TogetHER: Enhancing the Professional Development of Women Physicians Through Collaborative Initiatives (AWAEM and ADIEM Sponsored)

Riddhi Desai is a Senior Medical Education Fellow at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn NY and Clinical Assistant Professor at SUNY Downstate College of Medicine. She completed her residency training at St. Joseph's University Medical Center in Paterson NJ in 2022. Riddhi is very enthusiastic about women's professional development, resuscitation, and procedural medicine. Her passion within education lies in bedside teaching, developing curricula to bridge knowledge gaps, mentorship and recruitment. She also earned Masters of Medical Education at University of Pennsylvania during her fellowship.

Dr. Love is an assistant professor of emergency medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. After residency at the University of Pennsylvania, she completed a medical toxicology fellowship at Oregon Health & Science University. She then completed a clinical research fellowship at the Icahn School of Medicine under Dr. Lynne Richardson's T32 training program in emergency care research. Her current work focuses on opioid use disorder and novel substances of misuse, specifically xylazine. She also serves as the SAEM AWAEM research committee co-chair and the VP of Education.

Valerie Dobiesz, MD, MPH, Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School, is an emergency physician working clinically at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and Tséhootsooí Medical Center in Fort Defiance and serves as the Director of the Front Line Indigenous Partnership (FLIP) Program which is dedicated to improving American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) health and eliminating existing health disparities. She is a core faculty in the BWH emergency department’s Office of Inclusion Diversity, Equity and Social Justice and a core faculty member of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI) where she directs programs on Indigenous Health Disparities and Medical Education in War and Conflict. She is nationally recognized for her emergency medicine courses for medical professionals in the areas of simulation education, maternal health, gender equity, orthopedics, and wilderness and expedition medicine. To address the lack of a sufficient AIAN healthcare workforce she partners with Tribal leaders on developing and supporting multiple pathway programs for Indigenous youth to pursue healthcare careers including the Medicine Pathways to Advancing Tribal Healthcare program, Saint Michael Indian School Premedical Society, San Carlos Apache Premedical Summer Program, North American Center of Boston Medicine Ways Pathway Program, and the relaunching of the National Native American Youth Initiative program in collaboration with the Association of American Indian Physicians. She has presented over 200 national and over 100 international lectures on a variety of subspecialties in emergency medicine in Peru, India, Nepal, Tanzania, Antarctica, Cuba, the Philippines, Haiti, Galapagos, Democratic Republic of Congo, Vietnam, Fiji, New Zealand, Bhutan, Ukraine, and Argentina.

Dr. Penelope (Penny) Lema is the Vice Chair of Faculty Affairs and an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. She completed her Emergency Medicine Residency and Emergency Ultrasound Fellowship at Northshore University Hospital at Manhasset (now Northwell), where she served as Chief Resident. Dr. Lema has been a nationally recognized leader in Emergency Medicine and within Emergency Ultrasound. She is the past Chair of the ACEP Emergency Ultrasound Section, past Treasurer and Board of Director of SCUF, and current Secretary-Treasurer and member of the Board of the NY Chapter of ACEP. She is an active member of SAEM AEUS and AWAEM. Dr. Lema is a passionate educator and advocate for Emergency Medicine, dedicated to inclusion and equity in medicine and faculty professional development.

Michelle Lin, MD, MPH, MS, is an emergency physician-scientist working to make emergency care more patient-centered, accessible, and equitable. Her active NIH-funded research projects develop new quality measures based on what matters most to patients; improve post-emergency department discharge care for high risk patients; and enhance physician diversity and retention. She is proud to have served as a research mentor to over 40 trainees over the course of her career, including 15 emergency medicine residents who have presented nationally, published peer-reviewed manuscripts, and obtained research funding.

Dr. Lin has received several national awards for her work, including the 2021 SAEM Young Investigator Award and 2016 AcademyHealth Presidential Scholarship for New Health Services Researchers. She completed residency at Bellevue Hospital Center in New York City and fellowship in health policy research at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, where she also completed a Masters in clinical epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Barbara Magid is Chief Resident in Emergency Medicine at New York Presbyterian (NYP) Columbia and Cornell. She attended medical school at Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, and also holds masters in Public Health & Forced Migration (MPH), and in International Affairs (MIA) from Columbia University. Prior to pursuing a career in clinical medicine, she spent over a decade working in international humanitarian aid across five continents on issues such as emergency nutrition and refugee resettlement. She is the resident lead and co-founder of WomEM, the NYP cross-campus women physician’s group. She is an advocate for women trainees, and has also been involved in quality work and migrant health work during her time at NYP.

Dr. Klekowski is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Michigan where she also serves as the Director of the Gender Equity Professional Development Group, Children's Emergency Services Ultrasound Director, Pediatric Advanced Emergency Ultrasonography Fellowship Director, and Advanced Emergency Ultrasonography Fellowship Assistant Program Director. She completed residency in Emergency Medicine followed by fellowships in Pediatric Emergency Medicine and Advanced Emergency Ultrasonography at the University of Michigan. She has academic interests in Pediatric Emergency Medicine point-of-care Ultrasound (PEMPOCUS) and gender equity in medicine. She has a clinical interest in ultrasound, caring for patients with critical care needs across the age spectrum, and bringing breastfeeding support to the bedside. Dr. Klekowski is honored to care for patients in Children's Emergency Services and Adult Emergency Services.