People

Secretary-Treasurer

New York Presbyterian - Cornell/Columbia

I am currently a PGY-3 at New York Presbyterian- Cornell/Columbia and attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for both my Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Medicine, graduating in 2023 as a member of Alpha Omega Alpha. I have had the privilege of serving as a RAMS Board Member-at-large for the past two years and am honored to be considered for election as Secretary and Treasurer.

In my time on the RAMS Board, I have acted as liaison to the Program Committee, a role in which I have been developing a year-long mentorship program for the medical student ambassadors who are crucial to operating the annual meeting. I have also been part of the Strategic Planning Task Force to create the next three-year strategic plan for the RAMS Board and part of the Regional Ambassador Task Force that has worked to connect EMIGs with SAEM, as well as writing an EMIG guidebook. I joined the education committee as a resident member for my first year and am now a member of the wellness committee. This RAMS board is an incredible group of doctors and I am excited by the prospect to work with them for another year in a new role.

If elected, I am excited to seize the opportunity to help design the RAMS section of the new SAEM website, which we hope will be the go-to source of guidance for current and future emergency medicine residents amid the many upcoming changes to residency curricula and board examinations. Additionally, now that residents and medical students make up more than half of SAEM membership, I plan to find new roles for RAMS members within every committee, academy, and interest group in SAEM to fully incorporate RAMS members in all aspects of the organization and grow the future of academic emergency medicine.

To be considered for election as secretary and treasurer is a vote of confidence in the incredible work the RAMS Board has done in these last couple years and I am excited to see what such a strong group of people can do in the future.

President

University of Kansas

SAEM Program Committee Liaison

Washington University in Saint Louis

I am running for Program Committee Liaison, as I think this role is a natural extension of the work I already do for both GEMA and SAEM. I have been an active GEMA member since the beginning of my EM residency, and I have served on the BEC ToT subcommittee for the last three years. In my various roles with the ToT subcommittee, I have coordinated with governance to organize the event and have interfaced with SAEM’s marketing team as we advertise the event to find our participants each year. I greatly enjoy this work. Serving as the Program Committee Liaison would allow me to continue to help GEMA coordinate its events on a broader scope.

In my other work with SAEM, I have extensive experience serving as a committee liaison between the RAMS board and multiple committees, so I believe I will perform well as GEMA’s Program Committee Liaison. In my previous roles with SAEM, I have served as a RAMS board member, as well the RAMS board President, and I am now the Immediate Past President of that Board. In my various roles with the RAMS board, I have served as the RAMS liaison to several committees, interfaced extensively with governance, and chaired the RAMS Nominating Committee, so I am experienced with the organizational workings of SAEM and could therefore represent GEMA well to the Program Committee.

If elected to this position, I will work with our Marketing Team to make materials to highlight our talks and poster sessions at the annual meeting. I will use my time with the Program Committee to find opportunities for GEMA to collaborate with other Committees and Academies, bringing our members meaningful networking opportunities that make sense for our academic niche.

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.

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.

Associate Professor & Clerkship Director

Baylor College of Medicine

Navdeep Sekhon, MD, is an Associate Professor and Clerkship Director (EM Clerkship) at the Baylor College of Medicine Henry J. N. Taub Department of Emergency Medicine. Sekhon did medical school at the University of California at San Diego and residency at East Carolina University. He has been advising medical students interested in emergency medicine since 2016. Sekhon is currently a Member-at-Large for the Executive Committee of Clerkship Directors in Emergency Medicine (CDEM).

Bylaws Committee Member

University of Michigan Medical School

Joseph House, MD attended medical school at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, MI. He completed residency at East Carolina University/Brody School of Medicine. During residency He realized he enjoyed education and Pediatrics and completed a Fellowship in Pediatric Emergency Medicine at University of Michigan. After fellowship he joined the faculty at University of Michigan working in both the Adult and Children’s Emergency Department. Currently Dr. House is a Professor of Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics and has served as Director of Medical Student Education in the Department of Emergency Medicine for the last 12 years.

For the last 5 years, he has served as a member of the Executive Committee for Clerkship Directors in Emergency Medicine and is currently completing his Immediate Past President role in May 2025. During his tenure as Clerkship Director and on the CDEM EC, He has seen many changes in Emergency Medicine. He has been involved in revision to the Standardized Letter of Evaluation and currently is a member of the SAEM Workforce Committee looking into why there has been a decrease in applicants to Emergency Medicine. He has always prioritized the sharing of knowledge and for the last several years has presented at SAEM “Clerkship Director Bootcamp” sharing his experience and several other clerkship directors experiences and trying to improve medical student education. He has also been the Co-Director for the Medical Student Symposium trying to make students are ready to apply to Emergency Medicine.

Dr. House is interested in running for SAEM Bylaws Committee as he has seen the importance of SAEM as a member and as CDEM EC. He wants to see SAEM continue to support its members research interests with grants and mentorship. He would also like to continue seeing SAEM sponsor the Workforce Committee and encourage it to look at the next steps, ie how can SAEM work to improve the working environment of academic medical centers, how can we continue to show the value of an academic provider, and how can we help to train and interact with Advanced Practice Providers; we know there will continue to be more APPs working in academic EDs. SAEM has sponsored work looking into why the drop of applicants, but now needs to look into how to increase the number, quality, and diversity of applicants into the specialty.

President-Elect

Stanford University

It is an honor to be considered for SAEM President-Elect. It is an exciting and transformative time in our specialty with challenges and opportunities in our workforce, crowding within the healthcare system, ensuring a strong researcher pipeline, promoting provider well-being, and the evolution of our practice across acute care medicine. In this era, thoughtful and strategic leadership is necessary. As a long-standing leader in the Society, I have led multiple successful initiatives and would be honored to serve you as President-Elect engaging and supporting members while advancing the mission of the Society and our specialty.

I am Vice Chair for Academic Affairs in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Stanford University. I completed residency training at the Denver Health Medical Center, and a research fellowship at the Denver Health Medical Center and University of Colorado Department of Emergency Medicine.

Over the course of my career, I have been an active contributor and leader within the Society. As a resident, I served as the Resident Member of the Board of Directors. As a faculty member, I have had the privilege of serving in many leadership roles, including my current service as Secretary-Treasurer on the Board of Directors and four years as Member-at-Large on the Board of Directors. Additional highlights of my contributions to the Society include eleven years of dedicated service on the SAEM Program Committee, including two years as SAEM Program Committee Chair, service as a member and leader within numerous committees, academies, and task forces, and leader of multiple national-level initiatives and strategic planning sessions to enhance emergency care education and research. I am also a member of the Academic Emergency Medicine Editorial Board. Through these excellent experiences and multiple leadership roles, I came to understand the essential role of the Society in advancing academic emergency medicine through education, innovation, and research. Moreover, I came to fully appreciate the benefits of the collaborative relationships developed through the Society which foster the exchange of knowledge and ideas that help improve patient care.

My goals for supporting members and advancing the Society and specialty are multifaceted. The first goal is to ensure high-quality education, networking, and faculty development for all members to help facilitate the leadership skills necessary to advance our specialty. The second goal is to increase research opportunities for investigators with the intent of increasing competitive, successful applications for federal research grants. I would advocate for expanded research training opportunities (R38, T32, K12), and actively engage as President-Elect with the National Institutes of Health and other federal funding agencies to increase funding for emergency care research. Third, I would continue to encourage active participation by junior faculty, residents, and students within the Society so they may benefit from the Society’s valuable resources as they become the future leaders in our specialty. Early mentorship through the Society is vital for the development of these future academicians who will carry forth the Society’s mission. Finally, I would work to continue to strengthen our relationships and engagement with other emergency medicine organizations as collegiality and collaboration is key to our specialty’s success.

The Society has played an integral role in my development as an academician, and as President-Elect, I would encourage and foster opportunities for this same development for others so they may also benefit from the Society’s rich resources. My overall goal would be to strengthen the role of the Society as an influential leader in providing and advocating for emergency care research, education, and grants. I fully appreciate the many outstanding opportunities afforded by the Society, and it would be an honor to serve you as President-Elect.

AAAEM Member-at-Large Candidate

Medical College of Wisconsin

It is my honor to be considered to serve on the AAAEM Executive Committee as member-at-large. It has been one of the greatest pleasures of my career so far to be part of this group and I have thoroughly enjoyed meeting my colleagues, learning as part of the CAEMA program, and serving on both the benchmark and the education committees over the last few months. I believe my combination of education (MBA), healthcare industry experience ( and leadership experience (12 years, 10 of which in management roles) have equipped me well to serve this great organization as we continue to grow and expand. I hope to be able to bring useful outside perspective as I am new to Emergency Medicine, but have worked in the department of medicine and especially in internal medicine prior to joining emergency medicine. My goal would be to help further the goals of the board and especially continue to engage current and future members. I would hope to engage organizations that are not currently members, showcasing the benefits of membership as I have experienced them. Thank you for your consideration.

Member-at-Large

Jefferson Einstein Hospital

I am the Administrator for the Department of Emergency Medicine at Jefferson Einstein Hospital, a safety net healthcare hospital serving over 120,000 patients annually at emergency departments in Philadelphia and Montgomery Counties in Pennsylvania. In addition to providing leadership for strategic planning, financial oversight, program development, and business opportunities, my administrative responsibilities extend to support for the department divisions and management of emergency medical services contracts, ultrasound sonography, toxicology services, clinical research studies, and medical education programs. In addition, revenue cycle management has been a keen operational initiative focusing on billing education and high-quality documentation. The successful partnership with our external coding company has served as a model strategy to adopt for emergency medicine clinical shared services in the larger health system.

Civic engagement is paramount for an academic community medical center situated in North Philadelphia, serving one of the most diverse and disadvantaged communities in the US. Our work with Vot-ER, a nonpartisan organization committed to bringing voter registration into health care settings, has galvanized the patients to be active participants on policies impacting their lives.

Our Emergency Dept is also impacted by the considerable number of trauma patients we treat, especially young adults. As a Level 1 Trauma Center, we care for nearly 2000 trauma victims each year with a broad range of mechanisms including gunshot wounds, falls, blunt trauma, and penetrating injuries. To address these needs in providing a support system, a Trauma Intervention Program was established to provide intensive follow-up care to young people aged 14-30 who have been treated for violence related injuries. The program aims to help these patients recover from the substantial social and psychological effects of violence. Driving innovative health solutions for underserved populations has also involved supporting community health opioid use disorder programs.

With over 20 years’ experience in diverse healthcare environments including primary and specialty care services, community health centers, academic hospital based ambulatory sites and private practices, I led key organizational initiatives involving implementation of system processes to optimize operational and financial performance with a continued focus on employed population health management to impact health outcomes. However, it has been the complexity of emergency medicine healthcare management that has afforded the most rewarding experience in the coordination of delivery of services, quality and safety, people, volume/growth, finance, and academics.

I earned a Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA), a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Marketing and a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA.

My doctoral research that focused on the adoption of medical patient portals for an underserved population utilizing the emergency department for medical care and medical information provided insight for the daily work of the clinical team to promote a positive patient experience.

My active AAAEM membership for the past seven years and part of the Executive Committee as a Member-at Large has shaped my professional trajectory in emergency medicine tremendously. Working in the discipline lends itself to immeasurable professional opportunities, but it is the work of the Executive Committee leading the organizational team with cross boundary group collaboration that is most illuminating. Planning for the annual retreats, setting operational guidelines and standards, seeking to make the Academy stronger through Committee initiatives are all benefits of serving on the Leadership team. Further, my participation on the IDEA Committee reinforces the Academy’s priority as an inclusive supportive organization for professionals in emergency medicine. I am honored to have served and feel even more prepared to leverage my experience and contribute to ideas and strategies for garnering engagement in furthering the goals that align with the Academy’s mission.

Secretary

University of Florida, College of Medicine - Gainesville

I am grateful for the opportunity to be considered for the executive committee. With over 15 years of experience in leadership roles within academic and community healthcare, especially in emergency medicine, I am committed to supporting AAAEM’s mission through strategic initiatives that elevate clinical care, education, and research while ensuring financial and operational integrity. My background includes an MBA and an Academic Emergency Medicine Administration Certification, and in my current role as Executive Administrator/Vice Chair for Administrative Affairs, I work closely with department and system leaders to foster a thriving healthcare environment.

As the chair of AAAEM’s Education and Professional Development Committee, I focus on promoting knowledge-sharing through “hot topic” sessions that address current challenges and opportunities. My service on the Benchmark Committee, as well as previous experience chairing the Communication Committee, has helped me understand the value of data-driven insights and effective communication in strengthening our collective efforts. Outside of AAAEM, I am deeply committed to mentoring future leaders and was involved in creating a 2-year Healthcare Administrative Fellowship at the University of Florida.

If elected, my goal is to contribute to a dynamic, forward-thinking AAAEM that remains supportive, engaging, and welcoming to all members, especially newcomers. By continually enhancing our events and fostering a sense of connection, we can inspire excitement and a feeling of belonging across our membership. It would be a privilege to bring new perspectives and work alongside colleagues to uphold and advance our shared mission.

Thank you for considering my nomination.

Treasurer

Mass General Brigham

​Brendan Russell serves as the enterprise vice president of emergency medicine for the Mass General Brigham health system in Boston, Massachusetts. In this role, he oversees an integrated emergency medicine service comprising two academic medical center emergency departments (EDs), seven community hospital EDs, and one specialty hospital ED. ​

Russell earned his Master of Business Administration from Boston College in 2015 and graduated from the AAAEM Certificate in Academic Emergency Medicine Administration (CAEMA) program in 2021. ​

Russell has actively contributed to AAAEM, serving as secretary, and a member-at-large on the executive committee, participating in the finance and benchmark committees, and acting as vice chair of the education committee.  

Clinical Assistant Professor/Associate Director

Stanford University

Maryam Makowski, PhD, is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Stanford University Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and the Associate Director of Scholarship and Health Promotion of the Stanford Medicine WellMD & WellPhD.  

Dr. Makowski is a nutrition scientist, a physician well-being expert, and a National Board-Certified Health and Wellness Coach. The focus of her nutrition research is examining the effects of micro- and macro-nutrients, meal composition, and timing on cognitive function, mood, mental sharpness, and eating behaviors of professionals with high cognitive and physical demands. As a physician coach, Maryam uses evidence-based strategies to empower her physician clients in optimizing their well-being, self-compassion, energy, focus, and mental sharpness for peak performance. 

Maryam completed her master's and doctoral studies in clinical nutrition, nutritional epidemiology, and medical science at the University of Toronto in Canada. Prior to joining Stanford, she served as a scientific associate at Toronto General Hospital-University Health Network in Toronto, and as an advisor to Air Canada rouge pilots and cabin crew on optimal nutrition for fatigue mitigation. Over the course of her career, she has authored highly cited scientific papers on nutrition and well-being.

Member-at-Large

University of Michigan

Dr. Schmitzberger is a clinical instructor at the University of Michigan. He has a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Computation as well as a Master of Science in Bioinformatics from Stanford University. He completed his medical studies at the Charité University in Berlin where he also received his scientific doctorate. He is an emergency medicine physician at the University of Michigan and a fellow for resuscitation science and is principle investigator in multiple studies. He holds a fellowship of the academy of wilderness medicine. He served in the Austrian Military as a medic and is the associate medical director for the Genesee county Sheriff’s department paramedic division, serving Flint, Michigan. He has extensive experience in international medicine, having been active as team leader, medic and physician in numerous conflict regions (Burmese civil war, Syrian conflict, Afghanistan war, Venezuelan crisis, Ukraine war) as well as in medical civic actions in other regions.

Assistant Professor & IT Chair

University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center