People

Lowell W. Gerson, PhD

Professor Emeritus of Family and Community Medicine, Senior Scientist

Northeast Ohio Medical University, Summa Health System-Akron

• Specialties: Epidemiology
• Research Interests: Injury Prevention,  Health Services
• Current or Prior Funding: Includes U.S. VRA, NHRDP (Canada), NIMD (Canada), NIH, United Way, GAR Foundation, RWJ Foundation, HUD, Lowe's Home Safety Council

Lowell became interested in aging research in the early 70s as a young faculty member in the Division of Community Medicine at Memorial University of Newfoundland. In 1978 he moved to Ohio and became involved with the City Of Akron EMS. He observed and published the disproportionate use of EMS by seniors. This lead to RWJ funded research on Paramedic Case Finding for Frail Elders demonstrating the value of paramedic screening.  He increased his geriatric knowledge during sabbaticals with the South Australia Health Commission (services) and the CDC (injury and fall prevention). He has been very active in fostering the increasing interest in geriatric emergency medicine. He Chaired the SAEM Geriatric Task Force and was SAEM representation to the AGS. He currently is Senior Associate Editor of Academic Emergency Medicine and on the Editorial Board of MEDICC.

Aleksandra Degtyar, MD, MS, MSCR

T32 Research Fellow, Emergency Medicine

Mount Sinai Health System

Aleksandra Degtyar, MD, MS, MSCR, is a T32 Research Fellow in emergency medicine at the Mount Sinai Health System in New York. She completed medical school at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, residency at Wellstar Kennestone, and has a Master in Global Health from UCSF and a Masters in Clinical Research from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Her current work focuses on the implementation of evidence-based healthcare in the emergency department setting, with a particular interest in asymptomatic hypertension and troponin algorithms.

Raphael Sherak, MD, MPH

Instructor, Emergency Medicine

Yale University

Raphael Sherak is an Instructor of Emergency Medicine and Research Fellow as part of the Yale Emergency Scholars (YES) Program. As an emergency medicine physician and researcher, his work focuses on how to make the best decisions with imperfect and incomplete information. Prior to starting fellowship, he completed his EM residency at Yale University. He received an MD from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and has an MPH in Quantitative Methods from the Harvard School of Public Health in addition to a BA from Hampshire College. Prior to medical school he worked as an EMT for 5 years. Dr. Sherak's research centers on leveraging decision analytic methods, including cost-effectiveness analysis and risk prediction modeling, as well as secondary analysis of large EHR datasets to improve patient and population health through data-driven decision making. His current areas of interest are antimicrobial stewardship including the treatment of urogenital infections, improving care for vulnerable populations, and using mathematical modeling techniques to guide both care processes and inform patient care guidelines.

Guadalupe Jiménez, MD, MS

New York Presbyterian Columbia & Cornell

Dr. Guadalupe Jimenez is a resident physician at New York Presbyterian Columbia & Cornell Emergency Medicine Residency Program. She first-generation Mexican American who served in the U.S. Navy as a Hospital Corpsman (medic). She subsequently obtained her Bachelor’s of Science in biology at Stony Book University. She went on to complete her Master’s of Science and her medical education at Indiana University School of Medicine. Today, Dr. Jimenez is a member of SAEM’s Equity & Inclusion Education Subcommittee. Additionally, she is a part of the Core team for MAPP to CU pipeline program at Columbia University Department of Emergency Medicine. This program mentors high school students from backgrounds that are underrepresented in medicine with the goal of supporting the students in their academic and personal development. On her free time, Dr. Jimenez volunteers at NYC’s Migrant center providing immigration assistance to asylum seekers. Dr. Jimenez is committed to creating a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive field of emergency medicine.

Theodore Corbin, MD

Rush University Medical Center

Dr. Corbin is Professor and Chairperson of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Rush University Medical Center. His research has focused on the urgent issues and intersection of trauma and intentional injury that contribute to recurrent injury, mental illness, chronic disease, health disparities and ultimately death. He designed and implemented a trauma-informed intervention program called Healing Hurt People-Philadelphia that recognizes the disparities in health outcomes in the population that suffer the most from intentional injury, African American and Latino men between the ages of 8 and 30 years old. The intervention has been replicated in other cities across the country. The intervention provides a resource to patients in need of deeper understanding. He has worked in the field of emergency medicine and trauma-informed intervention with a focus on African American men for more than 15 years and he strives to build a foundation for young researchers interested in the field.

Jason Morris, MD

Massachusetts General Hospital

Jason is a third year resident at the Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency. His background and research interest in in advocacy for vulnerable populations and treatment of patients with substance use disorders including creating and delivering comprehensive health education curriculum for high school students, developing cultural competency curriculum during medical school, and researching ways to improve ED based SUD care. He is also a chief resident and part of the leadership team of a resident-based initiative at MGH exploring ways to address food insecurity in the ED. In his free time, he also enjoys singing, dancing, and playing rugby.

Katherine D. Mayes, MD, PhD

Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine

Katherine Dickerson Mayes, MD, PhD is an Assistant Professor and Core Faculty of Emergency Medicine at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine. She attended medical school at Stanford University prior to completing her residency at the Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency program at Mass General Brigham, where she served as chief resident. Her research interests include both the treatment of neurologic emergencies and social determinants of health.

Diana M. Bongiorno, MD, MPH

Chief Resident

Massachusetts General Hospital/Brigham and Women's Hospital

Diana Bongiorno, MD, MPH is a Chief Resident in the Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency (HAEMR) program at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham & Women's Hospital. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania, where she was a graduate of the Vagelos Life Sciences and Management dual-degree program between the College and Wharton schools. She graduated from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and earned her MPH at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where she was a TL1 Trainee in the Predoctoral Clinical Research Training Program. She is passionate about health equity, work to address social determinants of health in the emergency department. In July, she will begin fellowship in the National Clinician Scholars Program at the University of Pennsylvania.

Lindsay V. Walsh, MD

Mass General Brigham

I am a current PGY2 resident at the Harvard-Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency Program in Boston, Massachusetts. I earned my medical degree at the University of Massachusetts Chan School of Medicine in Worcester, Massachusetts. Prior to my career in medicine, I was a competitive distance runner at Dartmouth College, where I completed my undergraduate degree in psychology. I then worked for a digital healthcare startup company that focused on electronic prescriptions, and eventually completed my post-baccalaureate premedical coursework at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. My research interests during residency include musculoskeletal POCUS, event medicine, and orthopedic trauma.

Michelle D. Lall, MD, MHS

Emory University School of Medicine

Dr. Michelle D. Lall, a board-certified emergency medicine physician, is a Professor at Emory University. She has been on faculty at Emory since 2013. She was an Associate Residency Director for 7 years. She is currently the inaugural Director of Well-being, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion for Emory Emergency Medicine and the Senior Medical Education Fellowship Director for Emergency Medicine. Prior to coming to Emory, Dr. Lall was an Assistant Professor at Wayne State University beginning in 2008. She was an Assistant Residency Director at the Sinai-Grace/Wayne State University Emergency Medicine Residency Program and the medical student clerkship site director at Sinai-Grace/Wayne State University beginning in 2009. Dr. Lall is a graduate of Wayne State University School of Medicine. She completed her residency and chief residency at Emory University.

Dr. Lall is actively involved in the teaching and supervision of medical students and residents. Dr. Lall’s primary interests are physician well-being and the negative impact of gender bias on equity and inclusion in medicine. She is interested in gender differences in burnout among physicians. She has previously presented didactics on physician well-being and gender bias in medicine at multiple signature regional and national annual meetings of medical educators. Dr. Lall is part of a national emergency medicine work group focused on exploring and addressing gender and racial bias and disparities in academic emergency medicine. Additionally, she is the lead author on two scoping reviews of assessment tools available to evaluate physician well-being and co-author on several papers addressing gender bias in Emergency Medicine.

Her professional memberships include: American College of Emergency Physicians – where she is a fellow, Society for Academic Emergency Physicians - where she is secretary/treasurer on the Board of Directors, Academy for Women in Academic Emergency Medicine - where she is a Past President, American Association of Women Emergency Physicians, and Georgia College of Emergency Physicians. She is also a member of the Delta Omega Honor Society. Dr. Lall is a recipient of the Momentum Award from the Academy for Women in Academic Emergency Medicine (AWAEM), which recognizes extraordinary efforts that further the mission and values of AWAEM. While at Sinai-Grace/Wayne State University, Dr. Lall was a two time "Faculty Teacher of the Year" award winner. At Emory, she has been a two time recipient of the “Faculty Advocate of the Year” award. In 2020, Dr. Lall was named one of the Emergency Medicine Residents’ Association 25 Under 45 Influencers in Emergency Medicine whose contributions embody the spirit of the specialty. Dr. Lall is a recipient of the AWAEM Mid-Career Award, which honors mid-career female faculty who have shown promise for significant career achievements in emergency medicine through research, education, service, advocacy, or administration, and/or who have worked to promote the role of women in academic emergency medicine.

Danielle L. Cullen, MD, MPH, MSHP

CHOP and University of Pennsylvania

Dr. Danielle Cullen is the Co-Associate Director for Implementation Science at Clinical Futures, a faculty member at PolicyLab at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), and assistant professor of pediatrics and pediatric emergency medicine at CHOP and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. She is also a senior fellow of the University of Pennsylvania Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics and co-course director for Master Level Introduction to Implementation Science at the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Cullen’s research focuses on socio-economic health disparities, in particular childhood food insecurity. Her long-term goal is to improve health equity among socially disadvantaged children through the development of effective, acceptable, and feasible strategies to identify social risk and improve family engagement with resources. She is dedicated to community involvement in research and programmatic design, and leveraging methods from Community-Based Participatory Research and Implementation Science to enhance reach and sustainability of developed programs. Her current interdisciplinary research portfolio includes: mixed-methods evaluations of social determinant screening modalities, locations and referral processes; a hybrid implementation-effectiveness study of the USDA’s summer food service program across five CHOP clinical settings; and a qualitative evaluation of low-income families’ experiences with a clinically-based subsidized organic produce box program.

N. Jia Ahmad, MD, MPH

MGH

N. Jia Ahmad is a third year resident at the Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency program at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham & Women's Hospital. She completed her undergraduate studies at Columbia University, MD at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and earned her MPH at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where she was a TL1 Trainee in the Predoctoral Clinical Research Training Program. She has an interest in the impact of structural vulnerabilities on patient care, and is leading a resident-based initiative at MGH exploring ways to address food insecurity in the ED. Previously, she has worked on criminal justice reform and research and policy efforts related to the opioid epidemic.

Erica L. Olsen, MD

New York-Presbyterian Columbia University Medical Center

Dr. Erica Olsen is the Director for Virtual Health Services for the Department of Emergency Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC). Her role includes oversight of Telehealth endeavors throughout the Department of Emergency Medicine West Campus / New York Presbyterian Hospital System: CUIMC Emergency Department, The Allen Hospital, Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of New York, and Lawrence Hospital. Dr. Olsen joined the full-time Faculty at Columbia University Department of Emergency Medicine with previous Telehealth experience from her time at both the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA Hospital) in Western New York and Erie County Medical Center where Telehealth was utilized for the New York State Department of Corrections. Dr. Olsen is a past Chair of the SAEM Telehealth Interest Group and serves on the Digital Health Executive Committee for the Faculty Practice Organization of Columbia University and the New York Presbyterian Hospital Telehealth Steering Committee. One of Dr. Olsen's current interests is in improving access to telehealth services for vulnerable populations.

Brendan R. Norwood, MD

New York–Presbyterian Columbia University Medical Center

Dr. Norwood received his medical degree from Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and went on to complete his residency training at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Brigham & Women's Hospital. Dr. Norwood is board certified in emergency medicine and has over 10 years experience practicing in both academic and community emergency departments.

Liliya Abrukin, MD, MPH

New York–Presbyterian Columbia University Medical Center

Liliya Abrukin, MD MPH is an assistant professor of emergency medicine at New York Presbyterian, Columbia University Irving Medical Center and serves as the Vice Chair for Quality and Patient Safety for the four emergency departments comprising the Columbia Department of Emergency Medicine. Dr. Abrukin received her medical degree from SUNY Upstate Medical University and completed her emergency medicine residency at NYU Langone Medical Center/Bellevue Hospital Center, where she served as chief resident. After residency she remained at NYU/Bellevue to pursue the Wellner Fellowship in ED Patient Safety and Quality and earned an MPH in Health Management from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.

As a faculty member at Columbia, Dr. Abrukin has served as the Director of Quality for the adult emergency medicine division and has led and participated in numerous departmental, cross-campus, and enterprise-wide quality initiatives. In her role as Vice Chair, Dr. Abrukin has prioritized building a culture of safety, with a focus on systems, peer support, and faculty engagement. She is also active in developing evidence-based care pathways for emergency departments throughout the hospital system. Recently, Dr. Abrukin was selected from a highly competitive pool of applicants to join the New York Presbyterian LEAD Academy, a 13 month training program with didactic and experiential components for developing physician-leaders. During this program, Dr. Abrukin developed an enterprise-wide care pathway for patients with sickle cell disease presenting with emergencies requiring transfusion. Dr. Abrukin also serves as the Associate Director of the Lorna Breen Emergency Medicine Fellowship in Healthcare Administration and the Chair of the MCIC Emergency Department Leadership Committee, where she oversees the development of cross-institutional projects aimed at improving patient safety and decreasing medicolegal exposure.

Craig Goolsby, MD, MEd, MHCDS, FACEP

Harbor-UCLA Medical Center

Craig Goolsby, MD, MEd, MHCDS, FACEP is Chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles County and a Professor of Clinical Emergency Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. An award-winning educator and lecturer, Dr. Goolsby is a member of national and international scientific organizations, including the American Red Cross’s Scientific Advisory Council and the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation’s First Aid Task Force, and he is a recognized expert in first aid and military-to-civilian knowledge transfer. His multi-million-dollar research portfolio has focused on bleeding control, tourniquet usage, public response to emergency, post-motor vehicle crash care, and mass casualty incidents. Dr. Goolsby is a distinguished graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, an AOA graduate of the Tulane University School of Medicine, earned his Master of Education in the Health Professions degree from Johns Hopkins University, and completed a Master of Healthcare Delivery Science degree at Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business. He previously served as an active-duty Air Force officer, including two tours as the flight commander and medical director of the Air Force’s emergency department in Balad, Iraq. Dr. Goolsby is the author or co-author of more than 70 peer-reviewed articles, chapters, editorials, and other scholarly publications. He completed a transitional internship at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and his emergency medicine residency at UCLA.

Kristen Whitworth, DO

Corewell Health Lakeland

Kristen Whitworth is the Associate Program Director for Corewell Health Lakeland Emergency Medicine Residency in Saint Joseph, MI. She received her undergraduate degree in biology from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and her doctorate of osteopathy from LECOM Bradenton. She completed a longitudinal track in medical education during her emergency medicine residency at Corewell Health Lakeland with a focus on simulation. Following residency, she assumed the role of Simulation Director of Corewell Health South and joined their emergency medicine faculty. She completed additional simulation training through the Center for Medical Simulation and the MSU Learning and Assessment Center. Her professional interests include creativity, resident wellness, women in medicine, and curriculum development.

Leah M. Bralow, MD

St. Barnabas Hospital/CUNY

Dr. Bralow completed residency at NYP Cornell/Columbia in 2013. She later because the director of the emergency medicine sub-internship at Columbia University for several years before becoming an Assistant Program Director at St. Barnabas in the Bronx. As APD, she is primarily responsible for designing the residency core education curriculum and for coordinating resident and faculty feedback. Her interests are curriculum design, feedback structure, disaster medicine and undersea and hyperbaric medicine. An avid SCUBA diver, Dr. Bralow loves to explore the world's oceans any opportunity she gets.

Mary E. McLean, MD, FACEP, FAAEM

AdventHealth East Orlando

Mary McLean is an Assistant Residency Director for the AdventHealth East Orlando EM Residency Program, and an Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor of Emergency and Internal Medicine for the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine. She originally hails from Portland, Oregon, and completed her medical education at Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine and St. John’s Riverside Hospital Emergency Medicine Residency Program. Her professional interests include medical education, research, scholarly activity, public speaking, leadership and advocacy, bias, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. She has spoken nationally and internationally on the medical management of cardiac, neurologic, OB/GYN, neurologic, and traumatic emergencies, as well as on medical education and career development topics. Outside of work, she enjoys documentaries, animals, travel, and being a foodie.

Justin Holmes, MD

Texas Tech University HSC

I attended medical school at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center- Lubbock and completed my residency training at Baylor Scott and White- Temple, TX. I started at UMC/TTUHSC in July 2018 as an Emergency Medicine attending and Clerkship Director. I transitioned to Associate Program Director in 2021. In my spare time I enjoy going camping and spending time with my wife and 3 boys.