SAEM National Grand Rounds: COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution and What it Means for the Emergency Department

Anthony S. Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and one of the lead members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, will share his knowledge and firsthand perspective on the current state of the COVID-19 pandemic. He has been an advisor to six presidents and will assume the role of chief medical advisor to the president in the Biden administration. Dr. Fauci will open his grand rounds presentation with a brief discussion on the epidemiology, virology/pathogenesis, and therapeutics of SARS-CoV-2. This will be followed by an in-depth discussion on the rapidly evolving field of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and the impact on emergency medicine. The session will conclude with a moderated Q & A during which Dr. Fauci will answer questions from the audience. 
Authors
  • Anthony Fauci

    Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force

    Dr. Fauci was appointed Director of NIAID in 1984. He oversees an extensive research portfolio of basic and applied research to prevent, diagnose, and treat established infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, respiratory infections, diarrheal diseases, tuberculosis and malaria as well as emerging diseases such as Ebola and Zika. NIAID also supports research on transplantation and immune-related illnesses, including autoimmune disorders, asthma and allergies. The NIAID budget for fiscal year 2020 is an estimated $5.9 billion. Dr. Fauci has advised six Presidents on HIV/AIDS and many other domestic and global health issues. He was one of the principal architects of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a program that has saved millions of lives throughout the developing world.

  • Richard Rothman, MD, PhD

    Johns Hopkins University, Department of Emergency Medicine

    Dr. Richard Rothman, MD, PhD is the Executive Vice Chair and Vice Chair for Research for the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University. He is also a Professor of Emergency Medicine with a Joint Appointment in the Division of Infectious Diseases and is a practicing emergency physician at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Dr. Rothman has been conducting research on varied infectious disease conditions in emergency settings since 1996, with areas of focus including HIV, sepsis,  influenza, and now SARS CoV-2.  He has a particular interest and expertise in the development and translation of rapid molecular diagnostics and has published extensively on this topic. Dr. Rothman has served as the Principal Investigator for a number of federally funded studies including multi-center studies designed to advance methods for early infectious disease detection in emergency settings, and improve approaches to the conduct of therapeutic trials during a pandemic. Currently, he serves as the Principal Investigator and Co-Director for the NIH/NIAID Center of Excellence for Influenza Surveillance and Research which now includes studies on COVID-19. At SAEM, Dr. Rothman is one of the founding members of the EMTIDE group a network of academic emergency departments focused on research, practice, and policy on emerging and transmissible infectious diseases.
  • James Holmes, MD, MPH

    University of California, Davis

    James F. Holmes, MD, MPH is a Professor and Executive Vice Chair in the Department of Emergency Medicine at UC Davis School of Medicine. He earned his Doctorate of Medicine from the University of Alabama School of Medicine and his Master of Public Health from the University of California Berkeley School of Public Health. Dr. Holmes trained in Emergency Medicine at the University of California, Davis Medical Center, where he also served as Chief Resident.

    His research is focused on the initial evaluation and treatment of injured patients with a particular emphasis on injured children. He has had funding for his research from a variety of federal agencies including the CDC, EMSC and the NIH. He has additionally devoted much of his career to training junior investigators. He is the Director of both the UC Davis Clinical and Translational Science Center’s KL2 Research Training Program and the UC Davis Emergency Medicine Research Fellowship. Finally, he has been very involved in the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) and will begin his term as SAEM President at SAEM20.
  • Ian B.K. Martin, MD, MBA

    President-Elect

    Medical College of Wisconsin

    Dr. Ian Martin is System Chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) Medical School and Emergency Physician-in-Chief for Froedtert and the Medical College of Wisconsin Health System. At MCW, he holds appointments as Eminent Scholar and Professor with Tenure of Emergency Medicine and Internal Medicine. Dr. Martin is also Professor in the Institute for Health and Equity. Before this, he served as Professor and Chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine at West Virginia University School of Medicine as well as Emergency Physician-in-Chief for West Virginia University Health System.

    Before his election to the AACEM Board, Dr. Martin completed terms as Immediate Past-President, President, President-Elect, Secretary-Treasurer, and an At-Large Member of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) – the premier association representing researchers and educators in Emergency Medicine. Dr. Martin is also the founder and a Past-President of SAEM’s Global Emergency Medicine Academy. In 2020, he was appointed by the Mayor of Milwaukee to the City of Milwaukee Board of Health for an indefinite term. The same year, he was also appointed to the Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment External Board (the Consortium on Public and Community Health), also for an indefinite term. Finally, in 2021, Dr. Martin was appointed to the Milwaukee Tennis and Education Foundation Board of Directors.

    Dr. Martin is the 2018 recipient of the Marcus L. Martin, M.D. Leadership in Diversity and Inclusion Award by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine. Dr. Martin was recently named recipient of the 2020 Drexel University College of Medicine Distinguished Alumnus Award as well as of the 2020 Georges Benjamin, M.D. Award for excellence in education, service, and research by the National Medical Association’s Emergency Medicine Section. Lastly, in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Martin was named recipient of a “Notable Heroes in Health Care” Award by BizTimes Milwaukee. Recently, members of the Class of 2023 Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) MCW-beta Chapter selected him to join them as an inductee into the prestigious AOA national honor society. In 2023, Milwaukee County honored Dr. Martin with a citation for launching Wisconsin’s first opt-out, universal, emergency department-based HIV testing program.

  • Larissa May, MD, MSPH, MSHS

    Professor of Emergency Medicine; Director of ED and Outpatient Antibiotic Stewardship; Medical Director, Learning Health System Hub; Chair, Infection Prevention Committee

    UC Davis Health

    Larissa May, MD, MSPH, MSHS - Dr. Larissa May is Professor of Emergency Medicine and Director of Emergency Department and Outpatient Antibiotic Stewardship at the University of California-Davis and the medical director of the UC Davis Health Learning Health System Hub. She is a national expert in antibiotic stewardship in the emergency department (ED). Dr. May received her M.D. (2002), her MSPH in Public Health Microbiology and Emerging Infectious Diseases (2008), and her MSHS in Clinical and Translational Research (2013) from The George Washington University. She completed her residency training at the George Washington University in 2006. Dr. May’s research interests center on the clinical management of infectious diseases, including the application of rapid molecular diagnostic assays, behavioral economics and clinical guidelines to improve antibiotic stewardship and other quality improvement efforts. During fall 2020 she served as Yolo County's Interim Health Officer, leading the COVID-19 response. She has served on numerous committees and task forces focused on antibiotic stewardship, emergency preparedness, and infectious diseases surveillance for the CDC, NIH, and professional organizations
  • Elissa M. Schechter-Perkins MD,MPH,DTMH

    Vice Chair of Research, Department of Emergency Medicine; Director of Emergency Medicine Infectious Disease Management; Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine

    Boston University School of Medicine

    Elissa M Schechter-Perkins MD, MPH, DTMH is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and the Vice Chair of EM Research at Boston University School of Medicine/Boston University School of Medicine. She is also the Director of Emergency Medicine Infectious Disease Management. She is the co-Chair of the SAEM Interest Group Emergency Medicine Transmissible Infectious Diseases and Epidemics, a network of academic emergency departments focused on research, practice, and policy on emerging and transmissible infectious diseases.

    Dr Perkins earned a Bachelor of Science from Stanford University, and completed her Doctorate of Medicine at Columbia University. She did her Emergency Medicine residency training at Yale New Haven Hospital, and then completed an International EM fellowship at Los Angeles County, University of Southern California, during which time she earned an MPH from UCLA and a diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene from the Gorgas Clinical Course in Tropical Medicine in Lima, Peru.

    Dr. Perkins has spent her career working with vulnerable populations, primarily in inner city EDs. Her academic area of expertise focuses on the intersection of infectious diseases, public health, and the ED. She has developed programs and evaluated methods to enhance both ED and hospital-wide screening and treatment of infectious diseases that have public health consequences, including HIV, HCV, MRSA, sexually transmitted infections, influenza, and now COVID-19.
  • Christopher Tedeschi

    Christopher Tedeschi, MD, MA, FAWM is Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center and director of emergency preparedness for the Department of Emergency Medicine at Columbia. His interests include disaster preparedness and response, as well as wilderness and environmental medicine. Dr. Tedeschi sits on the editorial board of the Journal Wilderness and Environmental Medicine, and is a Fellow of the Academy of Wilderness Medicine.  He has worked in disaster preparedness and response locally and internationally, with an interest in media coverage and ethical, legal and social issues during public health emergencies.