Christian Arbelaez, MD, MPH

I am currently the Chair in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Boston Medical Center and Boston University School of Medicine. Before joining BMC, I was the Vice Chair of Academic Affairs at at Brown Emergency Medicine and a physician leader at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. I received my MD degree from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and completed residency training at Brown Emergency Medicine. After residency, I was accepted into the Commonwealth Fund Minority Health Policy Fellowship and earned an MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health. As a physician leader at BWH/HMS, I completed the Executive Education program as part of 1st cohort in the Harvard Business School Brigham Physician Leadership program at Harvard Business School. During my mid-career, I was accepted into the National Hispanic Medical Association (NHMA) Mid-Career Executive Leadership Fellowship at the NYU Wagner School of Public Service Leadership Center.

With more than 20 years of senior leadership experience, I have a track record of mentoring and collaborating and built my academic career by helping to create academic programs and projects with multiple academic universities and international organizations. Over the span of my professional career, my passion and “Ikigai” has been focused on vulnerable populations in the US and abroad. I am interested in joining the SAEM Board of Directors because we are in a critical inflection point for the specialty and I want to be a part of the strategic planning to determine our future areas of opportunity for growth, innovation, equity, integration, and collaboration with partners.As a new chair, I believe that I can bring a depth and breadth of experience and perspectives that will help the SAEM Board understand the current state and needs while also preparing for a future state. If elected, I hope to help advance our strategic goals in the areas of workforce development and Professional Development and Support.