People

Efrat R. Kean, MD

Thomas Jefferson University

"Assessment of a Novel Model of Remote Diagnosis and Treatment of Highly Contagious Infectious Diseases"

Dr. Kean is a clinical assistant professor and director of clinical trials in the emergency department at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She completed her medical school training at the University of Virginia and her emergency medicine residency at Temple University. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Kean has been engaged in numerous projects related to pandemic response, including spearheading the development of surge plans in the emergency department, building partnerships with Philadelphia’s public schools to increase children’s access to COVID-19 vaccines, and providing support for long-term care facilities experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks as head of Rapid Response Teams for Jefferson’s RRHCP team. She has also served as principal investigator and co-investigator on several COVID-19 related research grants.

Giselle Appel, BA

Thomas Jefferson University

"Optimizing the EM Clerkship through Trauma-Informed Medical Education"

Giselle Appel is a medical student at Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Prior to medical school, she conducted research at the intersection of emergency medicine and psychiatry. Her current research focuses on utilizing psychodynamic theory to inform better care that patients receive in both acute and inpatient hospital settings, as well as for the physicians who treat them.

Giselle has received prior research awards and funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst, or German Academic Exchange Service) Study and Internship Program (SIP) via Columbia University, Infectious Disease Society of America, Clinical and Translational Science Center at Weill Cornell Medical College, and the Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts.

Upon entering medical school, she continued her work in medical education initiatives, while still maintaining close association with her interests in psychotherapeutic models of care and object relations theory. Giselle believes in the power of the therapeutic alliance and holding environment — consisting of empathy, patience, and active listening —- to best guide patients toward an understanding of their symptoms, medical care, and healing.

Hirotaka Ata, MD, PhD

Duke University

"CRISPR-based, Rapid Bedside Bacteremia Detection for ED Sepsis Management"

Dr. Ata is a second year emergency medicine resident at Duke University. Prior to joining Duke, he completed MD and PhD training at Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine, with a focus on improving predictability and reliability of genome editing outcomes in vertebrates using tools such as CRISPR-Cas9. His work has led to a better understanding of local triggers for robustly activating an understudied DNA repair pathway, MMEJ (microhomology-mediated end joining), resulting in targeted induction of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) sequence changes, precise down to the single nucleotide level. As an emergency medicine resident, Dr. Ata is interested in developing molecular diagnostic tools for emergency department-relevant pathologies, starting with bedside detection of bacteremia using CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) to better inform antibiotic stewardship.

Connor M. Bunch, MD

Henry Ford Hospital

"Resuscitation of Severely Bleeding Patients Guided by Resonant Acoustic Rheometry"

Dr. Bunch is resident physician in the combined emergency medicine/internal medicine at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan. His research interests include the resuscitation of the undifferentiated critically ill patient in the emergency room and the care thereafter in the intensive care unit. More specifically, Dr. Bunch’s research applies point-of-care viscoelastic hemostatic assays (e.g., thromboelastography [TEG], resonant acoustic rheometry [RAR]) to guide individualized blood component ratios and hemostatic adjuncts for severely hemorrhaging and/or coagulopathic patients. This interest sparked in medical school under the guidance of the legendary Dr. Mark Walsh wherein, early in the pandemic when clinicians were bereft of evidence, he was applying TEG to guide anticoagulant therapy and prevent bleeding/thromboses for inpatients with COVID-associated coagulopathy.

Since, then Dr. Bunch’s  interests have expanded to goal-directed massive transfusion, tertiary hemostasis, shock-induced endotheliopathy, trauma-induced coagulopathy, sepsis-induced coagulopathy, post-cardiac arrest syndrome-associated coagulopathy, and anticoagulant reversal —  areas where the early diagnosis and reversal of deranged blood viscosity, clot formation and termination, and endotheliopathy may enable optimization of macro- and microvascular blood flow to prevent further organ dysfunction/failure for the patient in shock. 

Reuben W. Horace, DO, MPH, MBA

Duke University

"Patient Perspective on Reducing Bias During ED Intake of ED Psychiatric Patients"

Dr. Horace is first-year resident at Duke University Medical Center with a research interest in emergency department disparities in underserved populations as well as pain outcomes. His recent scholarly work includes presenting pain research at national annual conferences, mentoring medical students, and being actively involved in community outreach.

Katrina Gipson, MD, MPH

President

Emory University School of Medicine

Dr. Gipson received a BS in biomedical engineering with a concentration in biotechnology from Yale University and an MD from Case Western Reserve University with Honors with Distinction in Research. During medical school, she received an MPH in Health Management and Policy from the University of Michigan. She completed postgraduate training in emergency medicine (EM) at University Hospitals Case Medical Center and a Health Policy Fellowship at George Washington University. Dr. Gipson views her path through EM through the lens of diversity, inclusion, and health equity as forms of justice. She is committed to educational and workforce diversity and inclusivity and works to ensure that learners deliver care with cultural humility in an inclusive environment.

Andrea Sharp

Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine

Mayo Clinic

sharp.andrea@mayo.edu

Link to Bio

Palliative Medicine boarded?: Yes

Areas of Expertise: 

1. Education
2. Communication skills  
   
3. Quality improvement  
4. ED Embedded Palliative
5. Systems/pathways of care
   

Speaking Categories:

1. ED Embedded Palliative
   

Areas You’ve Received Funding: None

Willing to collaborator or be a Co-I?: Yes

Daniel Markwalter

Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellow (2021-2022)

University of North Carolina

daniel.markwalter@unchealth.unc.edu

Link to Bio

Palliative Medicine boarded?: No

Areas of Expertise: 

1. Education
2. Communication skills  
   
3. Quality improvement  
4. Symptom management
5. Systems/pathways of care
   

Speaking Categories:

1. Education
2. Systems/pathways of care

Areas You’ve Received Funding: Communication skills and Systems/pathways of care

Willing to collaborator or be a Co-I?: Yes

Chris Richardson

Assistant Professor/Department of Emergency Medicine and Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine

Mount Sinai Health System

christopher.richardson@mountsinai.org

Link to Bio

Palliative Medicine boarded?: Yes

Areas of Expertise: 

1. Education
2. Communication skills  
3. Research
4. Quality improvement  
5. Symptom management
6. Systems/pathways of care
   

Speaking Categories:

1. Communication skills
2. Symptom management

Areas You’ve Received Funding: None

Willing to collaborator or be a Co-I?: Yes

Rita Manfredi

Professor of Clinical Emergency Medicine

George Washington University

philritas@mindspring.com

Link to Bio

Palliative Medicine boarded?: Yes

Areas of Expertise: 

1. Education
2. Communication skills  
3. Research
4. Quality improvement
   

Speaking Categories:

1. Education
2. Communication  skills
3. Symptom management

Areas You’ve Received Funding: None

Willing to collaborator or be a Co-I?: Yes

Rebecca Goett, MD

Assistant Professor & Asst. Residency Director

Rutgers New Jersey Medical School

Rebecca.Goett@rutgers.edu

Link to Bio

Palliative Medicine boarded?: Yes

Areas of Expertise: 

1. Education
2. Communication skills  
3. Symptom management
4. Quality improvement
   

Speaking Categories:

1. Education
2. Communication skills

Areas You’ve Received Funding: Education and Communication skills

Willing to collaborator or be a Co-I?: Yes

Jefferson Svengsouk

Professor of Emergency Medicine

University of Rochester Medical Center

jefferson.svengsouk@rochester.edu

Link to Bio

Palliative Medicine boarded?: Yes

Areas of Expertise: 

1. Education
2. Communication skills  
3. Symptom management
4. Quality improvement
   

Speaking Categories: see Expertise, above

Areas You’ve Received Funding: Symptom management

Willing to collaborator or be a Co-I?: Yes

Tammie Quest

Director at Emory Palliative Care Center/Professor

Emory University School of Medicine

tquest@emory.edu

Link to Bio

Palliative Medicine boarded?: Yes

Areas of Expertise: 

1. Education
2. Communication skills
3. Systems/pathways of care 
4. Symptom management
5. Quality improvement
6. Research

Speaking Categories: see Expertise, above

Areas You’ve Received Funding: Education, Communication skills, Quality improvement, Symptom management, Systems/pathways of care, Research

Willing to collaborator or be a Co-I?: Yes

Marie-Carmelle Elie

Chair Department of Emergency Medicine

University of Alabama at Birmingham

elie@uab.edu

Link to Bio

Palliative Medicine boarded?: Yes

Areas of Expertise: 

1. Education
2. Communication skills
3. Systems/pathways of care 
4. Symptom management
5. Research

Speaking Categories: 

1. Hospice
2. Communication skills

Areas You’ve Received Funding: Research

Willing to collaborator or be a Co-I?: Yes

Carrie Harvey

Assistant Professor/ Assistant Residency Program Director

University of Michigan

hcarrie@med.umich.edu

Link to Bio

Palliative Medicine boarded?: No

Areas of Expertise: 

1. Education
2. Communication skills
3. Systems/pathways of care 

Speaking Categories: 

1. Education
2. Communication skills

Areas You’ve Received Funding: None

Willing to collaborator or be a Co-I?: Yes

Eric Isaacs

Clinical Professor/Attending Emergency Physician

UCSF/Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital

Eric.Isaacs@ucsf.edu

Link to Bio

Palliative Medicine boarded?: No

Areas of Expertise: 

1. Education
2. Communication skills
3. Quality improvement

Speaking Categories: 

1. Education
2. Communication skills

Areas You’ve Received Funding: Education and Communication skills

Willing to collaborator or be a Co-I?: Yes

Christian Jacobus

Medical Director

Blanchard Valley Health System--Bridge Home Health and Hospice

chj@mindspring.com

Link to Bio

Palliative Medicine boarded?: Yes

Areas of Expertise: None 

Speaking Categories: 

1.  Communication skills
2. Symptom management

Areas You’ve Received Funding: None

Willing to collaborator or be a Co-I?: No

Naomi George

Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine and Division of Critical Care

University of New Mexico

nageorge@salud.unm.edu

Link to Bio

Palliative Medicine boarded?: No

Areas of Expertise:

1. Education 
2. Communication skills
3. Quality improvement
4. Systems/pathways of care

Speaking Categories: see Expertise, above 

Areas You’ve Received Funding: Health services
Willing to collaborator or be a Co-I?: Yes

Brian Gacioch

Clinical Instructor in Emergency Medicine

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

brian.gacioch@gmail.com

Link to Bio

Palliative Medicine boarded?: Yes

Areas of Expertise:

1. Education 
2. Communication skills
3. Symptom management

Speaking Categories: see Expertise, above 

Areas You’ve Received Funding: None
Willing to collaborator or be a Co-I?: Yes

Justin Brooten

Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine

Wake Forest School of Medicine

jbrooten@wakehealth.edu

Link to Bio

Palliative Medicine boarded?: Yes

Areas of Expertise:

1. Education 
2. Communication skills
3. Quality improvement
4. Systems/pathways of care
5. Symptom management
6. Observation medicine
7. Research

Speaking Categories: see Expertise, above 

Areas You’ve Received Funding: Systems/pathways of care and Research

Willing to collaborator or be a Co-I?: Yes