AACEM Executive Committee Candidate Statements

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Members-at-Large Candidate(s)

 

  • James Colletti, MD

    Member-at-Large

    Mayo Clinic Rochester

    I am James E. Colletti, MD, Chair of the Mayo Clinic Rochester Emergency Department and Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine. I earned my medical degree from The Chicago Medical School and completed residency in the combined Pediatrics/Emergency Medicine program at the University of Maryland in Baltimore. I have held several leadership roles throughout my career, including Mayo EM Program Director and Mayo Emergency Medicine Department Academic Development Chair. I have also contributed to national efforts, serving on the ACEP Pediatric Committee, the AAEM Education Committee, and the SAEM Faculty Development Committee. Additionally, I have spoken nationally on Pediatric Emergency Medicine and education topics and have served as course director for CORD Navigating the Academic Waters and the Mayo Clinic Emergency Medicine CME Conference.

    I am proud to have received multiple awards, including induction into the Mayo Fellows Association Teacher of the Year Hall of Fame, the AAEM Young Educator Award, the AAEM Written Board Speaker of the Year Award, the Council of Residency Directors/Society of Academic Emergency Medicine Faculty Teaching Award, the AAEM Joe Lex Educator of the Year Award, the Program Director Recognition Award from the Mayo Clinic School of Graduate Medical Education, and the Distinguished Emergency Department Clinician Award from the Mayo Clinic Rochester Department of Emergency Medicine. I have also authored numerous articles and served as an editor for Clinics of North America and Pediatric Emergency Medicine Reports.

    With a deep passion for academic emergency medicine, I am seeking office to help address key issues in our specialty, particularly workforce shortages, the evolving landscape of emergency care, and the future of medical education. If elected, I will work to foster collaboration across institutions, create more opportunities for research funding, and advance mentorship and faculty development. By building on our strengths, I believe we can continue to grow and improve emergency medicine for the benefit of our patients and colleagues.

  • Angela M. Mills, MD

    Member-at-Large

    Columbia University

    I received my medical degree from Temple University School of Medicine and am a graduate and former Chief Resident of the Emergency Medicine residency program at the University of Pennsylvania. I became a faculty member immediately thereafter at Penn in 2003 and advanced academically being promoted to Professor of EM in 2017. At Penn, I served in several capacities including Medical Director and Vice Chair of Clinical Operations. I joined Columbia University in January 2018 as the Inaugural Chair of the newly formed Department of Emergency Medicine leading all academic and operational activities for the four emergency department sites providing care annually for over 260,000 patients as well as 15,000 patients through virtual urgent care. As Chair, I have worked to successfully advance education, research, clinical care, and professional development while building a premier nationally recognized academic department of EM. I am strongly committed to education having overseen the development of a required MS3 EM clerkship, expansion of our residency program by 75%, and the creation of multiple new fellowship programs in our Department. Equally committed to research, I have worked to lead the creation of a robust research division which for the past four years has been ranked in the top 10 nationally for NIH funding. We have been successful expanding our research division in recruiting both physician scientists as well as non-clinical research scientists. For my organization, I have served in many leadership capacities including currently as President of the Medical Board for NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and as Chair of the Operations Committee for our Faculty Practice Organization. Having maintained an active research career, I have authored over 120 scientific publications and have received research funding from both federal agencies and industry.

    Having served in a number of roles in the field of academic EM, I am passionate about my commitment to AACEM, SAEM, and the advancement of academic emergency medicine. At the request of the AACEM board, I served as inaugural Co-Chair of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Workgroup helping to lead many new initiatives for our membership including quarterly educational sessions, the Chairs’ Pledge, and the DEI Departmental Survey and Scorecards. As an AACEM member I have also served as an active participant on the Boarding Workgroup and as a co-author on the NEJM Catalyst publication on behalf of the group. For SAEM I served on the Board of Directors for eight years (2016-2024) with the last four on the Executive Committee serving in the roles of Secretary-Treasurer and President of the Society. I am deeply committed to the advancement of patient care, education, and research in EM and serving in these roles has allowed me to help advance each of these missions on a national level.

    AACEM and SAEM have provided me tremendous mentorship and opportunities for academic advancement throughout my career. As a leader, mentor, and senior faculty member, I am dedicated to giving back to the organization and membership. I have found this work incredibly rewarding allowing for a greater impact on the field of EM. As a member of the Executive Committee of the SAEM Board of Directors, I have had the opportunity to work collaboratively within the organization to support the mission and advance the field, as well as serving as a bridge to the other major EM organizations to achieve common goals for the overall advancement of academic EM. I have been committed to supporting professional development of our membership including faculty and trainees, advancing EM education and education research, increasing research in emergency care including members with grant funding, and promoting diversity and equity in all forms. I am incredibly grateful for my experiences thus far and would be honored to serve on the AACEM Executive Committee serving our membership of Chairs and continuing to collaborate in advancing our specialty.

  • Ralph Riviello, MD, MS

    Member-at-Large

    UT Health San Antonio

    I am honored to submit my candidacy for a role on the AACEM Executive Team to represent you and my colleagues in academic Emergency Medicine. I have had over 26 years of experience in academic emergency medicine. After graduating from Hahnemann University SOM, I completed my EM residency at Allegheny General Hospital in 1997 and served as Chief Resident in my final year of residency. I received a master’s degree in clinical forensic medicine in 2006 and have applied that knowledge and experience in building my academic niche. During my career, I have held leadership roles in many spheres including, Director of Clinical Research, Associate Program Director, Vice Chair of Clinical Operations, and now Chair of Emergency Medicine. My experience as Chair has been in both the community academic and university settings. I am currently the Chair of EM at UT Health San Antonio. I have been a long-standing member of SAEM and AACEM and currently serve on the AACEM Leader Development Committee and the DEI Workgroup. I did complete the Chair Development Program and found it invaluable in the transition to Chair, and feel it is one of the most important member benefits of AACEM. Though I have not served in an SAEM leadership role, I am past president and former board member of the Pennsylvania ACEP chapter and have been a ACEP Section Leader.

    I have seen a lot of changes in academic emergency medicine during my career and in my 6.5 years as a Chair, I’ve experienced the challenges of taking a relatively young department and transforming it into a very strong and respected department at my school. During that time, the department gained academic, clinical, research, and scholarly respect. Our specialty deserves academic recognition and respect and am committed to that mission.  

    My work with AACEM and interactions with all of you, my Chair friends, have been invaluable in my growth and successes as chair. I have truly benefited from the knowledge, experiences, mentorship, wisdom, and counsel of many past and current members of this organization. I feel it is time for me to pay it forward and help shape the future of the organization. I hope to continue the good work AACEM has done and hope to make the organization even stronger. 

    I feel there are several important priorities facing AACEM over the next few years and I would work to make meaningful contributions to tackle them head on. First, we need to continue to increase Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion activities and practices in our specialty, departments, and for our patients. Next, we need to ensure there is a strong pipeline of students, residents, and faculty into Emergency Medicine and we must ensure ways to recruit and retain them along their career trajectory.  In order for that to happen, we must continue to enhance our leader development through the CDP and, eLEAD programs. Leader development is a crucial aspect of AACEM. Additionally, boarding and crowding is having a tremendous impact on our practice, patients, and learners.  I do not think we have realized all its effects on our student and residents. We need to work with other organizations in the house of medicine, our schools, and hospital partners to develop, study, and implement, meaningful, sustainable solutions and not rely on “rearranging the deck chairs” methods that have limited or short-term effectiveness.  And finally, we need to ensure fair and appropriate reimbursement for clinical care as well as a consistent, sustained federal funding for research.  We all know the financial challenges our departments face, and more needs to be done to relieve this burden. 

    It would be an honor to be elected to the AACEM Executive Committee and I look forward to serving you and Academic Emergency Medicine.  I promise to use my passion and talents to face our challenges and to ensure an exciting and vibrant future for emergency medicine. Thank you for your consideration.

  • Rahul Sharma, MD, MBA

    Member-at-Large

    New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Medicine

    I serve as the Barbara and Stephen Friedman Endowed Professor and Chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Medicine. I oversee the operational and administrative activities of four NYP-Weill Cornell EDs (Brooklyn, Queens, Weill Cornell, Lower Manhattan), which see approximately 400,000 patient visits per year and which host three separate ACGME EM Residency programs.  I also serve as the Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Virtual Care at Weill Cornell Medicine, Chief of EMS for the NYP Enterprise,  Chair of the Finance Committee for the Weill Cornell Medicine Physician Organization and serve on the Board of Fellows for Weill Cornell Medicine. Additionally, I was the past president of the New York Presbyterian Hospital Medical Board. Prior to becoming Chair, I was Chief of the Division of Emergency Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College and led its promotion to full departmental status in 2018. I have been a longstanding member of SAEM and have actively participated in AACEM since becoming Chief in 2016.  Most recently, I served as a member of the AACEM Leader Development Workgroup where I contributed to the development of the Emerging Leader Development program (eLEAD) offered by AACEM.  I am also currently serving as a member of newly formed AACEM Innovations Workgroup and will be helping to lead a webinar in 2025 on different virtual care models in Emergency Medicine.  I have received two national teaching awards from ACEP and EMRA, the Modern Healthcare Top 25 Innovator in the Healthcare Industry Award, and the ACEP National Innovative Change in Practice Management Award. I am also an elected life member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).

    My academic and research interests focus on the development and use of technological innovation to improve the quality of emergency care and its delivery.  Accordingly, I have launched several ED based digital health platforms that transformed healthcare delivery, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. I have received funding for the work I have done in telemedicine from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC).  I believe we can advance our specialty by becoming leaders in providing emergency care outside of the hospital environment by utilizing technology, including telemedicine, remote patient monitoring and artificial intelligence. Emergency Medicine providers are uniquely positioned to do this and to also advance the research and education opportunities within this care delivery model. I also founded the Center for Virtual Care at Weill Cornell Medicine in 2019.  The mission of the Center is to transform healthcare delivery through telemedicine, with a focus on patient quality and outcomes. It provides robust training and simulation to all clinicians active in the virtual care space, including all GME trainees across the New York Presbyterian Hospital enterprise and other hospital systems. I also developed our annual Virtual Healthcare Conference and Research Forum, one of the first telemedicine research forums established in the nation. 

    I believe wellness is a priority, particularly in light of the challenges faced by our specialty. Our physician led wellness program has been recognized nationally, including at the National Academy of Medicine and, most recently, our department received the 2024 National Emergency Medicine Wellness Center of Excellence Award from the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP). I also co-chair the Weill Cornell Medicine Physician Organization Physician Wellness Workgroup which is tasked with providing  impactful recommendations to senior leadership at our institution.  Our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts have had similar success with investment in opportunities for faculty, residents and students and the establishment of our diversifiED committee. Furthermore, we have devoted a significant part of our research in both global health and telemedicine to the study of health disparities that plague women and underrepresented groups.  I would hope to build on the significant progress AACEM has achieved in the areas of wellness and DEI.

    My work with AACEM and my interactions with my Chair colleagues have been instrumental in my growth as a chair. It is an invaluable resource and network which provides countless opportunities to collaborate with my chair colleagues, participate in national dialogues, and offer and engage in mentorship. It has also helped me to further realize my goals in education and research.

    It would be an honor to serve on the AACEM Executive Committee and I believe, if given the opportunity, I would make immediate and meaningful contributions to this esteemed group. I would enthusiastically bring my experience and expertise in academic Emergency Medicine to AACEM and, if elected, I will support and work with other members of the Executive Committee and the organization to launch initiatives focused on the recruitment, development, and retention of faculty, residents and medical students. I will also work to strengthen our national network and to develop a pipeline of future emergency care researchers and academic and clinical faculty.

  • Benjamin Sun, MD, MPP

    Member-at-Large

    University of Pennsylvania

    Dear friends and colleagues, 

    I am excited to submit my candidacy for Member-at-Large on the AACEM executive team! I am passionate about the transformation of our specialty to thrive and adapt to environmental challenges driven by healthcare policy, demographic and social changes, and new technologies.  

    I am the Chair and Perelman Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. During my six-year tenure, our department has grown by more than twofold in managed EDs, faculty and APP count, and budget.  Our faculty lead health system delivery transformation and innovation efforts, and we have grown clinical services in multiple domains, including EM, observation medicine, hyperbaric and wound care, critical care, addiction medicine, and home health. EM has become the leading department in UME impact at our medical school, and we have expanded our GME program while creating six new fellowships. EM is the institutional leader in DEI efforts; for example, we increased URM representation in our residency program from under 2% to over 35%. Finally, our department doubled federal research funding with a sharp focus on health delivery and public health science.

    I serve on the Executive Committee of our faculty practice plan, lead our health system malpractice risk reduction efforts, and am a Trustee of the Board of Directors for our Level 1 trauma center. I have served on the AACEM/ AAAEM Research, Benchmarking, and Leader Development workgroups. I am a federally funded health services researcher, and my discovery portfolio has focused on improving quality, value, and efficiency of healthcare delivery in acute care settings. I have served on advisory committees to CMS and AHRQ. I completed my undergraduate, public policy (MPP), medical, and EM residency training at Harvard University, and I trained as a RWJ Clinical Scholar at UCLA. 

    I would be honored to serve you and the AACEM at this unique inflection point for our specialty. If elected, I would focus on pipeline initiatives. The future of our specialty requires that we recruit, develop, and retain the best possible talent to lead efforts in care delivery, education, diversity, and research. Thank you for your consideration!