Reframe the Education Alliance With Collective Advocacy: Maximize the Learning Environment for Educator and Unions

Sara Krzyzaniak MD is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Stanford University where she serves as an Associate Vice Chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine as well as the Residency Program Director. She completed medical school at Northwestern University followed by residency training at Denver Health Residency in EM. She has had several leadership roles in medical education for the past decade. Dr. Krzyzaniak is passionate about medical education and enjoys mentoring and working with medical students and residents. Her research interests are in strategies to address the remediation of struggling learners and issues related to gender and race representation in medicine and has authored several peer-reviewed articles on these topics. She is a peer reviewer for several journals and is a guest consulting editor for WestJEM's CORD/CDEM issue. She has lectured nationally on both clinical and education topics.

Dr. Fiona Gallahue is the former president of the Council of Residency Directors in Emergency Medicine (CORD-EM). Dr. Gallahue established the emergency medicine residency program at the University of Washington (UW) in 2011. She led the program from 2011 through 2023 and is now the program director emeritus of the emergency medicine residency at the UW. She is a professor at the UW in the Department of Emergency Medicine. She was awarded the Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Award by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) in 2020 and the Parker J. Palmer Program Director Award from CORD-EM in 2023.

Dr. Gallahue is a graduate of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. She completed her residency and chief residency in emergency medicine at New York University/Bellevue Medical Center in 2001.

Saadia Akhtar, MD, is a professor of emergency medicine and medical education and senior associate dean for trainee well-being in graduate medical education at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Since 2018, she has served as associate dean for trainee well-being in graduate medical education, overseeing several successful initiatives to enhance the well-being of residents and clinical fellows. These initiatives include establishing a GME well-being survey to assess the needs of residents and fellows, expanding the GME Well-being Champion program, and creating the GME Clinical Work Intensity Matching Grant Program.

In 2024, Dr. Akhtar was promoted to senior associate dean for trainee well-being in GME, continuing to lead efforts to address resident and fellow burnout. She supports collaborative initiatives to create and integrate well-being curricular activities in training programs, raise awareness of existing resources for residents and fellows, and enable GME Well-being Champions to enhance the efficiency and culture of the training environment. She is also a leading faculty member of the Office of Well-Being and Resilience.

Dr. Akhtar previously served as the director of the emergency medicine residency program at Mount Sinai Beth Israel. She is a former president of the Council of Residency Directors in Emergency Medicine (CORD) and an oral board examiner for the American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM). She has received numerous awards, including the ACGME Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Award for program director excellence and the CORD Michael P. Wainscott Program Director Award. She is the course co-director for the Collaborative for healing and Renewal in Medicine (CHARM) national GME Well-being Leaders Certificate Course. Dr. Akhtar completed a combined residency in emergency medicine and internal medicine at Mount Sinai Beth Israel and served as chief resident in her final year of training.