Awards

SAEM is pleased to sponsor the Medical Student Excellence in Emergency Medicine Award. This award is made available to each medical school to select a senior medical student who has demonstrated excellence in the specialty of emergency medicine.

Recipient(s)

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  Cali Myers, MHA

  University of Alabama at Birmingham

  Cali Myers, MHA, is a dedicated healthcare executive currently serving as executive administrator for the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. In this role, she oversees a $20+ million annual budget, supports over 60 faculty members, and leads efforts across financial, operational, and human resources functions. She also serves her institution as a member of both the Health System Financial Stewardship Committee and the Provider Practice Optimization Committee. She joined the Academy of Administrators in Academic Emergency Medicine (AAAEM) in August 2021 as an associate member, at the time serving as the associate administrator in her department. She became the interim executive administrator in June 2023 and took on the permanent role in March 2024, at which time she became an active member of AAAEM.

  She has served on the Strategic Planning Committee, Membership Committee, and Education and Professional Development Committee. Most notably, she has served on the Communications Committee, becoming Chair for the committee in the 2022 and continuing to serve in this capacity to this day. Cali also participated in the Member Insider Program as a mentee in its inaugural year, and is currently enrolled as a Certificate in Academic Emergency Medicine Administration (CAEMA) participant. Finally, she was recently elected to serve on the Executive Committee as a member-at-large for the 2024-2025 year.

  Outside of her professional life, she contributes to community service through the Junior League of Birmingham, currently serving as the assistant chair of the Grace Klein Community Food Rescue and Delivery Committee. She also serves as a foster for Kitty Kat Haven and Rescue.

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  Kashwayne Williams, MBA, MHA

  Washington University

  Kashwayne Williams, MBA, MHA, is the executive director for business affairs and strategic planning in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Washington University (WashU) School of Medicine. With a background in economics, business, and health administration from Georgia State University, he is also a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.

  Williams has extensive experience in academic medicine, previously serving at Morehouse School of Medicine before joining WashU in 2014. Over the years, he has held leadership roles in the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, the Department of Pediatrics, and now Emergency Medicine.

  Beyond his professional work, Williams is actively involved in healthcare management education as an adjunct professor at Saint Louis University and serves in leadership roles with the Academy of Administrators in Academic Emergency Medicine. Originally from Jamaica, he enjoys soccer and family life with his wife, Shedeka, and their daughter, Remi.

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  Sara N. Engel, MBA, CAEMA

  Medical College of Wisconsin

  Sara N. Engel, MBA, CAEMA, currently serves as the administrator in the Department of Emergency Medicine and as the unit executive administrator of the Departments of Anesthesiology and Emergency Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW). With over seven years at MCW, Sara has held roles of increasing responsibility, demonstrating her dedication and expertise.

  In her role as department administrator, Sara has been instrumental in building a robust leadership team, significantly enhancing operations and support across all missions. Her strategic efforts have been pivotal in achieving both MCW’s overarching strategic goals and the specific goals of the department's chair. Under her guidance, the department's operations and financial standing have been notably strengthened, and the administrative team has expanded in both size and expertise.

  Sara's leadership journey spans over 12 years in the healthcare sector, with a strong emphasis on team building, engagement, and results-oriented operations leadership. She has been recognized for her steady fiscal management and innovative approaches. An active member of the American Academy of Academic Emergency Medicine (AAAEM) since her start in Emergency Medicine, Sara graduated from the Certified Academic Emergency Medicine Administrator (CAEMA) program in 2024.

  Sara's diverse background includes growing up in Egypt and immigrating to the United States during her junior year of high school. She is a native Arabic speaker and attended a French immersion school in Cairo before moving to the U.S. She holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from Liberty University. Outside of work, Sara enjoys watching basketball with her husband and friends, spending quality time with loved ones, and exploring new cities around the world.

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  Alyssa Tyransky, MTDA

  The Ohio State University

  Alyssa Tyransky, MTDA, has been with emergency medicine since age 18 and hasn’t looked back! Throughout her time at The Ohio State University, she has been involved in special projects and supportive roles with the residency program, undergraduate medical education, coding and billing, finance, physician productivity and incentive, research, and administration. With her background in multiple missions throughout the department and data analytics, she has been answering and acting as point for Ohio State’s benchmark surveys with Association of Academic Chairs of Emergency Medicine/Academy of Administrators in Academic Emergency Medicine (AACEM/AAAEM) since 2017. In 2022, she became the manager of the benchmark survey and data analytics. Her main roles as the manager have been overseeing the survey answers from institutions across the country, data cleaning and preparation for the retreat presentations, teaching and guiding AACEM and AAAEM members on the benchmark insights portal, and any ad hoc requests that come her way. Through her time as data manager, she has gotten to see the surveys grow in depth and complexity, creating two new surveys: the Fellow Salary Survey and the Urgent Care Operations Survey. She has enjoyed seeing how academic emergency medicine is changing and growing, and she is honored to be part of such a wonderful specialty!

Click the grant name to learn more about Dr. Casey's work.

Recipient(s)

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  Martin F. Casey, MD, MPH

  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  "Developing a Foundation for a Novel Emergency Department-Based Intervention to Address Inappropriate Aspirin"

  Martin F. Casey, MD, MPH, is an assistant professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Medicine. He completed medical school and residency training at Mount Sinai Hospital/Elmhurst Hospital in New York City in 2020. He went on to earn a Master of Public Health degree with a focus on outcomes research from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University.

  Dr. Casey is a clinician-researcher whose work focuses on leveraging the emergency care setting to identify inappropriate medications and polypharmacy in older adults and to initiate deprescribing interventions. His research has been supported by the U.S. Deprescribing Research Network, the National Foundation for Emergency Medicine, the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine Foundation, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Click the grant name to learn more about Dr. Balaji's work.

Recipient(s)

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  Adhitya Balaji

  Trustees of Indiana University

  "Integration of Simulation Into Rapid Sequence Intubation Training for Advanced Life Support/Basic Life Support Paramedics"

  Adhitya Balaji is a second-year medical student at the Indiana University School of Medicine and a graduate of Indiana University Bloomington, where he earned a double major in molecular life sciences and neuroscience with a minor in economics. Adhitya is actively involved in advancing emergency medical services (EMS) through his role in quality assurance and education for Indiana University Health LifeLine, a comprehensive regional EMS provider, while also working clinically as an emergency medical technician (EMT) on a 9-1-1 ambulance. His research interests focus on EMS, simulation, quality improvement, and medical education. Adhitya also serves as the director of Midwest Outreach for The Journal of Collegiate Emergency Medical Services and as graduate advisor for Indiana University Collegiate Emergency Medical Services (IC-EMS), the collegiate EMS agency at IU Bloomington. He plans to pursue a career in emergency medicine with a special interest in prehospital medicine. 

Click the grant name to learn more about Dr. Luke's work.

Recipient(s)

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  Jude Luke

  University of Cincinnati College of Medicine

  "ACED (A1C Check in ED): An Emergency Department Diabetes Screening and Linkage to Care Program"

  Jude Luke is a fourth-year medical student at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. He completed his undergraduate education at the University of Cincinnati, where he was a member of the Connections Dual Admissions Program with the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. Inspired by his experience volunteering in the emergency department (ED) of NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue in Manhattan, where he learned about ED diabetes screening efforts, Jude, at the age of 19, began designing a program tailored to the unique needs of Cincinnati’s community. With support from the SAEMF/RAMS Resident Research Grant, he is piloting a comprehensive ED-based A1C diabetes screening program to assess its feasibility and potential to connect affected patients to primary care. Jude is an active emergency medicine (EM) researcher, contributing to projects on chest pain stratification, mild traumatic brain injury management, and ED quality improvement, resulting in multiple publications and presentations at the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) annual meeting and other national EM conferences. Within the University of Cincinnati Department of Emergency Medicine, Jude serves as the senior student research advisor for the Medical Student Scholars Program and as a medical student member in the Division of Social Emergency Medicine. He is passionate about a career in emergency medicine and aspires to advance health equity and improve patient care through innovative systems-based solutions. 

Click the grant name to learn more about Dr. Gottschalk's work.

Recipient(s)

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  Carter Gottschalk

  Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

  "Effects of Cardiac Monitoring in Perceived Stress of Unexplained Syncope Patients"

  Carter Gottschalk is a third-year medical student at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, focusing on community outreach and patient-centered outcomes. He conducted computational drug discovery projects while earning a Bachelor of Science degree at Virginia Tech and worked as a clinical research coordinator at the University of Virginia, focusing on stroke and hemorrhage studies. His current work in the emergency department involves measuring perceived stress, adherence, follow-up times, and patient experience associated with cardiac monitoring devices for unexplained syncopal events. Through the Resident and Medical Student Grant and The David E. Wilcox, MD, FACEP Scholarship, he aims to characterize patient perspectives on unexplained syncope, a condition challenging to risk-stratify and associated with diagnostic uncertainty. This grant supports his qualitative and quantitative data collection efforts, helping to fortify his skills as a young investigator. 

Click the grant name to learn more about Dr. Ho's work.

Recipient(s)

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  Katarina Ho

  Brown University

  "Use of Intubation Kits With Checklists to Reduce Intubation Risks in Rwanda"

  Katarina Ho is a medical student at Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. She earned her Bachelor of Science in microbiology, immunology, and molecular genetics from the University of California, Los Angeles. Katarina previously worked at Massachusetts General Hospital, where she contributed to studies in subarachnoid hemorrhage and traumatic brain injury. Her research now focuses on improving outcomes in emergency medicine, specifically through the implementation of endotracheal intubation kits and checklists in resource-limited settings. She currently leads a project in collaboration with the University Teaching Hospital - Kigali (CHUK) and the University of Rwanda to bridge gaps in global health by enhancing emergency care practices in low-resource environments. Katarina is a recipient of the Ali and Danielle Raja RAMS Medical Student Research Grant from the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine Foundation (SAEMF). 

Click the grant name to learn more about Dr. Topping's work.

Recipient(s)

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  Carlisle Topping

  Yale University

  "What You See Is What You Learn: National Variation in Emergency Medicine Residency Environments"

  Carlisle Topping is a research year medical student at Yale University pursuing an MD/MHS degree. She earned a bachelor's degree in biology from Columbia University.

  Prior to medical school, she worked in the Cancer Outcomes Research and Education Program at Massachusetts General Hospital. Her introduction to emergency medicine was at Bellevue Hospital where she worked as a patient advocate and was witness to the impact of social forces and systems on health. She is interested in emergency medicine with a dedication to advancing equitable healthcare for individuals from low-income areas. This drove her to join Dr. Arjun Venkatesh’s lab, where she has worked on multiple health services and health policy projects addressing overlapping geographic and socioeconomic health inequities.

Click the grant name to learn more about Dr. Chiacchia's work.

Recipient(s)

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  Samuel Chiacchia, MD

  Stanford University

  "NextGen Artificial Intelligence for Predicting Organ Support Needs From the Emergency Department"

  Samuel Chiacchia, MD, is a postgraduate year two (PGY2) in the Stanford Emergency Medicine Residency Program. He grew up in Colorado Springs, Colorado and is a graduate of Princeton University and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Dr. Chiacchia’s research interests are at the intersection of emergency medicine, critical care, and informatics, where he hopes to develop clinical decision support tools that improve risk stratification among critical and peri-critical patients in the emergency department. He plans to pursue a fellowship in critical care and practice academic emergency and critical care medicine while pursuing a career in grant funded research as a physician scientist. He is grateful for the generosity of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine Foundation (SAEMF), whose support through the SAEMF/RAMS Resident Research Grant will work to advance his career aspirations in science and medicine. 

Click the grant name to learn more about Dr. Brown's work.

Recipient(s)

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  Sean Brown, MD, MBA, ScM

  Mass General Brigham

  "Gender Disparities in Point-of-Care Ultrasound"

  Sean Brown, MD, MBA, ScM, is an emergency medicine resident at the Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency (HAEMR) program, based at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital.

  Dr. Brown earned his medical degree and Master of Business Administration from the Lewis Katz School of Medicine and the Fox School of Business at Temple University. Prior to that, he completed his undergraduate studies at Johns Hopkins University, where he also obtained a Master of Science.

  Dr. Brown is committed to enhancing clinical practices to ensure all patients receive high-quality, equitable care. The SAEMF/RAMS grant supports his research into inequities in point-of-care ultrasound use in the emergency department.

Click the grant name to learn more about Dr. Hurley's work.

Recipient(s)

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  Sara Hurley, MD

  The Ohio State University

  "Elder Mistreatment Radiographic Biomarkers in Emergency Department Patients With Rib Fractures"

Click the grant name to learn more about Dr. Arra's work.

Recipient(s)

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  Manoj Arra, MD, PhD

  The Washington University

  "Characterizing Time of Day Variation in Human Neutrophil Inflammation and Metabolism"

  Manoj Arra, MD, PhD, is a third-year emergency medicine resident at Washington University in St. Louis, aiming for a career in academic emergency medicine and critical care. His research focuses on developing novel biomarkers and therapeutics to enhance patient outcomes in sepsis.​

  Dr. Arra completed his undergraduate degree at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and earned his MD-PhD from Washington University School of Medicine. His doctoral research in Molecular Cell Biology, under the mentorship of Yousef Abu-Amer, PhD, explored the relationship between inflammation, metabolism, and oxidative stress in chondrocytes, contributing to osteoarthritic changes.

  Currently, Dr. Arra is investigating biological rhythms in cellular metabolism and inflammatory responses of myeloid cells, a project supported by the SAEMF Resident Research Grant Award. ​

  In addition to his research, Dr. Arra was selected for membership in the Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society in 2023.

Click the grant name to learn more about Dr. Edelson's work.

Recipient(s)

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  Hannah Edelson, MD, MPH

  The Regents of the University of California, Los Angeles

  "Measuring Emergency Physician Attitudes and Adoption of Syphilis and Human Immunodeficiency Virus Testing"

  Hannah “Claire” Edelson, MD, MPH, is a third-year emergency medicine resident physician at the University of California, Los Angeles. She earned a medical degree and a master’s in public health in global environmental health at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Her interests include simulation in medical education, emergency department-led initiatives to improve equitable, high-quality care for socially vulnerable patients, and strengthening global health systems. Outside of work, Claire enjoys hiking, skiing, cycling, swimming, and gardening. 

Click the grant name to learn more about Dr. Reis' work.

Recipient(s)

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  William Reis, MD, MS

  University of Pennylvania

  "Pulseless Electrical Activity in Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest: Understanding Etiologies and Outcomes"

  William Reis, MD, MS, is a fourth-year emergency medicine resident at the University of Pennsylvania with a dedicated focus on improving outcomes for patients experiencing cardiac arrest, particularly those presenting with pulseless electrical activity (PEA). PEA is a subset of cardiac arrest characterized by electrical activity without a detectable pulse, known for its increasing incidence and high mortality rate, yet lacking specific treatments.

  Dr. Reis earned his undergraduate degree from Emory University before obtaining his medical degree from the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine. He is currently completing his residency training in emergency medicine at Penn Medicine.

  Dr. Reis’s research aims to clinically define phenotypes of PEA and identify treatments for idiopathic PEA—cases without an identifiable reversible cause. By distinguishing idiopathic PEA from cases with known etiologies, he seeks to enhance understanding of PEA's underlying mechanisms and determine the prevalence of idiopathic instances. For PEA cases with identifiable causes, the standard approach involves addressing the reversible etiology. However, for idiopathic cases, current treatment options are limited to cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), which has low survival rates.

  To advance this critical area of resuscitation research, Dr. Reis plans to pursue a research fellowship focused on repurposing existing therapeutics for the treatment of idiopathic PEA.

Click the grant name to learn more about Dr. Zuniga's work.

Recipient(s)

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  Gabrielle Zuniga, MD, PhD

  The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

  "Assess the Efficacy and Target Engagement of 3TC After Traumatic Brain Injury"

  Gabrielle Zuniga, MD, PhD, is a physician-scientist in the emergency medicine residency program at the University of Texas Health San Antonio. She earned a medical degree and a doctorate from the South Texas Medical Scientist Training Program at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Her work in the laboratory of Dr. Bess Frost focused on identifying mechanisms downstream of tau-induced neurodegeneration. Dr. Zuniga discovered that tau-induced deficits in ribonucleic acid (RNA) quality control are a novel pharmacologically targetable mechanism of neurodegeneration. She also played a key role in the development and completion of the clinical trial investigating the safety and feasibility of antiretroviral therapy in Alzheimer’s disease (ART-AD). Her current research interests are to elucidate tau-based mechanisms of neurodegeneration in the context of emergency medical care of patients after traumatic brain injury. 

Click the grant name to learn more about Dr. Hsiang's work.

Recipient(s)

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  Elaine Hsiang, MD

  Stanford University

  "Emergency Department Avoidance and Hesitancy to Seek Care Among LGBTQ+ Young Adults"

  Elaine Hsiang, MD, is a social emergency medicine fellow and clinical instructor at Stanford University School of Medicine. She earned her medical degree from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and completed her emergency medicine residency at UCSF, where she also served as chief resident.

  Dr. Hsiang's research focuses on LGBTQIA+ health, particularly its intersections with substance use, health professions education, and emergency care.

  Dr. Hsiang is an active member of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM), contributing to the SAEM Academy for Diversity and Inclusion in Emergency Medicine (ADIEM) LGBTQIA+ Committee and the SAEM Social Emergency Medicine and Population Health Interest Group. In recognition of her work, Dr. Hsiang received an SAEM Foundation Grant for her project on emergency department avoidance and hesitancy among LGBTQIA+ patients.

Click the grant name to learn more about Dr. Barron's work.

Recipient(s)

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  Rebecca Barron, MD, MPH

  Baystate Medical Center

  "Influence of a Sexual Assault Curriculum on TeleSAFE's Efficacy"

  Rebecca Barron, MD, MPH, is an attending emergency physician at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Massachusetts, and serves as an assistant professor of emergency medicine at UMass Chan Medical School-Baystate.

  Dr. Barron earned both her medical degree and Master of Public Health from Tufts University School of Medicine. Dr. Barron completed her emergency medicine residency followed by a fellowship in Sex and Gender in Emergency Medicine at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. During her fellowship, she also obtained a Post-Master's Certificate in Evidence-Based Teaching in the Health Professions from Johns Hopkins University.​

  Dr. Barron is deeply committed to women's health, public health, and medical education. She has focused on enhancing acute sexual assault care through education, research, and local and regional initiatives. Currently, she is an Access Bridge fellow, aiming to improve reproductive health care and infectious disease follow-up from the emergency department.

  In medical education, Dr. Barron contributes as a small group leader in the Early Clinical Learning course.

Click the grant name to learn more about Dr. Tennil's work.

Recipient(s)

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  Robert Tennill, MD

  Board of Trustees of Southern Illinois University

  "Exploring Factors that Contribute to Future Placement into Rural Emergency Medicine"

  Robert Tennill, MD, is the residency program director and an assistant professor of emergency medicine at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine (SIUSOM).

  Dr. Tennill earned his undergraduate degree in psychology from Washington University in St. Louis before obtaining his medical degree from SIUSOM. He completed his emergency medicine residency at the University of Kansas Medical Center. After residency, he practiced community emergency medicine at Research Medical Center in Kansas City, followed by positions at Memorial Medical Center and Passavant Area Hospital in central Illinois.

  In 2019, Dr. Tennill transitioned to academic emergency medicine, joining SIUSOM’s emergency medicine faculty as assistant professor and clerkship director. He currently serves as the director of undergraduate medical education in emergency medicine and plays an active role in graduate medical education as core faculty and chair of the Clinical Competency Committee. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the Illinois College of Emergency Physicians.

  Dr. Tennill’s academic and research interests include medical education, curriculum development, simulation, and rural emergency medicine.

Click the grant name to learn more about Dr. Gaillard's and Dr. Gelmann's work.

Recipient(s)

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  John Gaillard, MD

  Wake Forest University Health Sciences

  "Using Simulation to Improve Extracorporeal Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Utilization and Initiation in the Emergency Department"

  John Gaillard, MD, is an associate professor at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, holding appointments in the Department of Critical Care and the Department of Emergency Medicine. 

  Gaillard earned his medical degree from the Medical University of South Carolina College of Medicine and completed his emergency medicine residency at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, followed by a critical care fellowship at the same institution. 

  Dr. Gaillard's clinical and research interests include point-of-care ultrasound, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. He plays an integral role in Wake Forest's ECMO program, contributing to the development of an eCPR program for cardiac arrest patients.

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  Dominique Gelmann, MD

  Wake Forest University Health Sciences

  "Using Simulation to Improve Extracorporeal Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Utilization and Initiation in the Emergency Department"

  Dominique Gelmann, MD, is a third-year emergency medicine resident at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She earned her medical degree from the University of Maryland School of Medicine. During her time there, she developed a passion for emergency medicine and critical care. Dr. Gelmann is set to begin a critical care fellowship at Wake Forest University in 2027, aiming to integrate her interests in acute resuscitation and the longitudinal care of critically ill patients.

  Actively involved in the development of an extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (eCPR) program at Wake Forest, Dr. Gelmann focuses on prehospital identification of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients who may benefit from extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, facilitating timely cannulation in the emergency department. She has been awarded the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine Foundation/Simulation Academy Research Grant to evaluate the implementation of an eCPR simulation for emergency medicine and critical care trainees and staff. 

Click the grant name to learn more about Dr. Heslin's work.

Recipient(s)

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  Samita Heslin, MD, MBA, MPH, MA, MS

  Stony Brook University - The Research Foundation for the State University of New York

  "Artificial Intelligence Medication Reconciliation for Older Adults in the Emergency Department"

  Samita Heslin, MD, MBA, MPH, MA, MS, is an assistant professor of emergency medicine at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University. She earned a medical degree, a master’s in business administration, and a master’s in public health from Stony Brook University, as well as a master’s in clinical informatics from Oregon Health & Science University. She also earned a Master of Arts from Harvard University. Dr. Heslin completed her emergency medicine residency at Stony Brook University, where she also served as chief resident. Dr. Heslin’s current research focuses on integrating emergency care operations and informatics.