Executive Committee

President

Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University

I am a proud graduate of Meharry Medical College in Nashville, TN. From there, the match brought me to SUNY Downstate in Brooklyn, NY, where I served as the chief resident of education. Since 2014, I have served as assistant professor of emergency medicine at Vidant Medical Center and East Carolina University and now serve as the residency program director after four years in the role of associate program director. I have been involved with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts throughout my seven years in North Carolina, as the vice chair for diversity and inclusion for my department, as well as the chair of the vice chairs for diversity and inclusion for East Carolina University (ECU) Brody School of Medicine. I also serve as the faculty advisor for the ECU chapter of the Student Medical Association and the chair of the GME Committee for Diversity and Inclusion at Vidant Medical Center. Through SAEM, I have been involved with the Membership Committee, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, the Academy for Women in Academic Emergency Medicine (AWAEM), and the Academy for Diversity and Inclusion in Emergency Medicine (ADIEM) as a member-at-large, faculty advisor for the Social Media Committee, and the current secretary-treasurer. I hope to continue to work with the ADIEM Executive Committee going forward to continue our momentum in creating education across emergency medicine on DEI and collaborating with other organizations."

Dr. Cassandra Bradby is an EM physician and Assistant Professor at Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University. As a graduate of Meharry Medical College in Nashville, TN, she has dedicated her career to improving diversity and inclusion in medicine through mentoring and education. After finishing up as the Education Chief Resident at SUNY Downstate in Brooklyn, NY, Dr. Bradby headed back south to Greenville, NC where she now serves as the Residency Program Director and Vice Chair for Diversity and Inclusion for the Department of Emergency Medicine at Vidant Medical Center.

President-Elect

Emory University School of Medicine

I hail from the Midwest and was born and raised in Ann Arbor, MI. I 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, I received an MPH in Health Management and Policy from the University of Michigan. I completed postgraduate training in Emergency Medicine (EM) at University Hospitals Case Medical Center and a Health Policy Fellowship at George Washington University. I view my path through EM through the lens of diversity, inclusion, and health equity as forms of justice. This vantage point has afforded me mentors and opportunities that qualify me to serve as ADIEM president-elect. I have demonstrated a commitment to educational and workforce diversity and inclusivity as a member of Emory School of Medicine’s Implicit Bias Committee and I serve as our department’s Diversity Council Implicit Bias lead. Additionally, at my institution, I work to ensure that our learners deliver care with cultural humility in an inclusive environment as our Social EM Pathway Faculty Advisor and founding Health Policy Fellowship Director. The SAEM and National Medical Association (NMA) allow me to advocate on behalf of our specialty and patients at the national level as Co-Chair of the Equity & Inclusion Committee’s Education Subcommittee and EM Section Secretary respectively.

Secretary-Treasurer

Duke University

Immediate Past President

Dr. Ordonez received his medical and public health degrees from the UMDNJ- New Jersey Medical School and School of Public Health. He then completed a combined emergency medicine and internal medicine residency at Christiana Care in Newark, Delaware. After completion of residency, Dr. Ordonez obtained an academic appointment at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) in Houston, TX, where he has been in practice for 7 years. He currently practices both emergency medicine and internal medicine and has several leadership roles within the college and health system. He is an assistant program director of the BCM EM residency, Medical Director of Utilization Management at Ben Taub Hospital, and is on the BCM Admissions Committee. His interests include diversity, inclusion, equity, & social justice, healthcare delivery, social determinants of health, and mentorship.

Member-at-Large

Mount Sinai School of Medicine

I served in several roles on a number of ADIEM and SAEM committees. Most notably I served as head of the ADIEM Social Media and Publications subcommittee since 2018 and I'm currently head of the Needs Assessment subcommittee under the SAEM Equity and Inclusion Task Force. Additionally I worked closely with committee leaders to host a number of events including this year's ADIEM/AWAEM Virtual Luncheon at SAEM21 as well as last year's ADIEM Town Hall panel discussion in the wake of a national reckoning with race that came to a head last summer. I am interested in joining the ADIEM Executive Committee in order to take a more active role in the administrative duties of ADIEM and foster meaningful relationships with ADIEM and SAEM leadership.

Member-at-Large

University of California, San Francisco

I am currently a fellow in the National Clinician Scholars Program (NSCP)—a program that trains clinicians as change agents to drive policy-relevant research, cultivate health equity, and eliminate health disparities. Prior to fellowship, I earned a bachelor of science and a bachelor of arts at the University of Texas at Austin, a doctor of medicine from Harvard Medical School, and completed residency at the four-year Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency. As a queer Latina woman in medicine, I have witnessed firsthand the ways in which the experience of the underrepresented minority (URM) physician differs from that of their non-URM counterpart. My personal experiences as well as those of my colleagues have inspired my work advancing DEI. As a junior resident, I wrote a perspective piece highlighting microaggressions in medicine, their impact, and how they could be addressed. The article, 'Addressing the Elephant in the Room: Microaggressions in Medicine,' was published in Annals of Emergency Medicine, featured in the New York Times, won the 2021 AWAEM Outstanding Research Publication Award, and led to multiple national (ACEP, Kaiser, Columbia) and international (Alberta Health Services, Calgary Department of Emergency Medicine) presentations--enabling me to raise tremendous awareness of these issues. Locally, as co-chair of the Social Emergency Medicine Interest Academy during residency, I developed a longitudinal health equity curriculum for the residency, which consisted of didactics, journal clubs, and a 3-hour residency retreat focused on racism, implicit bias, and microaggressions. The didactics spanned topics from immigrant health to ageism to intersectionality. At the hospital and institutional level, I lent a voice to the needs and concerns of URM residents and staff as a representative on Harvard Medical School’s LGBTQ Dean’s Advisory Committee, the Brigham and Women’s ED Health Equity Committee, and the Massachusetts Medical Society’s Minority Affairs Section.

Member-at-Large

University of Colorado School of Medicine

I am currently an assistant professor in the department of emergency medicine and departmental DEI educational lead and director at Denver Health EM residency. I joined university faculty in 2006 after completing my training in emergency medicine at the Brooklyn Hospital Center. Prior to getting my board certification, I served in the United States Army as a General Medical Officer and Flight Surgeon. After graduating from Florida A&M University I matriculated to the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine for a medical degree and initial training. Early on, I was an instrumental member of the hospital’s Emergency Management Committee, responsible for the Continuity of Operations Planning (COOP) program. I developed a disaster tabletop series to train the hospital administration on command structure and incident management. I was the Co-PI for NIH funded research in development of disaster integrated computer technology. I presented such research at the World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine Conference. As with most faculty, I enjoy teaching, including all aspects such as guest lecturer in the community outreach program P.A.R.T.Y. (Prevent Alcohol and Risk Related Trauma in Youth). My past leadership includes Assistant Course Director of Third-Year Medical Students Emergency Medicine Clerkship and my appointment as Medical Director of the emergency department medics. I now hold an important leadership role on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts in the CU department of emergency medicine. I work to improve equitable education and am currently spearheading a DEI curriculum for emergency medicine residents with a focused health equity simulation day. I have worked within the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine to bring DEI resources to the forefront of medicine.

Development Officer

Stanford Department of Emergency Medicine

I am currently clerkship director and clinical assistant professor at Stanford Emergency Medicine as well as the ADIEM Membership Committee chair. A core principle to promoting DEI is the constant effort to grow in understanding. As a URiM physician I understand some, but not all, of the influential components that affect diversity and inclusion in our profession and medical practice. Serving on the executive committee would allow me an organized opportunity to contribute to the advancement of representation in our specialty while developing a more robust understanding of the issues that impact this mission. While the role of development officer will require that I engage in responsibilities that will be new to me, it represents an opportunity to sit at the table for discussion with colleagues I would love to work with.