Benjamin Sun, MD, MPP

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!