People

Development and Grants Officer

University of Florida

Medical Student/Resident Representative

University of Vermont

IT Chair

University of Pennsylvania

My name is Rmaah Memon and I’m a first year global emergency medicine (EM) fellow at the University of Pennsylvania. Firstly, thank you to Stephanie Garbern for the nomination. I would be honored to serve as the IT chair for the Global Emergency Medicine Academy (GEMA) executive committee for 2025-2026. I have been involved in GEMA since my intern year of residency and previously served as the Global EM Fellowship Committee (GEMFC) resident representative (2022-2023) and GEMA medical student/resident representative (2023-2024). In both of these capacities, I had the opportunity to manage social media and maintained a digital presence. While serving as the GEMFC resident representative, I created a twitter account for the committee where we highlighted fellowship and fellow opportunities, and as the GEMA resident representative I created the GEMA instagram account to highlight the academy’s work/events/opportunities. This year, I am co-chairing the GEMA social media committee and run the GEMA instagram account. I am also currently the co-chair of the digital health committee and the WHO BEC ToT committee, through which I have had experience handling IT, marketing, and social media. I would be thrilled to serve as IT chair and continue to highlight the work of GEMA and its members. If elected, I hope to continue to expand GEMA’s social media presence and engage with new GEMA members looking for opportunities and mentorship. I hope to create a digital presence where GEMA members can network globally. Thank you!

Medical Student/Resident Representative

Mayo Clinic Department of Emergency Medicine

My name is Rebecca Leff and I am running for reelection as the GEMA medical student/resident representative. I am an emergency medicine resident PGY2 at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. I graduated with an MD from Ben Gurion University in Beer Sheva, Israel. Prior to studying medicine, I graduated with a BA in Middle Eastern Studies, Political Science, and Film and Media Studies with a certificate in interdisciplinary human rights from the University of California, Berkeley. I have worked in and around the human rights sector in both the Middle East and the United States for the past decade while completing my education, working with such organizations as Physicians for Human Rights-Israel in the Palestinian West Bank and with African asylum seekers in Israel, the Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services, the Center for International Migration and Integration (CIMI) where I served as a medical liaison to connect Sudanese and Eritrean refugees throughout Southern Israel to healthcare, the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee in Turkey, Save a Child's Heart, and the Olive Tree Initiative. I served on the Physicians for Human Rights National Student Advisory Board where I lead the advocacy team and helped coordinate PHR chapters globally and our yearly national conference after founding the Israeli medical student chapter of Physicians for Human Rights which has over 80 students actively participating weekly from Tel Aviv University, Ben Gurion University, and the Technion. I also completed a research year with the Yale Emergency Medicine Global Health Section mentored by Christine Ngaruiya, MD, MSc, DTM&H and Pooja Agrawal MD, MPH, FACEP to focus on the non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in humanitarian crises, refugee barriers to care, barriers to care for low English proficiency patients, and humanitarian intervention development for both children and adults, with a particular focus on East Africa. During medical school I was selected to participate in the EMRA/ACEP International Ambassador Mentorship Program - Global Emergency Medicine Student Leadership Program (GEMS LP) and upon completion joined the leadership team for last year's cohort. I have moderated the Middle East Section of the ACEP Ambassador Conference regional breakout meeting for the past two years. Currently, I am working on a project focusing on Pediatric Emergency Medicine education development in the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza, as well as work with the World Bank on NCD care in the Republic of the Congo with Christine Ngaruiya, MD, MSc, DTM&H. I am also leading a group of Israeli medical students in participating in the Physicians for Human Rights-Israel / Zochrot Nakba and Health Research Group, preparing a report in differences in emergency care access for different populations in our region.

As the resident representative this past year I have focused on making GEMA more accessible to trainees. I have also served as co-chair of the Humanitarian Task Force as well as the Pediatric Emergency Medicine task force in GEMA, helping to found the Pediatric Emergency Medicine task force this past year. We have created more opportunities on several task forces for trainees involvement and have plans for our first engagement session specifically for trainees this month. I have also been engaged in creating mentorship opportunities in several of our task forces including the Humanitarian and PEM task forces. I would like to continue to serve as the resident representative for GEMA, because I take my role seriously as a bridge for residents and medical students to engage in global health through the wide array of mentorship that GEMA SAEM members has to offer and I see more opportunity to grow our trainee involvement. Working over the past years with mentors with significant experience in academic global health and engaging in global health research has shown me how significant mentorship and guidance can be in helping medical student and residents achieve their own goals in global health. I am currently mentoring a medical student in Uganda who founded the first emergency medicine interest group in his country, and helping him develop his first systematic review and research protocol for a cross sectional study and watching him present that work at the African Federation for Emergency Medicine conference has proven to me that while I may be only starting my own journey (and still have much to learn), I can still offer mentorship and guidance to others and be a bridge to connect residents and medical students interested in global health to those who have more experience. I take joy in receiving emails from medical students and residents looking to get involved. I would like to continue to work on my goal of fostering a community for residents and medical students interested in academic global emergency medicine to share ideas, create community, and use each other a resources to move forward with our own projects and ideas. 

Medical Student/Resident Representative

Atrium Health - Carolinas Medical Center

President-Elect

University of Pennsylvania

I am honored by the nomination for Present-Elect of GEMA. I have led and/or served on several GEMA committees over the years and am proud to currently be serving as Treasurer of GEMA and as Chair of the Global Emergency Medicine Fellowship Consortium (GEMFC) Committee this year. I have also served as Secretary and as Fellow Representative in the GEMFC Committee in the past.

I believe this work, along with serving as the Global EM Fellowship Director of the University of Pennsylvania Program, has given me the necessary experience to take the next steps to serve GEMA as President-Elect. If selected for this role, I will work over the next year to prepare for the role of President by upholding the vision of GEMA and by advancing its mission to improve the delivery of emergency care globally through research, education, and mentorship. In my role as Treasurer, I have worked to increase membership, especially among our global colleagues, as well as to support opportunities for members. I plan to continue to contribute to – and expand – these efforts as President-Elect. Finally, given my interest in and passion for education, I hope to work to increase educational opportunities for and by GEMA members.

Thank you for the nomination and for your consideration of me for the role of President-Elect. It would be a privilege to continue serving GEMA in this role.

Member-at-Large

Northeast Ohio Medical University

My experience for serving on the foundation comes from being a prior research Director, Chair, mentor to Young investigators as well as prior President of the foundation. I have experience in fundraising and strongly believe in the need for our society to continue to Invest in the future talent of emergency medicine. This cannot be done without money therefore fundraising is imperative. I believe this is my strongest talent to assist the SAEM foundation

Member-at-Large

University of North Carolina

Dr. Hobgood is the founder of the Center for Leadership Life, a research and data repository for leadership in academic medicine. She currently serves as a tenured professor and chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine. ​

Dr. Hobgood earned her medical degree from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and completed her residency in emergency medicine at the University of North Carolina Hospitals. ​

Throughout her career, Dr. Hobgood has held various leadership positions, including associate dean and department chair. Her national organizational leadership roles include serving as president of SAEM, president of the SAEM Foundation Board of Trustees, and chair of the American College of Emergency Physicians Board of Directors. She currently serves as an executive board leader of the International Federation for Emergency Medicine (IFEM).​

Dr. Hobgood's contributions have been recognized with several honors, including the John Marx Leadership Award from SAEM and the Order of the IFEM from the International Federation for Emergency Medicine.

Secretary-Treasurer

Rush University Medical Center

Ted Corbin, MD, MPP, Professor and Chairperson, Department of Emergency Medicine, Rush University Medical Center. Prior to joining Rush, I was Professor of Emergency Medicine and Public Health, and Associate Dean of Community & External Affairs at Drexel University. I also served as Co-Director of the Center for Nonviolence and Social Justice at Drexel University School of Public Health where I was the Founder and Medical Director of Healing Hurt People, an emergency department-based, trauma-informed intervention strategy that works with victims of violence. My work has a special focus on the role of emergency departments in reducing trauma for victims of violence, which has been central to my research and to my success in growing a trauma-informed hospital-based violence intervention. I have worked with a number of organizations and foundations to advance this work including the City of Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health and disAbility Service the Soros Foundation, the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. I am a veteran the United States Army Reserve and I began my career as a biology teacher at a vocational high school in Bronx, New York.I earned my BS in biology from Lincoln University, my MD from Drexel University College of Medicine, and my Master of Public Policy (MPP) degree from the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (formerly the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs).

Immediate Past President

Morehouse School of Medicine

Immediate Past President

University of Michigan

Dr. VanEpps is an associate professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine and the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Michigan. He is also a faculty member in the Biointerfaces Institute and the Michigan Center for Integrative Research in Critical Care. His research focuses on life-threatening infections, particularly those related to implantable medical devices.

Dr. VanEpps earned bachelor's degrees in molecular biology and chemical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh before entering the Medical Scientist Training Program, where he obtained both his medical degree and PhD in bioengineering. He completed his residency in emergency medicine at the University of Michigan/St. Joseph Mercy Hospital and subsequently joined the faculty at the University of Michigan. He is board certified in emergency medicine.

During his doctoral training, Dr. VanEpps studied the relationship between cardiovascular biomechanics and the development of coronary artery disease. He has extensive experience in computational modeling, including finite element analysis and computational fluid dynamics. His work integrates engineering principles with emergency medicine to advance the understanding and treatment of critical infections.

Dr. VanEpps has been a member of the SAEM Foundation Board of Trustees since 2018, serving as secretary-treasurer, a member-at-large, president-elect, and most recently as the 2024-2025 president. A former recipient of an SAEM Research Training Grant, he is deeply familiar with the impact of SAEM-funded research.

Medical Student Representative

Saint James School of Medicine

I am a MS3 student with Saint James School of Medicine completing my core rotations within the South Texas Health System of Edinburg and McAllen Texas. I am currently a member of the Emergency Medicine Interest Group Leadership Committee as Secretary since 2021 for our school chapter. I currently sit on three SAEM committees; Workforce, Education and Research. I recently written an article for the SAEM Pulse as a member of the SAEM Education Committee. I pride myself on learning from others and to communicate effectively to have our goals and messages not only being heard but also met.

SAEM Member-at-Large

UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas

Ava E. Pierce, MD is an Associate Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center, the Associate Chair of Diversity and Inclusion for the Department of Emergency Medicine, the Director of the Emergency Medicine Research Associate Program, a Co-Director of the Joint Admission Medical Program (JAMP) at UT Southwestern and works clinically at Parkland Health and Hospital Systems. She obtained her medical degree from Louisiana State University School of Medicine at Shreveport and completed an emergency medicine residency at Emory University School of Medicine.

Dr. Pierce completed the Medical Education Research Certificate (MERC) Program and the AAMC Healthcare Executive Diversity and Inclusion Certificate Program and is committed to making innovative changes that will enhance diversity and inclusion and improve excellence in health care, thus strengthening a diverse workforce that will provide culturally competent quality medical care to all. She serves as a member UT Southwestern Medical Center’s Medical School Admissions Committee and is a faculty liaison for Housestaff Emerging Academy of Leaders (HEAL), which focuses on professional development and mentoring for residents and fellows from under-represented groups. Her research interests include medical education, diversity and inclusion, and cardiac resuscitation.

Dr. Pierce has built a steadfast academic career with involvement in numerous capacities at SAEM. She has been actively involved in the Academy for Diversity and Inclusion in Emergency Medicine (ADIEM) since it was founded and has served as ADIEM’s development officer and president. She was awarded ADIEM’s Outstanding Academician Award in recognition of her impact on the academic success of students and residents from underrepresented minority groups. She has also been a member of SAEM’s Membership Committee, SAEM’s Ethics Committee and SAEM’s Diversity and Inclusion Task Force. She is an elected 2020-2021 member-at Large of the Board of Directors of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM). She is member of the National Medical Association, the AAMC Group on Diversity and Inclusion, and a fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians.

MD

The University of Kansas Health System

Treasurer

I am grateful to be considered for the position of GEMA treasurer, and would be glad to serve the academy in this role for the next year. I've been an active member of GEMA for the past six years, and have served on a variety of GEMA committees including the grants and development team and the basic emergency care initiative. I have relevant experience as an active member on the IFEM finance committee and a leading member of the IFEM revenue generation working group. I have also been GEM member of the SAEM fellowship approval committee for the past 5 years. I appreciate your consideration and the opportunity to serve!

Secretary

The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University

I am a first year teaching fellow in global emergency medicine at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. I have a Bachelor in Science in Anatomy and Cell Biology from McGill University and my MD from the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. I completed my residency in emergency medicine at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. I do not have any prior experience with SAEM and hope this position will help me become more involved on a national scale. As I delve further into my work in global emergency medicine during fellowship, I have been more exposed to the breadth of collaborative work and the value of connections in developing projects. I would enjoy helping others create these relationships for other trainees and spark interest in further global health work.

Secretary

Brigham and Women's Hospital

Thank you for the nomination and the consideration for this position. As GEMA secretary, I would plan to support the organizational structure of the Executive Committee and continue GEMA's presence in the SAEM Pulse.

Secretary

Eastern Virginia Medical School

In the 25+ years of my career in a mixed clinical and academic practice experience, I have had the chance to take advantage of many opportunities in care delivery in multiple settings locally and abroad, teaching, writing, and leadership in different organizations and capacities. The independent private practice partnership I work with is responsible for the academic department of emergency medicine at EVMS, and I served as academic faculty early in my career, as clinical faculty throughout, and back into academics in leading our Global Emergency Medicine fellowship program. Because of our unique environment, I have had the opportunity to deliver care in a Level 1 urban trauma and tertiary referral center, community and rural hospitals, and freestanding emergency departments in Virginia, all of which have unique resources, and constraints. Though the GEM Fellowship, I have had the opportunity to partner with emergency medicine consultants in the Caribbean, Africa, and India further which expands my perspective and stokes my curiosity to learn and collaborate across borders and barriers.

Serving in group practice leadership, I have served in department leadership as Assistant Director with my primary responsibility in care quality and patient safety. With this experience, I developed a passion for quality improvement, and was appointed the Director of Quality Assurance/quality improvement for our entire practice, supervising and integrating quality care delivery at seven emergency departments. There certainly have been many lessons learned, and in order for these to be useful, the lessons must be shared. Thus, communication has been integral in my experience, and to me, it remains foundational in any leadership position. A collaborative approach to leadership and communication has proven successful in my experience. My demeanor is calm and I am an active listener. With these qualities and a breadth of varied experience, if elected as GEMA Secretary I will continue to approach with an attentive ear and a thorough detail to serve the Academy.

President-Elect

Alpert Medical School of Brown University

Member-at-Large

Wayne State University

I graduated from Wayne State University School of Medicine in 1998 and completed residency in Emergency Medicine at Detroit Receiving Hospital in 2001. I completed the American College of Emergency Physicians Teaching Fellowship in 2007. I have served as a clinical instructor in Emergency Medicine since 2001, teaching Physical Diagnosis, ACLS and giving didactic lectures. I have been the recipient of his departmental Medical Student Teacher of the Year Award and the Recent Alumni Award from Wayne State University School of Medicine. I have served nationally on the Clerkship Directors for Emergency Medicine curriculum committee and is an American Board of Emergency Medicine Oral Board examiner. I have been the Chair of the CDEM grants and Awards committee from 2018-22 and continue to serve on that committee. I hope to work with CDEM and SAEM to provide continued support and guidance to students applying to EM on a national level. Most importantly, to strengthen the national efforts of CDEM to advocate for our specialty.