People

Member-at-Large

Yale New Haven Hospital

Hello! My name is Garrison Nord, I am currently a PGY-3 at Yale and I am applying for a member-at-large position on the RAMS board. I completed medical school at Thomas Jefferson University in Philly. Before medical school I studied Finance at Villanova then worked in banking as a financial analyst at Wells Fargo for 4 years before transitioning careers.

My goal in serving on the RAMS board is to have the Emergency Department become a more optimal learning environment for students, residents and attendings. I believe we can be more proactive and should aim to meet the personal educational needs and goals of each of our learners amidst the unpredictable clinical environment. As a RAMS board member I aim to translate this goal by using the platforms such as Pulse, webinars, and social media to disseminate educational innovations and best practices, and promoting use of established SAEM resources. To that specific aim I am researching interventions to increase resident goal-setting and resident feedback. I hope to promote funding for and to conduct Educational research to assess strategies that maximize learning in our Emergency Departments.

I deeply enjoy teaching and the dynamics of the clinical and extra-clinical learning environment. To that end, I currently serve on Yale’s Resident and Medical Student Education committees. In these roles, I have spearheaded changes to our intern orientation curriculum and composed both new didactic and on-shift learning material. I previously served as a medical student liaison for a complete medical school curriculum change and published qualitative research on those results. These roles have given me insight into the process of graduate and undergraduate curriculum development as well as evaluation of medical student experiences. These experiences have made me comfortable acting as a representative for a larger body of students and learners and have made me an effective teammate and leader in my time serving on committees. These traits would serve me well on the RAMS board.

Member-at-Large

New York Presbyterian - Cornell/Columbia

Before medical school I was a 6th grade math and science teacher to 120 students in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. I had felt so lucky for my own education that I knew I wanted to give back and focus on someone else’s education during my gap year. I learned quickly that teachers and learners tend to have a wall between them. As a teacher, my students often made assumptions that I knew things that I actually wasn’t privy to - how they were feeling, what they were thinking, or what they needed. However, most students never spoke up to tell me their concerns. I had to remind them to share the things they were thinking, so I could best support them. I worked everyday to gain a better understanding of where my students were as learners and as people. Just one month after I finished teaching, I started medical school. I went from being the teacher, back to the learner. I often heard my friends complain about something that a professor or administrator was doing. When I asked them if they told anyone about their concern they nearly always said “no, but I’m sure they know”. It made it even more clear to me how there is often a disconnect between teachers and learners, which leads to frustration and dissatisfaction all around.

Within two months at New York Medical College, I was elected to the school's curriculum committee where I became a liaison between students and faculty. I brought student concerns to faculty and brought faculty expertise back to students. It was no surprise to me that professors were thrilled to help the moment they got the feedback they had requested from students. During my time on the committee I learned so much about medical education. Together, we designed and implemented an entirely new systems-based and shortened preclinical curriculum. We created open feedback surveys and monthly town halls to help students and faculty share concerns and problem solve.

Now in residency, I help lead our residency recruitment board, I volunteer at college outreach programs, I speak and mentor at my own medical school, and I continue to have a passion for medical education. I want to be part of the SAEM RAMS board to support learners not just in medical school and residency but throughout their medical careers. I want to create tools and references that grow with us through all of the stages of our careers. I want to build virtual drives with easily accessible and shareable information between residency programs and for all EM physicians. I aim to find ways to make tools that can grow with our ever changing field and support people wherever they are, in whatever capacity they need.

Member-at-Large

NYC H+H/Lincoln Medical Center

My higher education began in Boulder, CO where I attended the University of Colorado as an undergraduate prior to matriculating at the University of Illinois in Chicago for medical school. Currently, I am a PGY-3 at Lincoln Medical Center in the South Bronx. My qualifications for the RAMS Board include strategic planning, experience with fundraising, and planning/development. While at the University of Colorado, I was president of the triathlon team which consisted of approximately 120 co-ed athletes. As president, I managed the team budget, organized weekly practices, and arranged travel to the regional and national championships. Prior to medical school I was a research coordinate for a PECARN investigator at Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago. As such, I managed several IRBs and oversaw participant recruitment for two active studies. For over a decade, I have ridden in the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge, a bike-a-thon, which is the largest athletic fundraiser in the country, and I have personally raised over $50,000 for the Dana-Farber Cancer institute over this timespan. My planning and development skills have allowed me to write three IRBs during residency, all of which are approved; two of which are nearing completion.

My SAEM experience includes being granted a SAEM Foundation (SAEMF) sponsored National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) funded Mentor Facilitated Training (MFT) award in the Fall of 2021, during my intern year with Dr. Dana Sacco and Dr. Bernard Chang serving as my mentors. I have published multiple articles in the SAEM Pulse. Currently, I am a resident reviewer for the SAEM Grants Committee and am enrolled as a member of the 2023-2024 cohort for the SAEM Advanced Research Methodology Evaluation and Design course.

I am running for office to help improve the future of academic emergency medicine. Through participation in the SAEMF NIDA MFT award and the SAEM resident reviewer program, I have built a network of mentors within academic emergency medicine. As my career goals include remaining in academic emergency medicine and continuing with a focus on research, I hope to further advance the field of emergency medicine research. Several goals I hope to accomplish, if elected to the SAEM RAMS Board, are (1) increase interest in emergency medicine research starting at the medical student level, (2) help improve resources to aid residents with starting and completing research projects. and (3) increase access to mentorship and research funding for medical student and residents interested in research.

Member-at-Large

Northwestern University

Thank you for the opportunity to serve on the RAMS Board.

I took a non-traditional path to medicine, and was previously Chief of Staff to Congressman Denny Heck in the United States House of Representatives where I handled healthcare policy focused on implementation of the Affordable Care Act. I am an intern at McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University and a graduate of the University of Washington School of Medicine.

On the RAMS Board, I hope to focus on promoting research as a tool for political advocacy. Informed by my prior career in policy, I want to connect residents and medical students to policymakers with the goal of translating research into policy changes. In medical school, I completed research on pharmacy label translation for patients with limited English proficiency. I used this research to inform direct legislative advocacy, working with other medical students to change state law to better support non-English speaking patients.

As a RAMS Board Member, I hope to find more ways to connect medical students and residents to their political leaders, and continue breaking down the silos between good research ideas and good policy ideas.

In this vein, I hope to work with other SAEM members to create a Policy and Advocacy Committee focused on fostering engagement and helping translate member research into public health outcomes. The committee could create training and engagement opportunities for SAEM residents and medical students interested in engaging with political leaders on important public health topics with relevance to emergency medicine.

Adding capabilities for interested medical students to engage with SAEM around public health topics will also serve as a recruitment tool for our field. I believe this will add another layer to SAEM’s strong work and commitment to addressing workforce issues and the recruitment of the next generation of EM leaders.

Finally, as a non-traditional medical student, a first-generation college student, and as a member of the LGBTQ community, I hope to set an example of openness and inclusivity for emerging EM leaders from diverse backgrounds, knowing that our field is best served by a diverse group of leaders and thinkers.

As an MS4, I was proud to earn the SAEM Medical Student Excellence Award at my medical school. I look forward to continuing my involvement in academic emergency medicine throughout residency and my career.

Member-at-Large

UT-Southwestern

I have served on the RAMS Board for two years as the Medical Student Representative and would love to continue my contribution to SAEM as a Member at Large. My contributions to RAMS have included advocating for the member experience on the Membership Committee and creating initiatives to understand and support medical student engagement in EM.

My goal during my past term was to develop an understanding of medical student engagement in EM. To achieve this goal, I developed an EM interest group (EMIG) survey and initiated the RAMS Regional Ambassador Program that pairs RAMS Board members with each of the SAEM regions. The goals of this program are to better advocate and support the RAMS community, engage students in EM, and add value to the SAEM member experience. If elected to be a member at large, I would be excited to expand the Regional Ambassador Program to residents by providing SAEM mentorship opportunities, research support, and wellness strategies to supplement the incredible work of EM residency programs across the county. In my previous terms on the board, my goal was to advocate for RAMS and I am proud of the 2023-2024 board for creating initiatives to inspire genuine community and listening. Building on the foundation of two years of board experience, I hope to continue the legacy of what RAMS has built and expand it as a Member at Large.

Member-at-Large

Northwestern University

I am currently a PGY-2 at Northwestern Memorial Hospital/McGaw Medical Center and hold an MD/MBA from the University of Louisville. Before entering the medical field, I worked as a Project Manager at Epic and at Emmi Solutions, a Population Health Management company. During my MBA program, I worked with Humana's Digital Health and Analytics Group, focusing on Remote Patient Monitoring & AI, and conducted research in the Emergency Department, focusing on novel handheld diagnostic technologies. Over the past two years, I've served as the Resident Liaison for the SAEM Clinical Informatics & Data Science Interest Group and on the RAMS Nominating Committee.

I am driven by a desire to help modernize Emergency Medicine by embracing creative solutions and advanced technologies. If elected as a member-at-large, I will work to empower residents with the essential skills, exposure, and knowledge required to excel in our ever-evolving healthcare landscape. This will involve promoting initiatives that facilitate hands-on training in innovative practices, technologies, and data-driven decision-making as well as creating opportunities for networking and professional leadership development. By serving on the board, my goal is to bridge the gap between tradition and innovation, ensuring that our specialty remains at the forefront of healthcare.

Member-at-Large

Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency - Mass General Brigham

Throughout my training, I have had a deep devotion to equal and equitable treatment of all people, and I am running for RAMS Member at Large to continue that work at the national level. Prior to medical school, I worked as an Intramural Training Award Fellow at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). At the NIH, I was working in community opioid agonist clinics studying the effects and treatment of opioid use disorder. Seeing first-hand how substance use disorder ravaged my community inspired me to go into emergency medicine, a field of medicine that treats all people regardless of creed or ability to pay. While in medical school, I was elected President of my class, and served for all four years of medical school. During that time, I developed core leadership techniques, serving on six school of medicine committees and acting as the liaison between my class and our administrators. I was also elected to the role of Vice President of our Alpha Omega Alpha chapter. Advocating for my peers in both roles was rewarding and exciting, as I was able to see the tangible fruits of my labor. At the end of my medical school journey, I was nominated and received several awards acknowledging my service to my community, including the ACEP/EMRA Medical Student Professionalism and Leadership Award, the William D. Kaplan, M.D. Humanism Award, RISE AAMC Leadership Conference Award Delegation, and the Student Service Award.

What all these experiences have taught me is that the best leaders are not the individuals who have power, but rather the individuals who can empower others. I hope to use my role as a RAMS Member at Large to do precisely that. As a leader, you must be flexible and team oriented. In a time where our specialty is under unprecedented pressure to hold up hospital systems that are at capacity, work on the front lines to advocate for our patients, and all the while receiving record low numbers of new applicants to the specialty, it is more important than ever to empower leaders who will use their voice for change. If elected for this role, I’d leverage my position to lift the voices of the unheard and act in the best interest of all emergency medicine trainees, just as I have in my prior roles. I’d make it my personal mission to tackle the major issues impacting our training, such as hospital boarding disasters, work conditions and mental health of trainees, resources for treating our underserved patients, and recruiting more medical students to our specialty. One project I hope to work on is recruiting residents across the country to help form templated health equity dot phrases that our members could copy into their own EMRs which would provide critical resources for discharge instructions and templated physical exams for patients who come in with a substance use disorder to reduce missing key physical exam findings on our patients. These are no easy feats, though, I am confident that with a stellar team, we will be able to make great progress.

Remember – D’Amore you want, D’Amore you get!

Member-at-Large

New York Presbyterian - Cornell/Columbia

As a medical student at UNC Chapel Hill, I knew from day one that I would go into Emergency Medicine. The Emergency Department was where I realized I wanted to go into medicine, and I was constantly looking for reasons to spend more time there, whether as a volunteer, shadow student, scribe, or medical student. But during those years, I realized that teaching and advising other students was a major source of joy for me and would be a part of my future career as well. I have been lucky to lead EMIG and the student simulation lab, teach ultrasound sessions and clinical skills courses to pre-clinical students, and assist with interviews and transition point events, opportunities that have given me a view from the education administration side of each phase of medical student education.

Now that I have experience in classroom and bedside teaching, I would very much like to engage in education on a larger systemic scale. I think there is a great deal of variation in the exposure and experience of Emergency Medicine that medical students have at different institutions, and we may be missing students who might be interested in EM, but don’t have the same access to opportunities, and I think SAEM is in the perfect position to bring more students into the fold. I am currently working with other residents on preparing a guide for EM Interest Groups across the country to have a more standardized curriculum that would make it easier for students to establish and maintain EMIGs at their institutions and highlight the best of what Emergency Medicine has to offer as a specialty. If elected, I would continue to develop materials like this to draw students to Emergency Medicine and support their education and access to the field.

In addition, while Emergency Medicine is considered a specialty of trauma and resuscitation, one area I think is lacking universally in medical education is resilience and what to do after the resuscitation is over. Even when successful for the patient, this aspect of patient care can be traumatic for the providers and there is no formal education on how to manage the emotions and aftermath of these experiences. I believe this is a gap that can be filled though, and by working on this aspect of curriculum development through SAEM, it can be incorporated in Emergency Medicine education for both medical students and residents nationwide, with a hope to reduce burnout related to prolonged traumatic stress in the ED.

I graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2023 after completing my Bachelor of Science with Distinction and Highest Honors and my Doctor of Medicine as a member of Alpha Omega Alpha. However, I consider my greatest accomplishment thus far to be the creation of my non-profit organization, Mission 34. Family and friends came together to build this organization in memory of my brother, Sean Bonner Jr., with a goal to eliminate the stigma around mental illness through awareness, education, and advocacy. I helped build Mission 34 from the start, creating the mission statement and other materials to establish the organization, identifying potential board members, and continue to assist in the development of our annual fundraising and awareness events, experiences that will be invaluable in future organizations as well. Although I have not had the chance to participate in SAEM previously, I hope between applying for RAMS and the wellness and education committees, I will be able to contribute to and shape the future of SAEM.

Secretary-Treasurer

University of Cincinnati

My name is Daniel Artiga, and I am a PGY-2 at the University of Cincinnati and received my medical degree from the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. I have been honored to serve on the RAMS Board the past two years and would love to continue strategic efforts as Secretary-Treasurer.

I was drawn to emergency medicine because of its critical roles as the frontline of healthcare. That responsibility is why we must protect our specialty’s future and advocate for our residents. I recognize SAEM-RAMS as the premiere academic organization to meet our specialty’s newest challenges, whether it is workforce demand-supply changes, widespread accreditation of residencies, or changing common program requirements. The SAEM conference is the best example of this. Last year with the RAMS Resident Labor Task Force, we developed a didactic to inform members of the historical aspects of resident labor rights and its impact on unionization efforts today.

The rest of the year outside of conference however, we interface with our members in online spaces. That is why I have had a pointed focus with the Virtual Presence committee to develop online materials and meet members where they already are. We launched our Instagram this past year. We are streamlining our educational podcasts series so they are more easily accessible. I will be hosting the second round of the Ask-a-Chair podcast, which recounts how some of the most successful EM physicians maneuvered their careers and made departmental impacts. We are continuing our RAMS Financial Literacy webinar series to help cover key financial planning strategies and payment models our members need to understand as physicians. These projects all serve our goal in supporting our members with educational resources and forums to navigate training opportunities, fellowship, and their early years as attendings.

President

University of Kansas

President

Washington University in Saint Louis

I originally came to Emergency Medicine through a career in public health and public service. I fundamentally believe in giving back to my community, so it is no surprise that I found a love for emergency medicine--we are the only physicians who care for anyone in our communities, for any condition, at any time.

My belief in service led to my involvement with leadership in SAEM. I went to my first SAEM meeting as a PGY-1, and, at that meeting, I found mentorship, networking opportunities, education, and career guidance that have been invaluable as I have progressed through residency and prepared myself for fellowship. To give back to the SAEM community, I became involved in planning the Global Emergency Medicine Academy's educational offerings at the annual SAEM meetings, and I was elected to the RAMS board as a Member-at-Large last year. This year, I am running for the position of RAMS Board President.

As a board member, I have worked hard to connect other RAMS members to resources, mentorship, and opportunities for career growth like those that I found in SAEM. Additionally, I have been a champion of greater involvement from RAMS members in the SAEM subcommittees. Most importantly, I have worked hard alongside my fellow board members this year to create the newest RAMS strategic plan, which will go into effect this year. I'm so proud of our plan, which aims to increase RAMS member engagement, expands our educational offerings, and promotes diversity in our field. As president, I will make sure that the strategic plan starts on strong footing. In addition to spearheading the measures outlined in the strategic plan, I will increase our efforts to support RAMS members as they begin their careers. Given that Emergency Medicine as a specialty faces uncertainty after recent job projections and upheaval in the Match, I will work with the board to advocate for limits on inappropriate program expansion and on other measures, such as prioritization of resident learning in environments that increasingly face encroachment from non-physician providers. It is more important than ever that our academic societies protect and promote physicians in the early stages of their careers, and I will ensure that the RAMS board continues this important work.

Medical Student Representative

Emory University School of Medicine

Education: current M3 at Emory University School of Medicine. B.A. from Yale University (2016).

Qualifications and SAEM experience: Member of SAEM’s Education and Workforce Committees–currently working on multiple projects regarding recruitment of medical students into EM. Also collaborated on multiple didactics that have been submitted to SAEM’s 2024 conference. Currently serving as President of Emory’s Pediatric Emergency Medicine Interest Group and Vice President of Emory’s EMIG. Prior to entering medical school, I worked as a scribe for three years in both the Mt. Sinai and Ascension St. Thomas hospital systems as well as maintained my EMT-B certification.

Why I’m running:

If elected, I intend to advocate not only for my fellow trainees' interests, but to fight to preserve Emergency Medicine as a whole.

As a medical student intent on entering an EM residency in the near future, I’m very cognizant about recent discourse regarding the numerous changes to the emergency medicine workforce. Between the continued effects of COVID-19, increased burnout, mid level encroachment, and rapid residency expansion left unchecked, the future of emergency medicine faces significant obstacles. As trainees, I believe that the most important issue at hand today is advancing policies that will preserve the health of emergency medicine as a specialty for decades to come.

Now more than ever, there is a significant need for medical students and residents to take an active role in advocacy and leadership within Emergency Medicine. Serving on the RAMS committee as a medical student representative offers a phenomenal opportunity to advocate for the interests of future EM physicians as we seek to secure improved educational opportunities at every level of EM training as well as protect the health of the best medical specialty that exists. SAEM has a responsibility to its student and resident members, and I would use my role within RAMS to demand that the broader academic EM community address the issues that matter to us the most.

Medical Student Representative

Quinnipiac University

My name is Stephanie Balint, and I am an M3 at Quinnipiac University. Prior to medical school I developed a passion for EM on my journey as an EMT, National Guard Healthcare Specialist, ED RN, and then APRN. My clinical experience before medical school was in community centers. I always enjoyed the cohesive team, how we could anticipate one another’s needs, and feel supported. Working with SAEM and RAMS was my first experience working on research with ED physicians from academic centers and I found the cohesion and support was no different. In addition to supporting one another, I have found this role to be an amazing way to help connect students with projects, mentors, and committee work. I was able to contribute to didactics on the Post-Roe Landscape of EM, Management of APP’s in the ED, Moral Injury, work on research regarding workforce, contribute to 4 pulse articles among other things. However my favorite parts were the time I got to connect people to research if they did not have access or just had an interest. I truly believe that the people I have met along the way would still be supportive and mentors for new medical students even if I do not get elected again, but I would definitely be excited to continue this work with the official title.

SAEM Bylaws Committee Member

University of Virginia Health Sciences Center

My educational background includes undergraduate and medical school studies at the University of Virginia, followed by emergency medicine residency at Virginia Commonwealth University. I then completed a one year clinical ultrasound fellowship at Thomas Jefferson University. Following this, I returned back to University of Virginia as a faculty member in the Department of Emergency Medicine. I have served on the Academy of Emergency Ultrasound Executive Committee within SAEM since 2020. This includes a 2 year term as Treasurer, 2020-2022, followed by a one year term as President-elect (2022-2023), one year as President (current), and one upcoming year as past-President (2024-2025). Notable roles I have held at the University of Virginia include associate residency director (2019-current), Director of Emergency Ultrasound (2019-current), Director of Emergency Ultrasound Fellowship (2019-current), departmental diversity facilitator (2017-2023), coding/billing liaison to the University Physicians Group (2021-current), School of Medicine Admissions member (2018-2021), and School of Medicine Curriculum Committee member (2021-current).

Contributing to SAEM through AEUS has been a highly instructive and rewarding component of my academic work. Over time, I’ve come to learn that our membership is quite often our greatest asset. When we have properly oriented ourselves to effectively harnessing members’ interests and talents, we have been able to develop quality content and programming for our Academy. It is with this sense that I hope to serve on the Bylaws Committee. Engaging with membership at all levels is critical for the health and vitality of SAEM and this extends to the Bylaws Committee as well. The October 2023 webinar focusing on the Bylaws Committee was a tangible example of demonstrating the scope of the committee to membership at large. My goal would be to find additional avenues for member communication and involvement within the scope of the Bylaws Committee’s work. This could include direct communication with SAEM members about our work, such as in submissions to the SAEM Pulse. This could also include updating members on our efforts and our determinations as we work through the SAEM bylaws and make recommendations to the SAEM board. As bylaws can often seem nebulous to the outsider, it would be interesting to create a quick guide for members to easily get a sense of what the key bylaws are and how they support SAEM’s work. One could also envision occasional ‘bylaw highlight’ communications to members, wherein we seek to highlight a particular bylaw’s scope and importance.

In addition to the above, I certainly appreciate that the Bylaws Committee is one that requires a critical eye and close attention to detail. This is work to be undertaken in a serious and scrutinizing fashion, as the wording and content of the bylaws will undoubtedly have ongoing effects on SAEM’s missions and functions. My goal would be to provide clarity and visibility of the SAEM bylaws, particularly those that might be subject to introduction or amendment. All potential impacts of a bylaw addition or amendment should be thoroughly considered. Ensuring clarity of communication of these impacts to the Board of Directors and other relevant parties would be an ongoing focus of these efforts. Through this work, I would hope to assist the committee in working through each individual bylaw to assess its history, current status, relevance, and appropriateness into the future. The objective would be to not rest on the assumption that the current bylaws are the correct ones into the future, but rather to assess each one for current applicability and long term viability.

SAEM Bylaws Committee Member

Rush University Medical Center

As an educator, researcher, and long-standing active member of SAEM, I am honored to be considered for the SAEM Bylaws Committee. Over the past decade, my commitment to SAEM has been evident through my involvement in various committees, including the Program Committee, Research Committee, Abstracts Subcommittee, Faculty Development Committee, and Digital Innovation Task Force. I am also a regular contributor to the annual SAEM Strategic Planning sessions. I have served as Chair of the Education Summit, an annual education-focused conference within the Scientific Assembly, and currently serve as the Director of Learner Assessment and Program Evaluation for the SAEM Advanced Research Methodology, Evaluation and Design in Medical Education (ARMED MedEd) program. Based upon these efforts, I was honored to receive the SAEM Program Committee Award for Outstanding Contribution to Advance the Specialty of Academic Emergency Medicine.

My commitment extends beyond SAEM, where I have held national leadership positions in AAEM, ACEP, CORD, ICEP, and SCUF. These roles have provided me with a detailed understanding of organizational bylaws and their pivotal role. As the ACEP EUS section chair, I successfully led the revision of several key policies, including the ultrasound use and transesophageal echocardiography policy statements. Serving as the Publication Committee Chair for the CDC-funded INSPIRE program, I collaborated with a geographically-dispersed group to develop robust guidelines and charters guiding collaborative publications and design.

 If selected for the Bylaws Committee, I will leverage this experience and my robust network to provide thorough and thoughtful recommendations to the Board. I will focus on improving collaboration across groups and ensuring the delivery of excellent, evidence-based, and equitable care to the communities we serve. I am excited about the prospect of contributing my skills and insights to the Bylaws Committee and look forward to the opportunity to play a meaningful role in advancing the mission of SAEM. Thank you for considering my candidacy.

SAEM Bylaws Committee Member

Michigan State University College of Human Medicine

As professor and chair of the Department of EM at the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, I have continued to be an active member of SAEM and AACEM. Over the last 3 decades, I have served in a variety of roles including the Governmental Affairs Committee, External Collaboration Committee (Chair), Finance Committee, Foundation Board of Trustees, and Chair of the Evidenced Based Healthcare and Implementation Interest Group. Having recently completed 5 years of service on the AACEM Executive Committee which included one year as President, I understand the critical importance of organizational bylaws. It was pointed out by one of my fellow Executive Committee members that I have an eye for detail which is critical when reviewing bylaws for proposed changes.

Resident Member

Henry Ford Hospital - Detroit

Emergency Medicine has always been my calling – four years as a special operations soldier, five as a street paramedic and now my fourth year of residency – I knew I wanted to do EM and continue operating on the frontlines of medicine even before starting undergrad. As such, it has been my pleasure to serve as President of the RAMS Board. Prior to that, I spent three years as a RAMS Board Member-at-Large. My involvement has enabled participation in a multitude of projects from starting an online residency fair in response to COVID travel restrictions to advocating for better understanding of and guidelines for Advance Practice Providers in Academic Emergency Departments. As Board President, I have focused on improving the efficiency and efficacy of a maturing board; specifically on professionalizing the efforts of the Board with focus on measures to increase the boards potential success in their selected efforts via increased use of online voting, task forces and dedicated agenda setting. This has freed up board members times to enable them to better focus on their respective interests.


However, the challenges facing the specialty continue to grow: an uncertain future job market, unchecked growth of residency training slots, prolonged boarding, diminishing psychiatric resources and continued mid-level encroachment. All factors which certainly contributed to the precipitous drop in EM applicants over the past few years. Yet, these challenges are not insurmountable. I am running for Resident Member to the SAEM Board because I believe we need to do more in the face of these challenges. My prior experience as a leader of RAMS will allow me to effectively voice Resident and Medical Student concerns to the SAEM Board and advocate for my constituents. With the avalanche of challenges facing the profession, I think it more important than ever that the elected leaders of SAEM focus their efforts on meeting the needs of its members with strategic efforts and goal driven advocacy.


As the Resident Member to the SAEM Board, I believe you occupy a crucial position to advise the SAEM Board on RAMS Members' concerns. My years of experience on the RAMS Board enables me to bring a seasoned and experienced voice to speak for Residents and Medical Students to the SAEM Board. I will ensure our RAMS Members have a spot at the table where decisions regarding their future are being made and ensure solutions incorporate our input. I will continue to advocate for limits on mid-level encroachment, stricter guidelines on residency program growth and against the further corporatization of medicine. Most important, I will ensure SAEM continues to meet its RAMS members where they are – providing resources, opportunities and advocacy in line with our members’ needs.

Resident Member

Massachusetts General Hospital/Brigham and Women's

Member-at-Large

Wayne State University School of Medicine

I have been active within SAEM since 2008, serving on the SAEM Awards, By-Laws, Grants, Program, and Research Committees. For the last three years, I have served as Chair of the Research Committee and a member of the SAEM Bylaws Committee. The overarching theme of my work with SAEM has been to seek out novel ways to combine research and teaching. Within the Research Committee, I led the development of the inaugural Advanced Research Methodology, Evaluation and Design (ARMED) course, grew the Research Learning Series (RLS) from an abandoned concept into a monthly webinar series, prioritized the development of ARMED MedEd, led efforts to improve communication with federal funding agencies, formed initiatives to promote female and URiM EM researchers, and advocated for improved access to federal funding for acute care and medical education research. As Chair of the Bylaws Committee, I have learned to balance respect for our legacy and rich history as an organization representing academic EM physicians with the need to periodically review our mission as a modern organization. Since SAEM’s birth in 1989, we have grown and developed into a mature organization with different needs and priorities than our founders could have anticipated. Board members are charged with guiding the continued evolution of SAEM to ensure that our organization remains relevant in the modern world and continues to address the needs of our current members without losing sight of our mission to advance academic EM. If elected to the Board of Directors, I will continue to seek out novel ways to bring researchers and educators together. I will advocate for unity and collaboration within our organization, recognizing that each member of SAEM brings something valuable to our organization.

My educational background is fairly straightforward. I received my MD (2004) and MBA (2005) degrees from the University of Cincinnati, and completed EM residency at Henry Ford Hospital (Detroit, Michigan). Since completing residency, I have worked clinically in the EDs at Detroit Receiving Hospital (DRH) and Sinai-Grace Hospital (SGH). I am currently an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Wayne State University (WSU) School of Medicine and DRH Director of Clinical Research. I recently completed a five-year term as Chair of the WSU MP2 Institutional Review Board (IRB), and am an active clinical researcher. I believe that my experiences in business administration, regulatory policy, and research administration will make me a well-rounded and valuable member of the Board.

If elected, I will continue to advocate for those who don’t yet feel represented within our SAEM membership and the broader EM community. I am grateful for the opportunities that I have been given to serve SAEM, and feel that these experiences have helped me to develop the confidence and competency that I needed as a clinician, scholar, and leader. But not everyone has had the same opportunities that I have had. As a Board member, I would work towards improving that situation by helping to create new leadership opportunities for individuals from a broad range of backgrounds, including those currently under-represented within our organization’s leadership, and empowering them to lead in their own way. SAEM has many incredible, talented and valuable members who currently feel marginalized or excluded from realizing their true potential within SAEM. As a member of the Board, I would prioritize finding and engaging those who want to help but have not yet been given the chance.

Member-at-Large

University of Cincinnati

Ryan LaFollette, MD is an Associate Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Cincinnati. Dr. LaFollette graduated from UC’s Emergency Medicine Residency where he served as a Chief Resident in 2016 and upon graduation became an Assistant Program Director, a title he currently holds. He also serves as a flight physician and a physician member of the Cincinnati SWAT team.

Dr. LaFollette functions as the current SAEM Program Committee Chair, leading the society’s most attended meeting ever in Austin, TX at SAEM23 and is excited about continuing a record setting year at SAEM24 in Phoenix, AZ. He has served a number of roles in the Program Committee, including Chairing the Medical Student Ambassadors where he helped to double our medical student presence at the Annual Meeting. He has also led Didactics from 2018-2022, revamping the grading and selection process while significantly increasing the number of didactic offerings. Additionally, he served as Virtual Presence Committee Chair from 2018-2021, during which the SAEM livestreams contributed hundreds of hours of free SAEM content and oversaw the expansion of the SAEM podcasts and new website creation. He has also been a member of the Awards and Education Committee, creating the FOAMed Excellence in Education Award which was first given out in 2019.

Dr. LaFollette’s academic interests include resident education and knowledge translation, being a leader of the Education Leadership Academy at UC. He serves on the UC GME Executive Committee at the University of Cincinnati, on the Executive Board of the UC Emergency Medicine Program Of Women in LeadERship (EMPOWER) and as an Editor-in-Chief of TamingtheSRU.com. He has won both the Faculty of the Year (2019) and Mentor of the Year (2023) awards. If elected to the board, he would look to forward the technological advances that connect our diverse society and create next-generation resources to curate the vast SAEM resources and knowledge base into career-furthering deliverables.