Leaping, Lugging, and Lasting: Emergency Medicine Leadership Emerging From the Pandemic (Faculty Development Committee Sponsored)

Dr. Luan E. Lawson serves as the Senior Associate Dean of Medical Education and Student Affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine.  She earned her medical degree and completed her residency training at East Carolina University.  Her academic interests have focused on undergraduate education with particular expertise in curriculum development, assessment, and team training.

During Dr. Lawson’s tenure as Director of Undergraduate Medical Education in Emergency Medicine, she developed and established a 4th-year medical student Emergency Medicine clerkship featuring a simulation-based curriculum. Dr. Lawson also collaborated in developing the National Clinical Assessment Tool in Emergency Medicine, a standardized assessment tool utilized in clerkships across the country. Dr. Lawson serves on the National Board of Medical Examiners Emergency Medicine Advanced Clinical Exam Task Force and has collaborated with the AMA and the NBME to develop a new HSS exam designed to assess knowledge and application of HSS. She is a past-president of the Clerkship Directors of Emergency Medicine, currently serves as faculty for the AMA’s Health System Science Scholars program, and is a current member of SAEM’s Education Committee.

Dr. Leigh Patterson in the Chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Brody School of Medicine and the Chief of Emergency Service Line for the ECU Health System. Dr. Patterson completed her residency at Louisiana State University in New Orleans and her fellowship in EM Ultrasound at Drexel College of Medicine. She completed her MAEd with a focus in Adult Education at East Carolina University and served as the Residency Director for Emergency Medicine.. She has worked in UME as a course director and as Chair of the Brody Executive Curriculum Committee. Following her time as Residency Director, Dr. Patterson served as the Associate Dean for Faculty Development. In this role, she also served as an Interim Chair for the Department of Pathology at ECU. She regularly mentors faculty on career planning and developing teaching skills. Dr. Patterson continues to enjoy a busy shift in the ED with residents and students. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her husband and daughter and is an avid knitter.

Amy H. Kaji, MD PhD is vice-chair of academic affairs in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. After graduating from Harvard University, Dr. Kaji attended Thomas Jefferson Medical School. Prior to "seeing the light," Dr. Kaji performed two years of a categorical general surgery residency at the University of Chicago. She then performed her emergency medicine internship, residency, and research/disaster medicine fellowship at Harbor-UCLA. Under the mentorship of Dr. Roger Lewis, Dr. Kaji completed a doctorate in epidemiology at the UCLA School of Public Health during her fellowship.

Since her fellowship, Dr. Kaji has been active in SAEM. She has previously served as Membership Committee chair, a Research sub-committee chair, as well as on the Nominating committee, and the steering committee of the Science of Surge and Simulation consensus conferences, prior to joining the SAEM Board of Directors. Dr. Kaji enjoys combining her interest in statistical methodology, emergency medicine, and writing through editorial activities – she is a methodological/statistical editor for Annals of Emergency Medicine and JAMA Surgery, as well as an editor for the 9th edition of the Rosen's Emergency Medicine textbook.