Leveling Up Your Professional Development with SAEM-RAMS

Hamza Ijaz, MD

Immediate Past President

University of Cincinnati College of Medicine

I did my residency at the University of Cincinnati and received my medical degree from the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. My interest in organized emergency medicine initially started as a Medical Student Ambassador during SAEM18 where I was given the opportunity to gain mentorship from our leaders within emergency medicine. Since then, I have volunteered my time serving on the RAMS Board as a member-at-large and most recently as the current secretary-treasurer. These opportunities have led me to partnering with the SAEM Program Committee, Faculty Development Committee, and Virtual Presence Committee to create resident and medical student focused content.

As we transition into the next phase of the pandemic, with growing concerns surrounding the future of the EM workforce, I will ensure that our members have a voice at the table so that our concerns are heard. It is crucial that the solutions being considered incorporate the views of the residents and students they will ultimately affect. In addition, with virtual interviews currently ongoing and uncertainty surrounding the next application cycle, I will make it a priority for RAMS to provide our members with high-yield resources to navigate the next cycle.

Aaron Kuzel

Emergency Medicine Resident, PGY-II University of Louisville School of Medicine

Aaron R. Kuzel, DO, MBA is an Emergency Medicine Resident at the University of Louisville School of Medicine and is currently serving as a Member-at-Large on the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine’s (SAEM) Resident and Medical Student’s (RAMS) Board. Dr. Kuzel is a former Forensic Scientist for the United States Department of Justice and currently works on projects related to medical education, rural emergency medicine, health policy, ems, tactical emergency medicine, and forensics. Dr. Kuzel is a graduate of the DO/MBA program at Lincoln Memorial University College of Osteopathic Medicine where he received induction into Sigma Sigma Phi (SSP), the Gold Humanism Honor Society (GHHS), and Omega Beta Iota (OBI) the Osteopathic Health Policy Honor Society. Dr. Kuzel is also a recipient of the commission of Kentucky Colonel and a member of the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels.

Ryan E. Tsuchida, MD

Assistant Professor

University of Wisconsin

Dr. Ryan Tsuchida 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 UW School of Medicine and Public Health. Dr. Tsuchida has a long-standing commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. While attending medical school at the University of Michigan, he founded the transgender M4 elective and created a student-run faculty development seminar on LGBTQ+ Health. While in residency, he organized and participated in several institutional and departmental programs including acting as lead house officer liaison for a multi-site ACGME collaborative on health care disparities and quality improvement. Within the department, he has participated in the residency’s holistic review process for residency applications, been a member of the program director search committee, and published a commentary on the RAND blog on the importance of health system workforce diversity. Now as faculty, Dr. Tsuchida chairs the department's EDI committee and is involved in institutional URiM mentorship programs. Dr. Tsuchida is the inagural and former chair of the equity and inclusion data and metrics subcommittee (2020-22), the current SAEM ADIEM membership committee, and was elected by the ADIEM members to be the 2024-25 secretary-treasurer. Through his various committee works, he has presented didactics at the SAEM 2021-24 annual meetings on resident-driven recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority medical students and has been an unconscious bias workshop facilitator for SAEM committee and academy chairs. 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.

Taylor Stavely, MD

Emory University School of Medicine

"I am an instructor of emergency medicine at Emory University School of Medicine. My residency and now early career have been intrinsically linked with AWAEM, and for this reason I would be honored to continue my involvement in this intentional way as VP Membership. My AWAEM journey began with a leadership position as I dove in head first as the resident member of AWAEM’s Executive Committee. In my one year term in this position, I became the project manager for a citation and literature review with over 40 medical student, resident, and attending volunteers. I also co-founded and served as a panelist in a collaborative webinar between AWAEM and RAMS, From Match to First Promotion, to support professional development and mentorship during the pandemic. I feel uniquely suited to serve as a mentor for the AWAEM Executive Committee’s resident member as I recently served in this position and have a keen understanding of the scope and opportunities within that role.

As first-year faculty, I sought to diversify my AWAEM leadership experience by serving as the AWAEM Didactic Committee co-chair, overseeing the submission of over twenty didactics to SAEM22 with feedback and support from AWAEM. I used this opportunity to strengthen AWAEM’s relationship with the Sex & Gender in EM Interest Group, collaborating with SGEM members on creating educational content for transgender care delivery in the ED and amplifying transgender EM physician voices. As VP Membership, I will use my early career status to my advantage, with a focus on continuing to innovate collaboration between AWAEM and its resident and medical student members. I am thrilled to continue my forward momentum with this incredible group."

Dr. Taylor Stavely, MD is an Instructor at Emory University School of Medicine. She is an active member of the Academy for Women in Academic Emergency Medicine (AWAEM), serving as the resident Executive Committee Member (2020-2021) and the Didactic Committee Co-Chair (2021 to present). Dr. Stavely is the faculty co-chair of Emory’s women in emergency medicine mentorship group. Her research is focused upon the relationship between gender and professional development in academic medicine.

Wendy Sun, MD

Instructor, Emergency Medicine

Yale University

Dr. Wendy Sun is an Administration Fellow and Instructor of Emergency Medicine at the Yale School of Medicine. She is passionate about patient quality and safety, physician wellness, and health innovation. Having served as a past President of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine Residents and Medical Students (SAEM RAMS) and the Resident Member on the SAEM Board of Directors, she continues to be invested in the advancement of emergency medicine through research, mentorship, education, and advocacy.

Dr. Sun earned her undergraduate degree at Columbia University in Biomedical Engineering. She subsequently obtained her Doctor of Medicine from Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine where she was inducted into the Gold Humanism and Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Societies. Most recently, she completed Emergency Medicine residency at Yale - New Haven Health where she served as Chief Resident. She continues to further her education as a candidate of the MBA for Executives at the Yale School of Management. A Canadian from Toronto, she now resides in New Haven.