2024 SAEMF Grantees

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Meet the 2024 SAEM Foundation Grantees!

Gifts to the SAEM Foundation fund the most promising researchers and educators in academic emergency medicine.
  • 2024 SAEMF Research Training Grant - $300,000

    Click the grant name to learn more about Dr. Murray's work.

    Recipient

    • Evangelia Murray, MD

      Denver Health

      "Comprehensive Emergency Department-based Social Needs Screening"

      Dr. Murray is a clinical research fellow in the department of emergency medicine at Denver Health and the University of Colorado. After completion of her bachelor’s degree at Tufts University, she received her medical degree at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School. Dr. Murray completed her emergency medicine residency at Denver Health. She will complete her Clinical Research Fellowship at Denver Health and Master of Public Health at the Colorado School of Public Health in the Spring of 2024. She will use the SAEMF Research Training Grant to evaluate the implementation of an ED-based digital self-administered social needs screening tool workflow that optimizes opportunity for screening, reduces bias, and ultimately allows staff to focus on interventions for those in need.
  • 2024 SAEMF Research Large Project Grant - $150,000

    Click the grant name to learn more about Dr. Stewart's work.

    Recipient

    • Lauren K. Stewart, MD, MS

      Trustees of Indiana University

      "Targeting Metabolic Syndrome from the Emergency Department through Mixed-Methods"

      Dr. Stewart is an assistant professor of emergency medicine and physician-scientist at Indiana University School of Medicine. She completed both her medical school training and her emergency medicine residency at Indiana University. Following residency, Dr. Stewart joined the faculty, where she has since completed a master’s degree in clinical research and a graduate certificate in innovation and implementation science. Her research focuses on the role of obesity and the related metabolic syndrome in venous thromboembolism, specifically its impact on outcomes affecting patient quality of life. As the recipient of the SAEMF Large Project Grant, Dr. Stewart will pilot a multifaceted intervention aimed at targeting metabolic syndrome risk factors from the emergency department setting.
  • 2024 SAEMF Education Research Training Grant - $100,000

    Click the grant name to learn more about Dr. Karalius's work.

    Recipient

    • Vytas P. Karalius, MD, MPH, MA

      Stanford University

      "The Resident Unionization Study: A Qualitative Analysis of Drivers and Outcomes"

      Dr. Karalius is an Assistant Program Director and is completing his Medical Education Scholarship Fellowship at Stanford University’s Department of Emergency Medicine. He earned his medical degree from the Mayo Clinic School of Medicine and completed his emergency medicine residency at Northwestern University. He also holds a Master of Public Health and a Master of Medical Sciences from Loyola University.
      Dr. Karalius also continues to serve as a faculty member for the Harvard Macy Institute Program for Educators in the Health Professions, and recently awarded the Exceptional Faculty designation. As a former SAEM RAMS Board member, Dr. Karalius continues to be involved with SAEM and is a member of the SAEM Education Committee, SAEM Wellness Committee, and SAEM Equity & Inclusion Committee.
      Dr. Karalius’ primary focus is on graduate medical education, physician/trainee wellness and workforce attrition. He was recently awared the SAEMF Education Research Training Grant in 2024, for his work focusing on resident unionization as it relates to trainee well-being. He is involved in numerous projects and sitting on numerous department, institutional and national committees focused on wellness and medical education, including the Diversity Advisory Group at Stanford, School of Medicine Admissions Committee, and SAEM. Dr. Karalius has co-authored articles for peer-reviewed publications such as Annals of Emergency Medicine and Journal of Graduate Medical Education. He also has contributed to numerous online publications and podcasts, including articles, podcasts and national webinars on education and physician/trainee wellbeing.
  • 2024 SAEMF Emerging Infectious Disease and Preparedness Grant - $100,000

    Click the grant name to learn more about Dr. Becker's work.

    Recipient

    • Torben K. Becker, MD, PhD, MBA

      University of Florida Board of Trustees

      "MotoMeds: Preventing Child Morbidity and Mortality from Infectious Diseases in Ghana"

      Dr. Becker is an associate professor at the University of Florida. He is board-certified in emergency medicine, critical care medicine, and emergency medical services. After obtaining his MD and PhD at the University of Heidelberg Medical School in Germany, Dr. Becker completed his residency in emergency medicine at the University of Michigan, followed by fellowships in critical care medicine and emergency medical services at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Florida, respectively. He is the executive director – emergency medicine of the University of Florida Health Critical Care Organization. In the department of emergency medicine, he serves as chief of the division of critical care medicine and director of the section of global health.
  • 2024 SAEMF Emerging Infectious Disease and Preparedness Grant - $99,106

    Click the grant name to learn more about Dr. Chacko's & Dr. McKillip's work.

    Recipient

    • Ravi V. Chacko, MD, PhD

      Advocate Health Care Network

      "Improving Antibiotic Stewardship for Urinary Tract Infections Using Machine Learning"

      Dr. Chacko is an emergency physician and the co-director of research and publication for the department of emergency medicine at Advocate Christ Medical Center. Dr. Chacko draws on a background in biomedical engineering to develop innovations in emergency medicine. Dr. Chacko completed the Medical Scientist Training Program at Washington University School of Medicine where he developed novel approaches to brain computer interfaces.

    • Ryan McKillip, MD

      Advocate Health Care Network

      "Improving Antibiotic Stewardship for Urinary Tract Infections Using Machine Learning"

      Dr. McKillip is clinical assistant professor of emergency medicine at University of Illinois College of Medicine at Chicago, and the co-director of research and publication for the department of emergency medicine at Advocate Christ Medical Center. Dr. McKillip’s work focuses on the integration of technology and artificial intelligence with medical education and practice. Dr. McKillip received a BS from Pepperdine University and an MD from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. He completed residency in emergency medicine at Advocate Christ Medical Center.
  • 2024 SAEMF/ED Benchmarking Alliance Clinical Operations Research Grant - $50,000

    Click the grant name to learn more about Dr. Heslin's work.

    Recipient

    • Samita M. Heslin, MD, MBA, MPH, MA, MS

      Stony Brook University

      "Artificial Intelligence Augmented Emergency Department Triage"

      Dr. Heslin is an assistant professor of emergency medicine at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University. After completion of her BA at Harvard University, she completed an MA at Harvard University, an MD, MBA, and MPH at Stony Brook University, and an MS in clinical informatics at Oregon Health & Science University. Dr. Heslin completed her emergency medicine residency at Stony Brook University, where she also served as chief resident. Dr. Heslin’s current research focuses on integrating emergency care operations and informatics. In her grant project, she will be developing an artificial intelligence-based solution to augment emergency department triage.
  • 2024 GEMSSTAR for Emergency Medicine Supplemental Funding Program - $25,000

    Click the grant name to learn more about Dr. Skains' work.

    Recipient

    • Rachel M. Skains, MD, MSPH

      University of Alabama at Birmingham

      "Risk Factors and Time Course of Incident Delirium Among Older Adults in the Emergency Department (ED)"

      Dr. Skains is an assistant professor in the department of emergency medicine (EM) at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) with a joint faculty position at the Birmingham VA Medical Center (BVAMC). Dr. Skains is an early-stage investigator focused on improving medication safety and cognitive impairment management in the acute care of older adults through patient-centered outcomes research. Dr. Skains’ interest in cognition and aging stems from her undergraduate training in neuroscience, working as a clinical research coordinator at Carolinas Neuromuscular/MDA-ALS Center, and serving as a NC Albert Schweitzer Fellow. After graduating from Wake Forest School of Medicine (2016), she completed her EM residency at UAB (2019) followed by a clinical research fellowship focused on geriatric EM while pursuing a master's degree in public health in clinical and translational science from the UAB School of Public Health (2021). 

      Dr. Skains was awarded the AHRQ NRSA T32 Postdoctoral Scholar Fellowship in the UAB Health Services Research Training Program (2020-2022), in addition to funding through the UAB Integrative Center for Aging Research (ICAR) and Geriatric Emergency Care Applied Research (GEAR) 1.0 pilot grant programs. She has recently been awarded two NIA awards: Grants for Early Medical/Surgical Specialists' Transition to Aging Research (GEMSSTAR) R03 (2023-2025) to evaluate the risk factors and time course of incident delirium among older adults in the ED and Exploratory/Developmental Grant R21 (2023-2025) for comprehensive assessment of delirium risk due to medications, in addition to the GEMSSTAR for EM Supplemental Funding Program through SAEMF/EMF. Furthermore, Dr. Skains is an ED physician champion for the UAB – Highlands and BVAMC Geriatric ED committees, which received Level 1 (2021) and Level 3 (2023) accreditations respectively, completed the UAB Geriatric Scholar Interprofessional Program (2019-2021), served as fellow board member for the GEM Section of ACEP (2021-2023), and currently chair of the AGEM Grants & Awards subcommittee (2023-Present). Dr. Skains is also leader of the medication safety committee to update the national Geriatric ED Guidelines, leader of the ACEP quality measure group to develop a geriatric high-risk ED prescription list, Level 3 Geriatric ED accreditation reviewer, and committee member for UAB’s Department of Inter-professional Practice and Training (DIPT), What Matters Advisory Group, and AGEM Grant and Awards Subcommittee. Finally, she was recently the recipient of the 2023 Academy of Geriatric Emergency Medicine Early Career Achievement Award and the UAB Department of EM Outstanding Researcher of the Year 2023.
  • 2024 SAEMF ARMED Pilot Grant - $25,000

    Click the grant name to learn more about Dr. Perice's work.

    Recipient

    • Leland Perice, MD

      Rhode Island Hospital

      "Ultrasound-guided Serratus Anterior Plane Block in ED Patients with Rib Fractures"

      Dr. Perice is a physician with a background in emergency ultrasound and tech innovation. He is passionate about regional anesthesia and creating well-designed digital innovations to solve problems that exist within medical education and health care. He has created the regional anesthesia curriculum at Brown Emergency Medicine and runs a national course on the topic for residents at the American College of Emergency Physicians annual conference. As a creator, he has helped bring innovative ideas to life both at the patient’s bedside and within medical school curricula. He currently serves as ultrasound faculty at the Department of Emergency Medicine at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.
  • 2024 SAEMF ARMED MedEd Pilot Grant - $25,000

    Click the grant name to learn more about Dr. Yetter's work.

    Recipient

    • Elizabeth J. Yetter, MD, MHPE

      Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

      "Barriers and Motivators for High- vs. Low-utilizers of POCUS: A Mixed Methods Study"

      Dr. Yetter completed her residency at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY, and continued her training with an emergency ultrasound fellowship at New York University/Bellevue Hospital combined with a master's in health professions education from Maastricht University in the Netherlands. She has dual appointments as assistant professor in emergency medicine and medical education and serves as the ultrasound division director at Mount Sinai Morningside and Mount Sinai West. She completed the SAEM ARMED MedEd course to expand her qualitative research skills and to better contribute to pushing medical education forward. Her academic interests include bedside teaching, point-of-care ultrasound, skill acquisition and retention, and motivators and barriers to learning.
  • 2024 SAEMF Education Project Grant - $20,000

    Click the grant name to learn more about Dr. Chien's work.

    Recipient

    • Emily Chien, MD, MPH, MBA

      Weill Cornell Medicine

      "Evaluation of the Emergency Medicine Training Program at Aga Khan University Hospital"

      Dr. Chien is a global emergency medicine research fellow at Weill Cornell Medicine/Aga Khan University. She completed her medical training at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and her residency in emergency medicine at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University/Kings County Hospital. She holds a master's of public health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a master's of business administration from the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. Dr. Chien is currently completing her certificate in implementation science with the University of California, San Francisco. Her research focus is on the advancement of global emergency medicine education and capacity building through technology innovation. She is currently leading a program evaluation of the emergency medicine training program at Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi.
  • 2024 SAEMF NIDA Mentor-Facilitated Training Award - $12,000

    Click the grant name to learn more about Dr. Chen's work.

    Recipient

    • Joan Chen, MD

      Mount Sinai Emergency Medicine

      "Community Paramedicine Interventions for People Who Use Drugs"

      Dr. Chen is currently a third-year emergency medicine resident at Mount Sinai Hospital. Their work with people who use drugs started many years prior to their entry into medicine: first with their local community in street-based syringe distribution, HIV/STI testing and harm reduction counseling, and then as outreach worker to unhoused and transiently housed street populations in San Francisco. They witnessed how the compassionate and evidence-based methods of harm reduction could transform people’s lives. Working alongside a community paramedic in a program targeted to high utilizers of emergency services left the greatest impression on them, showing them the potential of out-of-hospital interventions linked with emergency services to serve public health. With this, they were inspired to pursue a career in addiction medicine based in the field of emergency medicine. Their motivation has only deepened in their current residency training in the emergency departments of New York City, as they learn the skills and acquire the tools to care for people who use drugs on both individual and public health levels, with creativity and compassion.
  • 2024 SAEMF NIDA Mentor-Facilitated Training Award - $12,000

    Click the grant name to learn more about Dr. Gressman's work.

    Recipient

    • Kira Gressman, MD

      University of Washington

      "Establishing a Quality Framework for Post-Overdose Care and Harm Reduction in the Prehospital to Emergency Department Care Continuum in Seattle, King County, Washington"

      Dr. Gressman is a second-year resident at the University of Washington Emergency Medicine residency, pursuing a population health educational track focused on rural health and addiction medicine. She was born and raised in Colorado, and completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder in international affairs and molecular, cellular, developmental biology. Prior to medical school, she worked in HIV prevention and as an emergency medical technician, and volunteered in syringe access. For medical school, she attended Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine. As a medical student, she helped to establish a syringe access program in rural New Hampshire. Her interests within emergency medicine include substance use, rural health, development of bidirectional health system-community partnerships, and ground EMS.
  • 2024 SAEMF/MTF Toxicology Research Grant - $13,610

    Click the grant name to learn more about Dr. Ostrowski's work.

    Recipient

    • Simon J. Ostrowski, MD

      University of Pittsburgh

      "Feasibility of Assessing Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome with a Wearable Biosensor"

      Dr. Ostrowski is a first-year medical toxicology fellow at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). He completed his emergency medicine residency at UPMC and medical school at University of Massachusetts Medical School. During medical school, he had the opportunity to work in Dr. Stephanie Carreiro’s lab using wearable biosensors in patients receiving opioid therapy and with opioid dependence, which ultimately served as inspiration for him to consider their use in other substance use disorders, namely alcohol withdrawal syndrome. Outside of medicine, Dr. Ostrowski enjoys spending time with his incredible wife, Estelle, his daughter, Edith, and his dog, Millie.
  • 2024 SAEMF/AEUS Research Grant - $10,000

    Click the grant name to learn more about Dr. Fraga's work.

    Recipient

    • Denise N. Fraga, MD

      Atrium Health - Carolinas Medical Center - Wake Forest Baptist

      "Pediatric Cranial Ultrasound for Point-of-Care Intracranial Pathology Detection"

      Dr. Fraga is a clinical assistant professor of emergency medicine and the ultrasound fellowship director with the Carolinas Emergency Medicine Residency Program at Atrium Health - CMC - Wake Forest University School of Medicine (Charlotte Campus). She completed her residency at the University of Maryland (UMEM) in Baltimore and an ultrasound fellowship at Vanderbilt Medical Center. Dr. Fraga works at a Level 1 adult and pediatric trauma center. Her scholarly interests include teaching point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) in Guatemala with the pediatric and EM residency programs, ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia, and musculoskeletal ultrasound. Her grant project, Cranial Ultrasound for Point of Care Intracranial Pathology Detection in Pediatrics (CUPID-Peds), is an exploratory pilot project using B-mode cranial POCUS (cPOCUS) through the temporal bone window in children to detect intracranial pathology due to blunt head trauma. The results of this innovative protocol could be used in resource-limited emergency departments in the U.S. and/or abroad.
  • 2024 SAEMF/AEUS Research Grant - $10,000

    Click the grant name to learn more about Dr. Roppolo's work.

    Recipient

    • Lynn P. Roppolo, MD

      Integrative Emergency Services at Tarrant County Hospital District, JPS Health Network

      "A Multi-center Trial to Determine eFAST Longitudinal Curves Using CUSUM Analysis"

      Dr. Roppolo is a retired professor of emergency medicine from the University of Texas Southwestern, where she was employed for 21 years, worked clinically primarily at Parkland Hospital, was part of the residency leadership for 15 years and completed the emergency ultrasound fellowship in 2019. She has participated in almost 50 research studies primarily as the principal investigator or senior author and has mentored countless number of students, residents and junior faculty in research. She is currently working clinically at John Peter Smith Hospital as core faculty and the assistant ultrasound director. She is employed by Integrative Emergency Services (IES) and created an ultrasound research collaborative with other IES ultrasound faculty at two nearby hospitals with EM residency programs and mandatory ultrasound rotations. Their AEUS grant study is a multi-institutional study involving these three programs to determine longitudinal learning curves of their rotating EM interns for the eFAST examination using cumulative sum (CUSUM), an analysis widely used in the medical field in recent years.
  • 2024 SAEMF/GEMA Research Pilot Grant - $10,000

    Click the grant name to learn more about Dr. Rybarczyk's work.

    Recipient

    • Megan Rybarczyk, MD, MPH

      University of Pennsylvania, Department of Emergency Medicine

      "Acute Coronary Syndrome in a Pakistan ED: Risk Factors and Clinical Pathway"

      Dr. Rybarczyk is from Muncie, Indiana and graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a major in the biological sciences and a minor in anthropology. She received her medical degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and completed her residency training in emergency medicine at Boston Medical Center, serving her final year as a chief resident. She completed her global emergency medicine fellowship at the Harvard/Brigham and Women's Hospital Program, with a focus on emergency care systems development and emergency medicine training. Her experiences in the field of global health have involved clinical work, research, and/or education all over the world in countries such as the Bangladesh, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Dominica, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Haiti, Honduras, India, Pakistan, South Africa, and Uganda. Her research and academic interests are currently focused on EM education and training, particularly in low resource settings. She is an assistant professor of clinical emergency medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine and is the program director for the global emergency medicine fellowship in the department of emergency medicine.
  • 2024 SAEMF/ADIEM Research Grant - $6,000

    Click the grant name to learn more about Dr. Tsuchida's work.

    Recipient

    • Ryan E. Tsuchida, MD

      University of Wisconsin, Department of Emergency Medicine

      "A Qualitative Case Study Analysis of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Leaders in Emergency Medicine"

      Dr. Tsuchida (he/him) is an assistant professor of emergency medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the assistant dean for multicultural affairs for health professions learners at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health. He has a long-standing commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Dr. Tsuchida has served in a variety of leadership positions for the Society of Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM). In collaboration with the Equity and Inclusion Committee and the Academy for Diversity and Inclusion in Emergency Medicine (ADIEM), he has given presentations at national SAEM annual meetings on resident-driven recruitment and retention strategies for underrepresented in medicine medical students. He has also facilitated an unconscious bias workshop for the SAEM committee and academy chairs. As assistant dean, Dr. Tsuchida is a faculty mentor to underrepresented and historically marginalized medical students through the Building Equitable Access to Mentorship initiative, a program he now oversees. The impact of his work has been recognized by the University of Michigan Medical School’s Award for Excellence in Institutional Change To Promote Health Equity, SAEM’s ADIEM Future Outstanding Academician Award, and the University of Wisconsin, Department of Emergency Medicine Faculty Award for Excellence in Leadership and Service.
  • 2024 SAEMF/AWAEM Research Grant - $5,000

    Click the grant name to learn more about Dr. Moser's work.

    Recipient

    • Joe-Ann Moser, MD, MS

      The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System

      "Non-Promotable Task Completion by Emergency Medicine Chief Residents"

      Dr. Moser is a graduate medical education scholarship fellow and clinical instructor at the University of Wisconsin. She earned a BA in biochemistry and an MS in chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Moser went on to receive an MD with distinction in medical education and global health from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, where she also completed her emergency medicine residency. She is currently pursuing a master's of health professions education at the University of Illinois - Chicago. Dr. Moser’s research interests include curriculum design and minimizing trainee and faculty burden to improve wellness.
  • 2024 SAEMF/Simulation Academy Novice Research Grant - $5,000

    Click the grant name to learn more about Dr. Wong's work.

    Recipient

    • Kei U. Wong, MD

      Rutgers New Jersey Medical School

      "High-risk, Low-frequency Pediatric Procedural Training: Simulation-based Pediatric Emergent Airway Curriculum for EM Residents"

      Dr. Wong is an assistant professor of emergency medicine in the division of pediatric emergency medicine at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School (NJMS). She completed her pediatric residency and chief residency at Goryeb Children’s Hospital, Morristown Medical Center, followed by a pediatric emergency medicine (PEM) fellowship at Yale New Haven Children's Hospital. Currently, she is the director of PEM education for the residency program. She also serves as the director for pediatric emergency medicine student elective, and pre-clerkship course director for students at Rutgers NJMS. Dr. Wong is interested about all aspects of medical education, pediatric airway readiness, and women in medicine. She is particularly passionate in integrating simulation-based education into her teaching to augment trainees' clinical skills acquisition. Dr. Wong is excited to introduce her longitudinal curriculum on pediatric airway procedural simulation for emergency medicine residents.
  • 2024 SAEMF/RAMS Resident Research Grant - $5,000

    Click the grant name to learn more about Dr. Cohen's work.

    Recipient

    • Ashley P. Cohen, MD

      University of Michigan

      "Law Enforcement As a Bridge between Bystanders and EMS in Cardiac Arrest"

      Dr. Cohen is a resident physician in the department of emergency medicine at the University of Michigan. She has had a longstanding interest in community programming and health care advocacy, throughout her time as a registered nurse, during medical school, and throughout her residency training to date. Whether it be out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) outcomes, firearms injury prevention, or patient financial assistance, her efforts consistently demonstrate an overarching dedication to addressing health disparities. Her current work seeks to evaluate the OHCA response network within one Michigan county to determine if law enforcement may be an under-engaged first responder group and potential bridge to the arrival of EMS, particularly within medically underserved communities. More broadly, her career interests lie at the intersection of the clinical practice of academic emergency medicine, legislative advocacy, and data supported community interventions, to address inequities within health care systems.