree and completed residency training at Indiana University, where he served as chief resident. He then completed a fellowship in critical care medicine at Washington University in St. Louis.

He currently directs the Physician-Scientist Training Pathway in the University of Iowa Emergency Medicine Residency Program and the Emergency Medicine-Anesthesia Critical Care Fellowship Program.

Dr. Mohr’s research focuses on systems of regionalized emergency care, and he is the director of the Telehealth Research Center at the University of Iowa. His research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).

He has served on several committees within the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM), including the Grants Committee, Research Committee, and Program Committee. In 2021, he was awarded the SAEM Mid-Career Investigator Award in recognition of his contributions to emergency medicine research. In 2023, Dr. Mohr received the University of Iowa's Award for Early Career Achievement. 

Bryn Mumma, MD, MAS

Member-at-Large

University of California, Davis

Dr. Mumma is a faculty member at the University of California, Davis, where she serves as the director of the Women in Medicine and Health Sciences program at the UC Davis School of Medicine. She is also the physician lead for the Emergency Medicine Data Curation Unit and chair of the Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity in Emergency Medicine Research Committee.

Dr. Mumma earned her medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and completed her residency at the University of Pittsburgh Affiliated Residency Program. She then completed a research fellowship at UC Davis, earning a Master of Advanced Studies (M.A.S.) in clinical research before joining the faculty.

Within the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM), Dr. Mumma has held numerous leadership roles, including vice chair and chair of the Grants Committee, chair of the Bylaws Committee, and course faculty for the SAEM Grant Writing Workshop, ARMED Course, and SAEMF/EMF Grantee Workshop.

Her academic work focuses on outcomes and systems of care in cardiovascular emergencies, with particular interest in sex and gender differences, cardiac biomarkers, and myocardial infarction. In addition to her work in faculty development, she has co-authored clinical guidelines for the SAEM Guidelines for Reasonable and Appropriate Care in Emergency Medicine (GRACE) and the American Heart Association.

Jane H. Brice, MD, MPH

Chair Member

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine

Dr. Brice is a professor and chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Medicine. She holds adjunct appointments in the Department of Epidemiology and the Department of Social Medicine. Dr. Brice earned her medical degree from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and her Master of Public Health degree in epidemiology from the UNC School of Public Health.

Dr. Brice’s clinical and research interests focus on prehospital care, particularly the care provided by Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel. Her work aims to improve the quality and efficiency of trauma care, pediatric care, and stroke care in the prehospital environment. Dr. Brice is also passionate about health equity, with a focus on health literacy and addressing disparities in emergency care. She has led multiple federally funded research projects in these areas.

Dr. Brice is an active member of several professional organizations, including the Association of Academic Chairs of Emergency Medicine (AACEM), the National Association of EMS Physicians, the Society of Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM), and the American College of Emergency Physicians. She has served SAEM in multiple capacities, including as a member of AACEM, where she has contributed significantly to advancing academic emergency medicine. Additionally, she is a fellow of the American Heart Association and a member of the American Public Health Association. 

In addition to her academic and clinical responsibilities, Dr. Brice serves as an EMS medical director in North Carolina. Her leadership extends to national programs, including participation in the AACEM Chair Development Program and the Emerging Leader Development Program (eLEAD). Dr. Brice is a former paramedic and remains actively engaged in EMS-related initiatives.

Patricia Hernandez, MD

Resident Member

Massachusetts General Hospital

Dr. Patricia Hernández is a third-year resident in the Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency Program at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Dr. Hernández earned her Bachelor of Arts in molecular biology and global health policy from Princeton University before obtaining her medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine.

She is deeply committed to addressing healthcare disparities, advancing medical education, and serving vulnerable communities. Dr. Hernández became involved with the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) as a medical student ambassador, which provided invaluable exposure to the organization’s mission of advancing academic emergency medicine.

Since then, Dr. Hernández has served in several leadership roles within SAEM, including as a former RAMS Board Member-at-Large, resident liaison to the SAEM Education Committee, and resident reviewer for the SAEM Grants Committee. She is also an active member of the Academy for Women in Academic Emergency Medicine (AWAEM) and the Academy for Diversity and Inclusion in Emergency Medicine (ADIEM).

In these roles, Dr. Hernández has contributed to projects ranging from developing educational roadmaps, reviewing grants, to organizing national webinars for medical students and residents.