SAEM Board of Directors

Ali S. Raja, MD, DBA, MPH

President

Massachusetts General Hospital / Harvard Medical School

Ali S. Raja, MD, DBA, MPH, FACHE is the Executive Vice Chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and a Professor at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Raja received his MPH from Harvard, holds MD and MBA degrees from Duke and, after training in emergency medicine at the University of Cincinnati, completed a research fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He is board certified in emergency medicine and clinical informatics, and is appointed to both the Departments of Emergency Medicine and Radiology at HMS.

Dr. Raja is an expert on the management of critically ill patients in the emergency department and prehospital arenas. He has served as a critical care air transport team commander for the US Air Force, a civilian flight physician, a tactical physician for a number of local, state, and federal agencies, and a physician with MA-1 DMAT. The author of over 200 publications, his current research focuses on improving the appropriateness of resource utilization and operations within the emergency department. 

In addition to serving on the SAEM Board, Dr. Raja has served on the Board of the SAEM Foundation, as Chair of the Program Committee and Trauma Interest Group, and as a member of several other committees within SAEM. He is also on the Board of the Massachusetts chapter of the American College of Healthcare Executives, where he serves as President-Elect, and was previously the Editor-in-Chief of the New England Journal of Medicine’s Journal Watch Emergency Medicine. He can be found on Twitter at @AliRaja_MD.

Michelle D. Lall, MD, MHS

President-Elect

Emory University

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

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

Her professional memberships include: American College of Emergency Physicians – where she is a fellow, Society for Academic Emergency Physicians, Academy for Women in Academic Emergency Medicine - where she is the Immediate Past President, American Association of Women Emergency Physicians, and Georgia College of Emergency Physicians.  She is also a member of the Delta Omega Honor Society.  Dr. Lall is a recipient of the Momentum Award from the Academy for Women in Academic Emergency Medicine (AWAEM), which recognizes extraordinary efforts that further the mission and values of AWAEM.  While at Sinai-Grace/Wayne State University, Dr. Lall was a two time "Faculty Teacher of the Year" award winner.  At Emory, she has been the recipient of the “Faculty Advocate of the Year” award.

Jody A. Vogel, MD, MSc, MSW

Secretary-Treasurer

Stanford University

Jody A. Vogel, MD, MSc, MSW, is an Associate Professor and the inaugural Vice Chair for Academic Affairs in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Stanford University. Dr. Vogel received a Master of Social Work from the University of Michigan and a Doctor of Medicine (MD) from Wayne State University School of Medicine. She completed emergency medicine residency training as well as a clinical research fellowship at Denver Health Medical Center, and obtained a Master of Science in Epidemiology from the Colorado School of Public Health. 

Dr. Vogel has been a very active member of SAEM, with ten years of dedicated service on the SAEM Program Committee including serving as Program Committee Chair for the 2019 and 2020 Annual Meetings. She has also served as a member of the Graduate Medical Education Committee, Nominating Committee, Research Committee, inaugural chair of the Resident and Student Advisory Committee.  Dr. Vogel is a current Member-at-Large and past Resident Member of the SAEM Board of Directors. Dr. Vogel currently serves on the ACEP-SAEM Federal Research Funding Work Group and served as Co-Chair for the SAEM23 Consensus Conference on Precision Emergency Medicine. She has served on task forces to improve the consensus conference, Academic Emergency Medicine, and the Leadership Forum and has been a regular participant in the Annual SAEM Strategic Planning Sessions. Dr. Vogel has led initiatives aimed at increasing federally funded emergency care research including co-leading nominations of emergency medicine physicians to the National Institutes of Health Study Sections and developing and leading novel Program Officer Sessions at the SAEM Annual Meeting. 

Dr. Vogel has devoted herself to research to improve emergency care and has a dedicated interest in underserved, at-risk populations. She is an active health services researcher with numerous publications and grant support from the National Institutes of Health and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Dr. Vogel has received many academic awards for her leadership and contributions to emergency care research.

Wendy C. Coates, MD

Immediate Past President

UCLA Department of Emergency Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

Wendy C. Coates, MD is Emeritus Professor of Emergency Medicine at UCLA Department of Emergency Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and Senior Faculty/Education Specialist at Harbor-UCLA Department of Emergency Medicine. She served as Dean of the UCLA Acute Care College and Director of Education at Harbor-UCLA where she founded the Fellowship in Medical Education Scholarship in 1999. She enjoys continued active mentorship of her fellowship graduates. Coates graduated with honors from Allegheny College, earned her MD from Case Western Reserve University, and completed the EM residency at Allegheny General/Medical College of PA. 

Dr. Coates’ research focus is medical education with an emphasis on faculty and learner development, mentorship, curricular innovation and evaluation, creativity in medicine, and qualitative methods. She is a founding member of the Editorial Board for AEM Education & Training, member of the AEM Editorial Board, and was an ABEM Item Writer for 9 years. 

Dr. Coates began her service to SAEM as the Resident Representative to the Education Committee which she subsequently chaired for several years. She was the inaugural chair of the Undergraduate Education Committee where she led the creation and implementation of the SAEM Virtual Advisor Program and, most recently, led the initial Fellowship Approval Committee that developed metrics for non-ACGME approved fellowships in EM. She has also served on the Nominating Committee, Research Committee, and was the SAEM representative to the national committee on medical student education reform. She currently serves as a member-at-large on the SAEM Board of Directors. Follow on her Twitter at: @CoatesMedEd

Pooja Agrawal, MD, MPH

Member-at-Large

Yale Department of Emergency Medicine

I am an Associate Professor at the Yale Department of Emergency Medicine where I serve as the Director of Global Health Education. I completed residency at the Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency, an MPH at the Harvard School of Public Health and a Global Health Fellowship at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. I have been involved with many aspects of SAEM since residency and can say without hesitation that SAEM has not only shaped but launched my career. After holding various leadership roles with the Academy for Women in Academic Emergency Medicine (AWAEM), I served as President. Through that role, I created new programs, celebrated many successes, and came to recognize the potential for the greater SAEM organization to accomplish even more. I am particularly proud of the AWAEM Internal Funding Award, a program that in only four years has supported over 20 PIs with funding for their research. I have also been actively engaged with the Academy for Diversity & Inclusion in Emergency Medicine (ADIEM), the Global Emergency Medicine Academy (GEMA), the SAEM Equity and Inclusion Committee, the Wellness Committee, as well as several other interest groups. In 2018, I was awarded the AWAEM Momentum Award and in 2023 the AWAEM Social Advocacy in Medicine Award.

Jeffrey P. Druck, MD

Member-at-Large

University of Utah School of Medicine

Jeff Druck, MD, is the Vice Chair for Faculty Advancement, DEI and Wellbeing of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Utah School of Medicine, as well as being a Professor within the Department of Emergency Medicine. Dr. Druck grew up in Houston, Texas, went to Rice University for his undergraduate degree, received his MD degree from Baylor College of Medicine, and he completed his residency at the Denver Health Residency Program in Emergency Medicine. He is board certified in Emergency Medicine and has served as an oral examiner for ABEM for the past 14 years.

Dr. Druck is an expert in emergency medicine education and in DEI, having served as the chair of his department’s DEI committee, an associate residency director, President of the school’s faculty senate, Student Affairs Dean, and Co-Director of the Office of Professional Excellence at the University of Colorado prior to his move to Utah.

In addition to serving on the SAEM Board of Directors, Dr. Druck has served as President of the Academy for Diversity and Inclusion in Emergency Medicine (ADIEM) as well as Co-Chair of the SAEM Consensus conference on Racism in Emergency Medicine. He has served on SAEM’s Awards committee, Program Committee, Consultation Committee, the Faculty Development Committee, and previously directed the Chief Resident Forum. He can be found on LinkedIn at @JeffDruck

Ryan LaFollette, MD

Member-at-Large

University of Cincinnati

Ryan LaFollette, MD is an Associate Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Cincinnati. Dr. LaFollette graduated from UC’s Emergency Medicine Residency where he served as a Chief Resident in 2016 and upon graduation became an Assistant Program Director, a title he currently holds. He also serves as a flight physician and a physician member of the Cincinnati SWAT team.

Dr. LaFollette functions as the current SAEM Program Committee Chair, leading the society’s most attended meeting ever in Austin, TX at SAEM23 and is excited about continuing a record setting year at SAEM24 in Phoenix, AZ. He has served a number of roles in the Program Committee, including Chairing the Medical Student Ambassadors where he helped to double our medical student presence at the Annual Meeting. He has also led Didactics from 2018-2022, revamping the grading and selection process while significantly increasing the number of didactic offerings. Additionally, he served as Virtual Presence Committee Chair from 2018-2021, during which the SAEM livestreams contributed hundreds of hours of free SAEM content and oversaw the expansion of the SAEM podcasts and new website creation. He has also been a member of the Awards and Education Committee, creating the FOAMed Excellence in Education Award which was first given out in 2019.

Dr. LaFollette’s academic interests include resident education and knowledge translation, being a leader of the Education Leadership Academy at UC. He serves on the UC GME Executive Committee at the University of Cincinnati, on the Executive Board of the UC Emergency Medicine Program Of Women in LeadERship (EMPOWER) and as an Editor-in-Chief of TamingtheSRU.com. He has won both the Faculty of the Year (2019) and Mentor of the Year (2023) awards. If elected to the board, he would look to forward the technological advances that connect our diverse society and create next-generation resources to curate the vast SAEM resources and knowledge base into career-furthering deliverables.

Julianna J. Jung, MD , MEd

Member-at-Large / Director of Medical Student Education, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Dr. Jung graduated from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1999 and completed EM residency training at Johns Hopkins Hospital in 2002. She went on to join the Hopkins faculty, and has served as director of the required Core Clerkship in Emergency Medicine since 2004. Since then, EM has become the highest-rated clerkship at Hopkins according to the AAMC Graduation Questionnaire, earning the top spot for more than ten consecutive years. Dr. Jung leads numerous other School of Medicine courses, and serves as Associate Director of the Johns Hopkins Medicine Simulation Center. She earned her MEd degree in 2017, and has won numerous teaching awards. She has been on a member of the CDEM Executive Committee since 2014, and currently serves as President.

Nicholas M. Mohr, MD, MS

Member-at-Large

University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine

Nicholas Mohr, MD, MS is a Professor of Emergency Medicine, Anesthesia Critical Care, and Epidemiology at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. He is also the Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Emergency Medicine, the Director of the Emergency Medicine-Anesthesia Critical Care Fellowship Program, the Director of the Emergency Medicine Physician Scientist Training Pathway (PSTP) in the Emergency Medicine Residency Program, and the Director of the Rural Telehealth Research Center. Dr. Mohr completed residency in emergency medicine and was a Chief Resident at Indiana University, then he completed fellowship in critical care medicine at Washington University in St. Louis. Dr. Mohr has been active in SAEM, most recently serving as the Chair of the SAEM Grants Committee (2019-2022), the Chair of the Scientific Subcommittee (Abstracts) of the SAEM Program Committee (2019-2022), and the SAEM Representative to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Physician Scientist Training Pathway Committee (2021-present). He also served as the Chair of the Planning Committee for the SAEM Great Plains Regional Meeting in 2016, the Co-Lead of the Writing Committee for the SAEM Generational Issues in Emergency Medicine Task Force (2009-10), and a member of the SAEM Research Committee. Dr. Mohr’s interest in a position on the Board of Directors stems from his deep appreciation for the role SAEM has played in his own mentorship and personal career development. He is particularly interested in issues of professional mentorship within the Society and how the Society can establish procedures for more robust succession planning within committees, task forces, and academies. More globally, he is interested in how emergency medicine as a specialty can grow the cadre of successfully funded independent researchers, and his recent work has focused on improving residency and junior faculty training opportunities for graduates of Medical Scientist Training Programs (MSTP, MD/PhD training). Dr. Mohr feels that the Society is critical to the future of academic emergency medicine education, research, and practice, and he would be honored to serve the Society on the Board of Directors.

Ava Pierce, MD

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.

Lewis S. Nelson, MD, MBA

Immediate Past President / Chair Member

Rutgers New Jersey Medical School

Lewis S. Nelson, MD, MBA is Professor and Chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine and Chief of the Division of Medical Toxicology and Addiction Medicine at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, in Newark, NJ. He is board certified in emergency medicine, medical toxicology, and addiction medicine. Dr. Nelson serves as a long-standing consultant to CDC, DHS, and FDA and works closely with several professional organizations addressing the medical and social consequences of substance use. His areas of interest include non-opioid pain relief strategies, opioid overdose and management, addiction and withdrawal management, and health policy focused on issues related to medication safety and substance use.

Daniel N. Jourdan, MD

Immediate Past President / Resident Member

Henry Ford Hospital

Dr. Daniel Jourdan is a PGY-4 specializing in emergency medicine and internal medicine at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. His career path has been shaped by a background that includes four years as an enlisted soldier and five years as a street paramedic, experiences that fostered his passion for emergency medicine even before he completed his undergraduate studies.

Dr. Jourdan was introduced to the Resident and Medical Student (RAMS) and the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) during medical school. For the past three years, he has served on the RAMS Board as a Member-at-Large. In 2023, he was elected as President of the RAMS Board and continued to elevate the organization with new initiatives and collaborations. Dr. Jourdan's commitment to supporting his peers extends to his role on the SAEM Advanced Practice Providers (APP) Task Force, where he contributed to ensuring that the inclusion of APPs in training programs does not adversely affect residents' training. His experiences as a soldier, paramedic, and now a resident physician have equipped him with a unique perspective and a strong dedication to advancing the field of emergency medicine.