Adam Kipust

My journey into emergency medicine began as a search and rescue volunteer in high school. At eighteen, I earned my EMT license and started working 24-hour ambulance shifts. Those nights taught me to stay steady in the middle of chaos and to find meaning in moments that didn’t always have clear answers. I started to see what we all see in emergency medicine: the incredible privilege and responsibility of being there when people are at their most vulnerable. It was also where I began learning the skills that would define my path: advocating for patients, thinking fast but acting with empathy, and balancing urgency with compassion. That’s what drew me in, a mix of medicine, humanity, and the chance to make a difference in the most impactful moments of patients' lives.

But those early experiences also showed me how uneven our emergency care system can be. I treated patients who had nowhere else to turn, saw the cracks in behavioral health response, and realized how profoundly systems and policy shape outcomes long before anyone calls 911. That perspective pushed me toward research, health policy, and education, toward building the evidence and infrastructure that make better care possible.

Now, as an M.D./M.P.H. candidate at the University of Miami, I’m working to connect those lessons from the field to the future of academic emergency medicine. I’ve seen how powerful mentorship and collaboration can be for students, and I want to help extend those opportunities to others.

If elected to the RAMS Board, I hope to help more medical students find their place in academic emergency medicine: in research, education, and leadership. Through my experiences on national committees with SAEM, ACEP, and NAEMSP, I’ve seen the value of engaging early and being heard. I want every student who’s passionate about this field to have the same chance to grow, contribute, and shape the systems we’ll one day inherit.