People

Dustin Williams, MD

SAEM Nominating Committee Member

UT-Southwestern

I earned my undergraduate degree in Biomedical Science from Texas A&M University, followed by my medical degree at the University of Texas Health Science Center-San Antonio, and completed my Emergency Medicine residency at Indiana University. Since joining the faculty at UT-Southwestern Medical Center in 2011, I have served in various leadership roles, including Assistant Program Director and now Program Director for our Emergency Medicine training program at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, Texas. My current rank is Associate Professor.

My decade-long involvement with SAEM demonstrates my unwavering dedication to service and leadership within the organization. Over the years, I have actively contributed to various committees, including the Education Committee (2013–2014), Faculty Development Committee (2014–present), and Membership Committee (2021–present). As a longstanding and engaged member of ADIEM, I was deeply honored to receive the ADIEM Outstanding Academician Award in 2024. Currently, I serve as Chair of the Membership Committee and previously held the role of Chair for the ADIEM LGBTQIA+ Subcommittee (2021–2023).

Serving on the SAEM Nominating Committee is an opportunity to give back to an organization that has helped profoundly shape my professional journey. I am dedicated to thoughtfully identifying and recruiting candidates who truly embody SAEM's values and vision, ensuring they are equipped to lead and inspire the future of academic EM.

I understand the importance of recruiting candidates who are not only qualified but also represent the diverse viewpoints of our members and that demonstrate a passion for advancing emergency medicine and serving SAEM’s mission. With my experience in leadership, mentorship, and organizational involvement, I am well-prepared to contribute meaningfully to the Nominating Committee and would appreciate your support for this position.

I am eager to continue serving SAEM by helping to shape its future leadership and celebrating the accomplishments of our members, working together to ensure the continued success of our amazing organization.

Melanie F. Molina, MD, MAS

Development Officer

University of California, San Francisco

Melanie F. Molina, MD, MAS is an Assistant Professor and Associate Director of Social Emergency Medicine & Health Equity at UCSF. Dr. Molina received her Master’s in Advanced Studies with a focus on clinical research from UCSF, holds an MD from Harvard and, after training in emergency medicine at Mass General Brigham, completed a research and advocacy fellowship (National Clinician Scholars Program) at UCSF. She is board certified in emergency medicine.

As a queer, Latina, woman in medicine with personal experience overcoming adversity, Dr. Molina is deeply invested in advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). She has served on multiple committees at the institutional, state, and national level, lending a voice to the needs and concerns of URM and LGBTQIA+ individuals. These have included Harvard Medical School’s LGBTQ Dean’s Advisory Committee, the Brigham and Women’s ED Health Equity Committee, the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Equity Council, the Massachusetts Medical Society’s Minority Affairs Section, and the ADIEM Executive Committee (Member-At-Large, 2021-2023). Much of Dr. Molina’s research and educational activities have focused on improving care for vulnerable populations, reducing racial bias, and mitigating microaggressions in the workplace. She has led and published research on health care disparities, improving medication access for vulnerable populations, incorporating social needs into emergency care, and microaggressions. Dr. Molina has given multiple grand rounds presentations nationally and internationally on racism, implicit bias, and microaggressions. She’s also designed and implemented health equity residency curricula aimed at reducing race- and gender-based inequities in both physician and patient experiences.

As ADIEM’s Development Officer, Dr. Molina hopes to 1) strengthen the national network of residents, fellows, and faculty working on DEI initiatives, 2) build and foster community and collaboration among ADIEM members, and 3) establish an ADIEM mentorship program.

Jason M. Rotoli, MD

Member-at-Large

University of Rochester

I believe in the inclusive mission of ADIEM and want to serve as more than a committee chair and general member. In the treasurer/secretary position, I am immersed in the conversations, strategic planning, and decision-making that guides the future development of this amazing organization. I truly enjoy the collaborative creation that occurs during our monthly meetings. Additionally, I was the Treasurer/Secretary for the 2022-23 year and fulfilled my duties to th best of my abilities with honor and integrity. I would like to leverage this experience to further contribute to the group by serving in this position again.

Tiffany Mitchell, MD

Member-at-Large

Mount Sinai School of Medicine

As a member of ADIEM for several years I've long appreciated the space this Academy provides for physicians committed to supporting the most marginalized members of our communities. In my role as Chair of Social Media and Publications, its been my goal to increase the visibility of emergency physicians from diverse backgrounds while fostering academic collaboration. I hope to continue to work towards these aims in my role as Member-at-Large. I'm continually inspired by the work of my colleagues within ADIEM and I look forward to expanding my role within the Executive Board this year.

Moises Gallegos, MD, MPH

Member-at-Large

Stanford University

The last several years have been a wonderful learning opportunity for me as we developed our standalone required/core emergency medicine rotation at Stanford. The opportunity to tackle the integration of a new clerkship and the iterative curriculum planning it required have allowed me to grow as an educator and develop administrative skills that I hope to expand. As I settle into an academic career in undergraduate medical education, I am desiring of more participation in organized communities of practice where I can learn from others. I see the opportunity of becoming a member-at-large as a way to jump into the mix and become more active with ongoing projects, conversations, and professional development. Having most recently completed a Master of Education in the Health Professions, I am also hoping that a defined role in Clerkship Directors in Emergency Medicine (CDEM) will allow me to engage in the long-term work being done to ensure a strong educational offering to students on their journey into emergency medicine.

Eliot Blum, MD

Member-at-Large

Emory University

It is with great honor and respect that I apply for this position. I have been a member of ADIEM for years and have served as the co-chair of the LGBTQ+ committee over the past three years. As my tenure in this roll comes to an end, it is almost impossible to visualize my future without playing an active roll in this integral part of SAEM. ADIEM aligns with everything that I believe in to my core, and I have been able to help create meaningful change being a part of the executive committee. I want that to continue, as I am just getting started. The LGTBTQ+ mentorship program is starting to gain traction and I believe its ability to change lives is going to be great. This is just one simple conversation, an idea, that came from the executive committee and SAEM board and has blossomed into a vehicle to make this world a better place. I need to continue to surround myself with the leaders in this field so I can continue to follow their example. Dr. Gipson is the president-elect for ADIEM, and I cannot wait for the future of this organization, especially, by looking and the successes over the past few years.

Venkatesh R. Bellamkonda, MD

Secretary-Treasurer

Mayo Clinic

I am an emergency physician with passions for ultrasound, quality, and education - currently serving as chair of education for Mayo Clinic emergency medicine. Although my career never started with this in mind, over the years, I have developed a passion for healthcare justice after witnessing biases and injustices for our patients and our staff alike. As a result, in the past several years, I have been mentor author for projects investigating biases in our care of women, patients of differing body size, language and more. In addition, I have been part of providing education that pays special attention to accessibility by people of differing abilities and needs. I have advocated for more inclusive interview and selection processes at different levels, as well as work on community outreach to mentor and uplift people with fewer advantages in the process.

I believe the next step for me to be helpful is to stand alongside others outside of my institution and direct community who share this view. Together I believe I can help make changes that benefit a larger portion of the nation and the specialty.

Sreeja M. Natesan, MD

President-Elect

Duke University

Hello! I am an Associate Professor and Associate Program Director at Duke University. I am also co-chair of the Duke Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) committee. My primary area of interest and expertise is in diversity & inclusion, clinical teaching, and feedback by incorporating innovative novel strategies in the ED to create an inclusive environment. I am enthusiastic, with a passion for collaboration and helping to contribute through my project management, organizational, and communication skills. I have served on several national committees for education & diversity including the planning committee for the SAEM Educational Summit, cofounder and co-chair for the CORD DEI Mini-track for the past 3 years, cofounder and co-chair of the CORD DEI Virtual Holistic Recruitment conference for the past 2 years, Vice Chair of CORD DEI committee, Co-chair of the CORD Academy for Scholarship, among other leadership roles. I am also grateful to be the current secretary for ADIEM and am an active member in the SAEM Equity & Inclusion Committee.

I possess a broad clinical and research training experience centering on project management, collaboration, and educational skills training. Briefly, this includes ACEP Teaching Fellowship, ALiEM Faculty Incubator Program (where I now serve as Chief Academic Officer), AAMC Medical Education Research Certificate program & LEAD fellowship, and am a recent graduate of Duke Teaching for Equity Fellowship.

I am running for the role of President-Elect for ADIEM. I would be honored and privileged to work with others to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion for our ADIEM community through education and research. I believe together we have the power to have a greater impact and am excited to be involved further to give back to our community that has given me so much. My desire is to help create inclusive environments that fosters belonging for our learners (and each other) so we can better serve our patients. I seek to help disseminate knowledge by curating and providing resources to our community surrounding diversity in medical education, best practices/promising practices surrounding faculty/resident recruitment with the use of holistic review, and mitigating bias in the education and feedback we provide.

I would love to provide regular offerings to our community in the form of skills training and regular workshops to practice tools that can then be shared at the participant’s local institutions. I have been able to do work surrounding this here at Duke by teaching holistic recruitment to our program directors at our institutional GME meetings and through my role as Duke GME Professional Development co-chair. By having regular workshops and interactions, we can have a larger impact in transforming the culture and environments we work in. A favorite quote of mine is "diversity is inviting everyone to the table, equity is allowing everyone to talk, but inclusion is ensuring everyone is heard." This encompasses my own mission within MedEd–and in knowing DEI is relational work– I look forward to the opportunity to be involved, create networks and relationships, in order to serve our ADIEM community and beyond.

Joseph L. Williams, MPH

Medical Student Representative

Kansas City University

I am a current MS2 at Kansas City University and graduate of the Yale School of Public Health, where I honed my skills and knowledge in public health and Chronic Disease Epidemiology. Obtaining my MPH before medical school has added a valuable dimension to my medical education that has dovetailed elegantly with both my prior training in emergency medicine as an EMT and research addressing the opioid crisis.

I have been involved in SAEM since 2019 attending the NERDS conference in Worcester, MA and subsequently submitted an abstract which was accepted for the 2020 NERDS conference that was unfortunately canceled in leu of COVID-19. Getting involved early, even before attending medical school, empowered me to attend SAEM’23 as a medical student ambassador and join AGEM as a medical student representative on the awards committee. SAEM has been foundational in honing my passion for Emergency Medicine and providing a framework to establish myself within the profession in the future.

If elected, I hope to advocate for the continued engagement of emergency medicine with public health competencies, especially for medical students who are early in their training. As a student at an osteopathic medical school, I recognize the need for mentorship, especially at institutions that lack emergency medicine faculty, and hope to leverage mentorship opportunities to such students. Finally, I hope to increase medical student engagement within committees and interest groups from institutions across the country to foster greater curiosity, interest, and applicants for Emergency medicine in future MATCH years.

Sara Schulwolf, MD, MPH

Resident Member

Harvard-Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency at Mass General Brigham

Hi! My name is Sara Schulwolf; I am a recent graduate of UConn SOM and currently a PGY-1 at the Harvard-Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency program in Boston. I am thrilled to be running for AEUS resident member as I feel passionately about expanding POCUS education and excitement within our specialty. Having served on the RAMS board for the past two years, I also believe that I have honed the leadership skills and organizational know-how to be an effective contributor to our organization.

I have loved ultrasound since before beginning medical school when I first became involved in ultrasound research while working as an ED scribe. During medical school, I served as leadership for UConn’s Ultrasound Interest Group, organizing fun and educational events for the student body as well as volunteering as a peer ultrasound instructor. For this work, as well as for my involvement in POCUS research, I was honored to be awarded one of the AEUS Medical Student Ultrasound Enthusiast awards in 2024, and last year, in perhaps my proudest ultrasound moment to date, I was the winner of AEUS’s 2025 Sono Soapbox competition.

I am so thankful for the many opportunities that AEUS has afforded me, and hope that as a resident member, I can repay a fraction of that support in-kind. As POCUS continues to cement itself as a standard of care within our specialty – reflected in entities like the changing EM oral board exam – ultrasound proficiency will become not only a goal for trainees, but an expectation. Accordingly, it will be critical to integrate early, effective POCUS education into GME, and ideally UME. I would love nothing more than to be a part of the organization leading this charge, and to help expand AEUS already tremendous educational, clinical, and research offerings.

Jude C. Luke, MD

Member-at-Large

NYU/Bellevue Hospital

I am a PGY-1 resident in the NYU/Bellevue Hospital Emergency Medicine Residency and a recent graduate of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine where I was deeply involved in emergency medicine research, education, and mentorship. I previously served two terms on the SAEM ED Administration and Operations Committee and currently serve on the SAEM Education Committee. I was awarded an SAEMF/RAMS Research Grant to study the implementation of a novel ED-based A1C screening and linkage-to-care program in the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. In recognition of these contributions to emergency medicine, I was honored to receive the 2025 ACEP/EMRA National Outstanding Medical Student Award.

I am running to be a RAMS Member-At-Large because I believe in empowering residents and medical students to see themselves as future academic leaders -- not at later in their careers, but right now. I have been fortunate to receive mentorship and coaching from titans in our field, and I am passionate about expanding that same access to others.

Too often, trainees have the drive, interest, and ideas, but not the network or structure to turn them into reality. If elected, I aim to expand national mentorship pipelines, creating structured connections between students, residents, and faculty based on shared academic interests. I also hope to strengthen research development infrastructure, offering concise, high-yield resources and channels to help trainees turn ideas into presentations, publications, and grants.

Joshua Julian

Medical Student Representative

Saint Louis University SOM

From scribing in the ED during undergrad to transporting patients as an EMT, I have had the opportunity to explore Emergency Medicine in several capacities throughout my education, and each has bolstered my passion for the field. Since starting medical school, I have continued to seek out opportunities to learn more and share my enthusiasm for EM with others. Working as a co-lead for my school's EM interest group, I hosted suture nights, case presentations, and match panels from our EM faculty and future residents for my classmates. I also serve on the MOCEP student council working to put on EM education events for medical students throughout Missouri. I am now pursuing a position with RAMS to reach students on a national level. RAMS already has numerous amazing opportunities for medical students to take advantage of with the various committees, interest groups, and the annual conference. My goal is to spread the word about these experiences so medical students have ample exposure to all the things that make Emergency Medicine such an enjoyable field.

Dhriti Sooryakumar, MD

Member-at-Large

University of Michigan

Hello! My name is Dhriti Sooryakumar and I am a current resident physician at the University of Michigan. I went to medical school at Ohio State University and completed my Undergraduate and Master of Science Degrees in Biotechnology/Drug Development from Johns Hopkins University.

Prior to medical school, I was recipient of the National Institutes of Health/Johns Hopkins University Molecular Target and Drug Discovery Fellowship and worked at the National Cancer Institute developing novel anticancer drugs. I also served as Medical Program Advisor for the International Medical Organization, Global Brigades, in Honduras. I have been dedicated to SAEM over the past years and its incredible mission and vision to serve emergency medicine physicians and learners both nationally and internationally. I sincerely hope I may have the honor to continue serving you, my peers, as RAMS Board of Directors Member at Large.

I had the privilege to serve as Medical Student Representative on the RAMS Board of Directors from 2020-2021 and am thrilled with the great progress and novel initiatives I was able to create and implement for our Medical Student and Resident Members.

During my time on the RAMs Board, I was able to:

• Conceptualize the National Virtual Residency Fair held in July 2020.
• Create Underrepresented Minority Medical Education Scholarships which I successfully matched by our National Academies for the costs of national licensing exam costs and preparatory materials.
• Create multiple novel webinar series in tandem with SAEM leadership and faculty advising medical students, including one guiding medical students through the first Covid19 Residency Application Season, and another highlighting Women in Academic Emergency Medicine.

I have remained dedicated to the organization over the past two years, working on the development of novel medical education initiatives.

If re-elected, I would like to continue to represent the interests of my resident and medical student colleagues, and serve as the voice and bridge for resident and medical student needs with the national organization. I believe my past years of dedicated service to my medical student and resident peers on the RAMS Board of Directors, as well as my previous career experiences in leadership have prepared me well for this role.

If re-elected to the RAMS Board of Directors, I would like to:

• Continue developing and expanding national medical education and scholarship opportunities for our medical student and resident members.
• Create further national mentorship opportunities, especially for women, underrepresented minorities, students, and residents.
• Continue to work with the Board of Directors to create novel national clinical skills workshops, webinars, and educational series to enhance Medical Education and ease the residency application process/transition into residency and faculty positions.
• Work to expand exposure to/opportunities for Emergency Medicine fellowships and niche areas on a national level (for example Ultrasound, Critical Care, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and Social Emergency Medicine to name a few) with networking opportunities for residents and medical students.
• Work to create career-bolstering and professional development opportunities (e.g. negotiation skills workshops, CV building, networking events, and mentorship) for residents as they begin applying for faculty positions and fellowship.
• Create career-enhancing mentorship and professional development opportunities for medical students, including those geared towards under-represented minorities and students at orphan programs lacking traditionally-strong EM programs.
• Create initiatives to increase the emphasis on wellness within residency. This would include working to create national and regional wellness events for medical students and residents to attend.

I am very open to hearing from our resident and medical student members, and really hope to continue representing and serving your needs as a Resident Representative on the RAMS Board of Directors! Thank you for your consideration.

Genevieve Pentecost, MD

Member-at-Large

Washington University in St. Louis/Barnes-Jewish Hospital

My name is Genevieve Pentecost, I am a PGY-3 at Washington University in St. Louis and attended the University of Missouri-Columbia for my undergraduate and medical school education. For 3 years, I have serviced as a resident representative among several local institutional committee programs that advocate for the resident voice in assuring a safe and fair learning environment, residency recruitment and retention, and prioritizing resident and fellow wellness. For my final year in residency, I am turning my focus to broader issues facing trainees on the national scale.

As a RAMS Board Member-At-Large, I hope to advocate for a robust body of educational resources for resident members. I hope to create sustainable creation of RAMS-authored educational content, with a focus on widespread dissemination via social media, the SAEM/RAMS website, podcasting, and other FOAMed avenues. I will work to reinforce this educational content at the SAEM annual meeting, promoting high-quality didactic opportunities. Members should also have available professional development resources tailored to their unique stage in education and training. Most importantly, I believe SAEM/RAMS should prioritize a sustainable pipeline of diverse future emergency physicians when discussing research, advocacy, education, and policy objectives.

Although residents have unique educational and professional needs, we are not immune to the obstacles facing our specialty in emergency departments across the nation. The time is now to advocate for our interests in confronting these pivotal challenges. We must directly address the consequences of policy and lawmaking on patient outcomes, a national shortage of outpatient resources and resultant burdens imposed on the emergency department, an environment of boarding and overcrowding that threatens patient safety, continued job market variability and uncertainty, and the detrimental effects of the corporatization of emergency medicine on residency education and patient-centered care.

Protecting the education and training of the future leaders of emergency medicine is paramount to solving these issues. My goal is to foster pathways for trainees to thrive despite the specialty’s challenges, while moving the needle toward positive change. I am running for RAMS Board Member-At-Large to be a strong voice for emergency medicine residents—a voice that approaches tough conversations with an open mind, maintains a goal-direct approach to policy, and provides tangible outcomes in line with SAEM/RAMS values.

Mit Patel, MD

Member-at-Large

Henry Ford Hospital

I am applying for the SAEM Member-at-Large position because I believe I can strengthen the relationships that EM physicians maintain within and beyond their Department. To thrive in a lifelong healthcare career, I believe that all healthcare workers exercise curiosity, and to this end, professional organizations of each discipline (e.g., ANA for nursing, the APA for pharmacy, SAEM for EM, etc.) have built pathways channeling curiosity into inquiry into implementable solutions. As EM physicians, we naturally are multilingual in the language of healthcare. We understand that improvements in Door-to-Needle times, CLABSI rates, or Sepsis-related mortality, are achieved when working collaboratively. These avenues for collaboration present significant opportunities for personal growth for ourselves, professional development for our field and ultimately push the envelope forward on patient care. While individual RAMS members may be looking inward for novel ideas, I believe that sustained transformation in emergency care lies beyond traditional medical education. If elected, I will work on developing projects with input from our closest colleagues to achieve mutual goals for our organizations.

My name is Mit Patel, and I attended the Quinlan School of Business at Loyola University Chicago obtaining my BBA in Information Systems. I was a Research Assistant to multiple PI’s performing research on a variety of topics from the impact of Airbnb on the lodging industry to identifying outcomes in Kidney Transplantation, and even onto the impact of heterochromatin on the Human Genome. I spent all 4 years on the Board of the Hindu Students’ Organization, a religious and cultural organization under Campus Ministry, tasked with building an accepting interfaith community at Loyola. I obtained my MD at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria where I gained an appreciation for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety and the tremendously impactful role that EM physicians play for healthcare organizations. Truthfully, the rigor of medical school was beyond my anticipation, and I found balancing academic clinical performance with research difficult. Now as a resident at Henry Ford Hospital, I’ve renewed my research endeavors by studying the impact of ED-initiated Buprenorphine on healthcare utilization, which I presented at the SAEM Midwest Regional Meeting in 2023. I have since led an investigator-initiated project examining the curricular effectiveness of a structured POCUS curriculum and a handheld ultrasound device on ultrasound usage by PGY-1 EM residents. I hope to present this research at the SAEM conference in 2024.

These scholarly activities have introduced to me an entirely new and previously obscured world within emergency medicine. Participation in these activities has made me a more complete physician, and I wish to engender professional development for future EM leaders as a Member-at-Large.

Garrison Nord, MD

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.

Corey S. Hazekamp, MD, MS

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.

Hart L. Edmonson, MD

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.

John Dickens, MD, MBA

Resident Member

McGaw Medical Center/Northwestern University

I am a third-year emergency medicine resident at McGaw Medical Center/Northwestern University in Chicago, IL and I am running for the position of Resident Member for the SAEM Board of Directors. Before residency, I worked as a project manager for Epic Systems and later for Humana as part of the company’s Digital Health & Analytics team. I received both my MD and MBA degrees from the University of Louisville in my hometown of Louisville, KY. I have been involved with SAEM since 2021, serving in various roles including Medical Student Ambassador for the SAEM Annual Conference, Resident Liaison for the Informatics, Data Science, & Artificial Intelligence Interest Group, member of the RAMS Nominating Committee, and my current role of Member-at-Large of the RAMS Board as well as RAMS Board Representative to the SAEM Awards Committee.

I am seeking your support for my election to this position because I am eager to contribute to the Board’s mission of maintaining its status as the premier organization for developing and supporting current and future academic leaders in emergency medicine. My background as a project manager for large healthcare corporations has equipped me with the organizational and executive skills necessary to be a productive member of the Board. As the only resident representative, I will provide a unique perspective that is essential for understanding the interests of resident and medical student members regarding the future of our specialty. Additionally, my experience in other SAEM organizations offers valuable institutional knowledge, enabling me to effectively support and create opportunities for scholarship, leadership, and career development. Most importantly, I aim to advocate for trainees within SAEM’s broader organizational efforts. In a time when many residents and medical students have concerns about the future landscape and career opportunities in our field, it is crucial that we have a voice in leadership organizations that are committed to improving and shaping the future of our specialty.

Aaron D'Amore, MD

President

Mass General Brigham / Harvard Medical School

D'Amore you want, D’Amore you get!

In leadership, my north star has always been the principal that the strongest leaders are not those with all the power, but those who are able to empower others. Emergency medicine is the best specialty because we must effectively work as a team to get the job done – and RAMS is the same! I am running for RAMS president under this belief so that together we can build each other up and expand leadership and academic opportunities for all trainees in emergency medicine. Having experience working on the RAMS board plus a strong background in academic medicine and leadership, I am confident I have what it takes to carry the RAMS board to future success.

RAMS membership has been growing at record rates, which is exciting because of all the amazing feats we can accomplish with our growing group of emergency academicians. In light of empowering others’ career growth, I would like to expand upon RAMS efforts in three meaningful ways:

First, SAEM and RAMS offer numerous opportunities for their members to get involved. I would like to help make it easier for our members to discover what opportunities are available and interesting to them through the creation of a centralized resource which lists the many opportunities offered to our RAMS members. This in turn will ensure that we are maximizing the amount of involvement we can obtain and spread the wealth to folks who may not have otherwise known where to start.

Second, it is pertinent that we continue to focus our efforts on medical student involvement as a means of promoting our specialty’s growth and future promise. One way I would love to assist this is by advocating for more medical student roles on the RAMS board given their unique and invaluable perspectives. I would also continue to advocate for more medical student opportunities through SAEM and expand our excellent outreach efforts for promoting future RAMS growth.

Third, SAEM and RAMS are premier organizations pushing the needle on academics and research within our field of emergency medicine. I want to continue to expand these opportunities for our members through our promotion of more grants and publication opportunities. I am particularly valuable in this sense as I have a strong background in academic medicine, having worked at the National Institutes of Health prior to medical school and now currently being in training at a highly academic residency program.

Having served on the RAMS board, I have a solid understanding of the functioning of RAMS as an organization. I am honored to have been elected to serve as a member-at-large for the RAMS Board and an Education Committee representative. In addition to representing and advocating for my peers in these roles, with the help of my team, I helped spearhead the review of all the preexisting and the creation of several new SAEM Roadmaps – a free resource which helps RAMS members interested in exploring the many career pathways in Emergency Medicine.

In addition, having served as the president of my medical school class for four years as well as the vice president of our Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) honor society, I’m no stranger to leading large groups of passionate medical professionals. My work in these roles and others were recognized through multiple awards, including the ACEP/EMRA Medical Student Professionalism and Leadership Award, the William D. Kaplan, M.D. Humanism Award, RISE AAMC Leadership Conference Award Delegation, Gold Humanism Honor Society, and Student Service Award.

I am fully committed to this organization and its initiatives, and as a third-year next year in a four-year program, I look forward to giving these projects my full attention if elected. For all these reasons, I am excited about the opportunity to serve the emergency medicine community as your next RAMS president, and I look forward to working with you all in this wonderful field for years to come!