Executive Committee

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2024-2025 AAAEM Executive Committee

  • Becky McGowan, MBA

    AAAEM President

    Becky received her bachelor degree in biology and her MBA from the University of Colorado, Denver.  She has worked in higher education for more than 25 years in various administrative roles including Administrator for several basic science departments and a Division Administrator in the Department of Medicine.  She has served as the Vice Chair of Finance and Administration for the Department of Emergency Medicine for the past 10 years.  
     
    Becky has been a member of AAAEM since 2012.  Over the years, she has served on various AAAEM  committees including the benchmark, strategic, education, and nominating committees.  She also serves as a presenter for the CAEMA program. 
     
    Becky has served as AAAEM Treasurer for the past two years and has helped to streamline the budgeting process.  She has built relationships with SAEM staff and developed source documents to better define the categorization of expenses.

  • Muir,Jennifer-c57 - iJennifer Muirlg
    Jennifer Patton Muir, EdD, MBA

    AAAEM President-Elect

    East Carolina University

    Jennifer Muir is the administrator for the department of emergency medicine at the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University. She holds a bachelor’s degree in hospitality management, Master of Business Administration, and a Doctor of Education in Higher Education Administration.

    Dr. Muir has worked in higher education for more than 14 years in various administrative roles, including director of employment in human resources and executive director of business and administrative affairs in the College of Nursing. She has been in her current position in the department of emergency medicine for the past four years. In her administrative roles she has been heavily involved in strategic planning, program development, financial management, human resources management, and policy development.

    Jennifer is the co-president of the North Carolina Chapter of the College and University Professional Association of Human Resources where she has served on the board for the past 10 years and is the vice chair of the Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (HERC) of the Carolinas Regional Advisory Board where she has served for the past year. In addition, she previously served as an at-large-member on the executive committee and has been serving for the past two years on the Benchmarking and Strategic Planning Committees within AAAEM.

    Being involved and present in professional organizations which have a significant impact on the field that serve is extremely important. It keeps you engaged, informed, and inspired to contribute and to learn from others in your field. For the past two years, being involved in committees has allowed Dr. Muir to stay engaged and participate in moving the organization forward. Serving as the secretary on the AAAEM Executive Committee will allow her to make a broader impact by contributing to executive committee initiatives and continuing to participate in leadership and strategic initiatives within the academy.

  • MAXWELL_Steve4x5 - Stephen Maxwell
    Stephen Maxwell, MSM

    AAAEM Treasurer

    University of Michigan

    My Emergency Medicine experience includes the last eight years as the Chief Department Administrator for the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Michigan. Prior to joining Emergency Medicine, I was the administrator for General Surgery at the University of Michigan. Before joining General Surgery, I was the Director of Finance for the Cardiovascular Center at the University of Michigan. Other healthcare experiences prior to joining the University of Michigan include the Director of Finance at an integrated system in SE Michigan, and other finance roles at hospitals in San Antonio, Texas and Panama City Florida. I began my career in banking in the early 90’s while living in Washington, DC. My BA is from Michigan State University, and I have a masters in finance from Troy University. My volunteer experience with AAAEM includes the last seven years participating on the Benchmark Committee. I have utilized this opportunity to focus on the research side of the survey and have been fortunate to be able to present some of the research finding on behalf of the committee to the AAAEM conference as well as at SAEM. For the last several years, I have also participated on the strategic planning committee and helped in developing the membership survey and consolidating and reporting results of that survey. This past year, I have been one of the members-at-large of the Executive Committee of AAAEM. I have also provided two lectures per year for the last three years to the SAEM Chair Development program. I have gained much from my participation within AAAEM and have found great value in using the data from our survey to influence decisions at my home institution.

  • Head Shot - Brendan Russell
    Brendan Russell, MBA

    AAAEM Secretary

    Mass General Brigham

    I currently serve as the Vice President of Enterprise Emergency Medicine for the Mass General Brigham health system in Boston, MA, where we are building an integrated enterprise emergency medicine service comprised of 2 academic medical center EDs, 7 community hospital EDs, and 1 specialty hospital ED. I hold an MBA from Boston College (’15) and am a graduate of the AAAEM CAEMA program (’21). For the past year, I’ve had the pleasure and the privilege to serve the AAAEM as a Member-at-Large of the Executive Committee, a member of the Finance Committee, a member of the Benchmark Committee, and for the past two years, as Vice Chair of the Education Committee. I’m proud of the work that we’ve done on these teams, and I am excited at the opportunities we have ahead of us as a specialty and as an academy.


  • David Christiansen, MBA

    AAAEM Immediate Past President

    University of Florida, College of Medicine-Jacksonville, Department of Emergency Medicine

    David Christiansen is the Director of Healthcare Administration for the Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Florida College of Medicine – Jacksonville.   He has been a member of AAAEM since its inception in 2010.  He serves as a member of the Benchmark Survey Committee and is also the past Chair of the Communications Committee. 

    David Christiansen’s healthcare career spans over 25 years and has included responsibilities as Administrator in Psychiatry, Anesthesiology, Radiology, Urgent Care, hospitalist and primary care programs. For the past 19 years, he has focused on academic Emergency Medicine, first in Arizona and continuing now in Florida. David’s combination of experience both within and outside of Emergency Medicine makes him appreciate our specialty and its specific needs. 

  • DCL Head shot current - Diane Lee
    Diane Lee, DBA, MBA

    Member-at-Large

    Einstein Healthcare Network

    I am the Administrator for the Department of Emergency Medicine at Einstein Healthcare Network, a healthcare organization serving over 160,000 patients annually at three emergency departments in Philadelphia and Montgomery Counties, Pennsylvania. In addition to providing leadership for program operations, outreach, financial oversight, strategic planning, program development, and business opportunities, administrative responsibilities extend to support for the department divisions and management of emergency medical services (EMS) contracts, ultrasound sonography, toxicology services, clinical research studies, and medical education programs. Over a span of 25 years, I have held positions in diverse healthcare environments including primary care and specialty care services, community health centers, academic hospital based ambulatory sites and private practices. Key organizational initiatives involved implementing and monitoring systems and processes to optimize operational and financial performance with a continued focus on employed population health management as an important collaborative strategy to enhance patient centered care delivery, control cost of care, and impact health outcomes. In addition to a Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA), I hold an MBA in Marketing and a BS in Chemical Engineering from Drexel University. I have been an active member of AAAEM for the past five years and have greatly benefited from networking at the annual retreats, utilizing data from the benchmark surveys, and serving on the IDEA Committee to contribute in the decision making process at my institution in a positive way.

  • Kashwayne Williams, MBA, MHA, FACHE

    AAAEM Member-at-Large

    Washington University in St. Louis - SOM

    My educational background includes holding a master’s in business administration and master’s in healthcare administration. I’m also a fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives. I have an established background working in academic medicine, having spent ten (10) years working for Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) in various roles spanning clinical operations, education and research. In 2014, I moved from Atlanta to St. Louis to join Washington University, in St. Louis School of Medicine (WUSM) as the executive management fellow in the Dean’s Office and since had several roles leading to my current role in emergency medicine (nearly another 10 years). The past two decades of working in academic medicine has been extremely rewarding both personally and professionally. As part of my commitment to community health, I have served as board member for the National Association of Healthcare Services Executives (NAHSE) St. Louis Chapter and as fund allocations committee member for the United Way of St. Louis. Also intricately involved in education and the field of healthcare management and serve as an adjunct professor at Saint Louis University (SLU) where I teach healthcare economics and analytical methods in healthcare. I joined the Academy of Administrators in Academic Emergency Medicine (AAAEM) in March 2022 and have since currently serve on both the Strategic Planning Committee and the Education Committee.