People

Michael Redlener, MD, FAEMS

Icahn School of Medicine

Michael Redlener, M.D. FAEMS, is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and currently serves as the Medical Director of the Mount Sinai West Emergency Department, the Division Director for EMS and Disaster Preparedness and the Deputy Director for the Center for Healthcare Readiness. Additionally, he serves as the President for the National EMS Quality Alliance (NEMSQA), an organization dedicated to the development of evidence-based quality measures in EMS as well as numerous regional and state committees dedicated to disaster preparedness and EMS systems of care. He has an operational and academic focus on systems of care, health system readiness, clinical emergency management and quality improvement and measurement in EMS. He is double Board-Certified in Emergency Medicine and EMS Medicine.

Samuel Sondheim, MD MBA

Mount Sinai Morningside

Samuel Sondheim, MD MBA, is the Assistant Medical Director at Mount Sinai Morningside. He is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine. He works clinically as an attending physician at Mount Sinai Morningside and Mount Sinai West hospitals. Dr. Sondheim completed a dual degree MD/MBA at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut followed by residency training at Mount Sinai Morningside/West where he served as Chief Resident, after which he completed Mount Sinai's Disaster Preparedness and Healthcare Leadership fellowship. With over a decade of experience in the prehospital space, his academic interests lie at the intersection of disaster preparedness and healthcare leadership/administration and operations.

Jimmy Truong, DO, MS

New York–Presbyterian Columbia University Medical Center

Jimmy Truong, DO is an Assistant Professor in Emergency Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center, with extensive experience in the spectrum of medical education. Since joining Columbia in 2017, he co-leads the Emergency Medicine Clerkship for 1st year medical students, mentoring 1st and 2nd year medical students transitioning to clinical experience He co-leads the Emergency Medicine Interest Group, design and execution of the faculty development programming, and lead the continuing education of the physicians’ assistant group. He works alongside our emergency medicine residents, and fellows, providing bedside teaching, mentorship support and guidance. As part of the faculty onboarding team, he interfaces with our new attendings in heralding their transition to our department and for recent graduates, into emergency medicine. His ongoing development and growth includes the ACEP Teaching fellowship reinforcing medical education concepts and developing an asynchronous point-of-care ultrasound curriculum for physician assistants in the department.
Nationally, he serves as an oral boards examiner for the American Osteopathic Board of Emergency Medicine, certifying new emergency medicine physicians since 2019. As an editorial board member, he is a peer reviewer for the Visual Journal of Emergency Medicine for 2 years, reviewing over 80 submissions. He is a member of the SAEM medical education committee providing support to creating a roadmap for residents to navigate the academia. He continues to grow his network with completion of the Academic Life in Emergency Medicine Faculty Incubator staying on as a faculty mentor. He works collaboratively with other medical education educators across the world and has afforded a rich experience in learning other views and perspectives.

Christopher Eric McCoy, MD, MPH

UC Irvine Health; University of California Irvine School of Medicine

Dr. C. Eric McCoy is the designer and founder of southern California's first emergency medicine simulation fellowship program. He is also the Base Hospital Medical Director and Director of Emergency Medical Services at UC Irvine Medical Center. He graduated from UC Irvine Emergency Medicine residency program and subsequently completed a fellowship in Emergency Medical Services/Disaster Medical Sciences at UC Irvine while simultaneously completing a master of public health at UCLA.

Dr. McCoy has a passion for education and has more than 20 years of experience in designing educational curriculum and programs. He has leveraged his expertise in education and training to create both a domestic and international medical simulation fellowships where his fellows have the opportunity to educate/train and form cooperative collaborative relationships with medical students, residents, nurses, allied health professionals, EMTs, paramedics, and physicians while developing innovative simulation curriculum. Curriculum from his simulation program has been implemented at local, regional, and international levels. He completed a project where he and an EMS colleague designed and created a fully immersive prehospital medicine course overseas that was simulation based and included the army, navy, nurses, physicians, paramedics and allied health care professionals. He has utilized his expertise in EMS, public health, and education to develop novel simulation curriculum that is delivered both in and outside of the simulation center environment.

Dr. McCoy is also the course director and instructor for the school of medicine's course on the fundamentals of clinical epidemiology and biostatistics. He also teaches courses in Evidence-Based Medicine at national and international programs. Education and insight on the fundamentals of evidenced based medicine, epidemiology, and biostatistics provide a unique learning opportunity for fellows of this program and serve as the foundation for designing and implementing simulation research projects with sound methodology.

Dr. McCoy has a true passion for education and appreciates the opportunity to provide service to the community through educational offerings.

University of Iowa

Daniel Runde, MD, MME is a Clinical Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics where he serves as Vice Chair of Education for the Emergency Medicine Residency Program and as Director of the Emergency Medicine Medical Education Fellowship Program. Within the Carver College of Medicine he has spent the past 8 years serving as Course Director for the second semester of the Clinical and Professional Skills Strand. He was also elected to the Medical Education Council which oversees curricular development and analysis for all phases of the medical curriculum.

Dr. Runde completed a Fellowship in Medical Education at Harbor-UCLA and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and subsequently University of Iowa Office of Consultation and Research in Medical Education. He has received multiple “Teacher of The Year” awards within his department as well as recognition for “Best Lecture” and “Best Speaker” from the Council of Emergency Medicine Directors Academic Assembly.

He serves as a founding member and decision editor for the journal Academic Emergency Medicine: Education and Training and spent 4-years as a member of the Education Committee for the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine.

Stephanie Cohen, DO

University of Central Florida

Dr. Stephanie Cohen was born in Buffalo, New York and is a graduate of the University of Central Florida where she studied Psychology in addition to her pre-med studies. She obtained her medical degree at Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine in Bradenton, Florida and served as a chief resident at the University at Buffalo where she graduated in 2021. Dr. Cohen finished her simulation fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida in 2022 and is currently serving as core faculty and director of simulation at the University of Central Florida/HCA Emergency medicine residency program in Orlando, Florida. Dr. Cohen has become involved in simulation on the national level and is currently serving on the executive board of the SAEM Simulation Academy as the VP of membership.

Di F. Coneybeare, MD, MHPE

Di Coneybeare completed her residency as well as an emergency ultrasound fellowship at Bellevue Hospital/NYU. She earned her Masters of Health Professions from Maastricht University. She currently practices in the Adult Emergency Department at Columbia Irving Medical Center. She became the emergency ultrasound fellowship director in 2021 and has served as the co-chair of the faculty development committee since 2020. She founded the Department of Emergency Medicine peer support program in 2022.

Nicholas Pokrajac, MD

Stanford University Department of Emergency Medicine

Nicholas Pokrajac, MD is a Clinical Assistant Professor within the Department of Emergency Medicine at Stanford University. Dr. Pokrajac completed his medical school education at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, followed by residency training in Emergency Medicine at the UC San Diego Health System. After residency, he completed a fellowship in Pediatric Emergency Medicine at Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego. His professional interests include medical education and procedure training in emergency medicine. He currently serves as the Director of Faculty Clinical Skills Training at Stanford, where he developed and implemented a simulation-based mastery learning curriculum for faculty clinical skills maintenance.

Brett Ryan Todd, MD

William Beaumont University Hospital

Dr. Brett Todd is the Associate Residency Program Director at the Corewell Health William Beaumont University Hospital, and is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine. His professional and research interests include medical education, faculty development, clinical decision making, and neurological and hypertensive emergencies.

Donald Apakama, MD, MS

Icahn School of Medicine At Mount Sinai

Dr. Donald (DJ) Apakama Jr. (He/Him/His) is a pioneering figure at the intersection of Emergency Medicine, Artificial Intelligence, and Human Health. Currently, he serves as an Assistant Professor at Mount Sinai Beth Israel and the Mount Sinai Hospital, where he has established himself as a leading force in leveraging data science to improve healthcare outcomes.

Dr. Apakama pursued his medical degree at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, earning his M.D. with a distinction in clinical research. He completed his residency training in Emergency Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital, where he also served as Chief Resident. Committed to advancing his knowledge at the nexus of healthcare and data science, upon graduation he completed a T-32 Clinical Research Fellowship and is currently completing an M.S. in Biomedical Informatics at Oregon Health and Science University.
Dr. Apakama's professional accolades, which include being an NIH Diversity Supplement and a Mount Sinai Biomedical Laureates Awardee, underscore his dedication to excellence and diversity in healthcare.

Beyond his clinical excellence, Dr. Apakama's research focus on the social determinants of health (SDOH) and their impact on minority populations has garnered him international recognition. His innovative approach, utilizing Natural Language Processing and Large Language Modeling, aims to unveil links between social needs and adverse patient outcomes, making significant strides toward reducing health disparities. Additionally, Dr. Apakama's current research is exploring the use of LLMs for the extraction of negative descriptors in electronic medical records (EMRs) to better understand and address the social factors impacting patient outcomes. As a mentor, educator, and researcher, he is dedicated to inspiring the next generation of medical professionals, particularly advocating for the representation of BIPOC doctors. Continuing his mission to educate and innovate, Dr. Apakama recently launched “STAT AI: an Emergency Medicine Podcast” alongside colleague Dr. Ethan Abbott, where they explore the dynamic intersection of Artificial Intelligence and Emergency Medicine, bringing cutting-edge discussions to the forefront of medical and public discourse. STAT AI is available on all major platforms.

Stephanie C. DeMasi, MD

Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Lawrence A. Melniker, MD, MS, MBA

New York Presbyterian Hospital

Dr. Lawrence Melniker is the Vice Chief for Quality Management in the Department of Emergency Medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital. He serves as an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Weill Medical College of Cornell University.
Dr. Melniker received his MD from SUNY Downstate Medical Center, then completed an Internal Medicine Residency at Albert Einstein College of Medicine; followed by an Emergency Medicine Residency at Mount Sinai School of Medicine.
In 2004, Dr. Melniker completed a Fellowship and Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology and Health Services Research at the Weill Graduate School of Medical Sciences of Cornell University; and in 2017, he finished a Healthcare MBA at George Washington University School of Business.
Dr. Melniker is a founding member of the World Interactive Network Focused on Critical Ultrasound (WINFOCUS) and the senior methodologist for WINFOCUS – International Consensus Conference Series.
Dr. Melniker has been practicing Emergency Medicine for 30 years.

Lynn P. Roppolo, MD, FACEP

University of North Texas and Texas Christian University

Lynn Roppolo, MD is a graduate of the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and completed her emergency medicine residency at the George Washington University. She did an ultrasound fellowship after 15 years in the residency leadership, the same year she was promoted to full professor at the University of Texas Southwestern where she recently retired. She is currently an Adjunct Professor at the University of North Texas and Texas Christian University. She is core faculty and the Assistant Ultrasound Director at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth and employed by Integrative Emergency Services. She is also a part-time attending in the emergency department at Children's Medical Center in Plano, Texas. She is a Senior Editor for the Journal of Emergency Medicine. As a member of the SAEM Research Committee, she has been instrumental in the development of the new "Research Learning Series". Her scholarly interests include anything related to emergency ultrasound and improving our ability to manage acutely agitated patients to reduce the incidence of physical assaults on ED staff.

Bret A. Nicks, MD, MHA

Wake Forest University School of Medicine

Dr. Nicks is a Professor and Executive Vice Chair of Emergency Medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. During his career at Wake Forest, he has served as the Emergency Department Medical Director, founding Director of the Emergency Department Observation Unit, served as the regional medical director during the emergency medicine physician group expansion, and served as a site PI for a multi-center R01 research study. Within the Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Dr. Nicks served as the founding Associate Dean for the Office of Global Health, building collaboration and growth across local departments locally and Wake Forest affiliations globally. Dr. Nicks is the founding director of the Wake Forest Master of Healthcare Leadership, an executive degree program dedicated to creating transformational leaders in healthcare. He is a past president of the North Carolina College of Emergency Medicine. For nearly a decade, Dr. Nicks served as the Chief Medical Officer of the award-winning Wake Forest Baptist Davie Medical Center, a community-based medical center dedicated to creating the optimal organizational culture while embracing academics in the community.

Ryan C. Gibbons, MD, FAAEM, FACEP, FAIUM

Temple University School of Medicine

Ryan C. Gibbons, MD, FAAEM, FACEP, FAIUM is a proud graduate of the Lewis Katz School of Medicine (LKSOM) at Temple University where he completed his Emergency Medicine (EM) residency, serving as chief resident, followed by an Advanced Emergency Medicine Ultrasonography (AEMUS) fellowship at Temple as well. Currently, Dr Gibbons is an Associate Professor of EM and the Director of Ultrasound in Undergraduate Medical Education (UME) and was appointed the inaugural John M. Daly, MD, & Measey Foundation Endowed Professor in Medical Education Innovation at LKSOM for developing and implementing a 4-year longitudinal point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) curriculum. Additionally, Ryan serves as the AEMUS fellowship director and the Associate Director of the Division of Emergency Ultrasound in the Department of EM. As associate director, Ryan has been instrumental in the success of the emergency ultrasound division, expanding the AEMUS fellowship and starting an IM POCUS fellowship as well. Dr Gibbons has won numerous medical student and resident teaching awards demonstrating his passion for POCUS and education.

Dr Gibbons has published over fifty peer-reviewed manuscripts, abstracts, and book chapters. As a leading POCUS expert, he has given more than one hundred regional, national, and international POCUS presentations and educational workshops. Ryan serves as a peer reviewer for Annals of Emergency Medicine and the Journal of Emergency Medicine (JEM), as well as an ultrasound section editor for the Western Journal of Emergency Medicine (WJEM). His research has been highlighted by leading emergency medicine journals and ultrasound outlets, including AEM, JEM, WJEM, EM-RAP, the Ultrasound GEL podcast, Rebel Cast, Journal Feed, Aunt Minnie, Medical Research, and MedPage Today. Over the last two years, Dr Gibbons has received successive research awards from the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine’s (SAEM) Academy of Emergency Ultrasound (AEUS). Ryan is active within numerous national organizations as well. He founded and served as the first chair of the Emergency Ultrasound Section (EUS) of the American Academy of Emergency Medicine (AAEM) and as the secretary for the EUS of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP). Likewise, he is a passionate member of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM), having served as the secretary and vice chair of the Ultrasound in Medical Education community and, presently, as the secretary of the Point-of-Care Ultrasound Community as well as the 2023 Beryl Benacerraf fellow for the Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine.

Prior to his EM training, Ryan served on active duty in the United States Navy where he completed his transitional year internship at the Naval Medical Center Portsmouth followed by a tour on the USS NASHVILLE (LPD-13) as the medical department head and then with Fleet Aire Reconnaissance Squadron 4 (VQ-4) as the squadron flight surgeon. He is currently in the process of returning to the United States Navy reserves as an Emergency Medicine physician.

Lauren Walter, MD, MSPH

University of Alabama at Birmingham

Lauren Walter is an Associate Professor and Associate Vice Chair of Emergency Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Dr. Walter has experience and expertise in both medical education and clinical research. She is currently the Social Emergency Medicine & Population Health Fellowship Director at UAB and conducts externally-funded research with a focus on public health, including universal HIV and HCV screening, as well as a ED-initiated MOUD program.

Daniel W. Markwalter, MD

University of North Carolina

Daniel Markwalter received his medical degree from the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. He then went on to emergency medicine residency training at UNC, where he served as Education Chief Resident. Following residency, he completed fellowship training in hospice and palliative medicine, also at UNC. He currently works clinically in the emergency department at UNC as well as on the inpatient adult palliative care consult service. His scholarly interests include ED-based advance care planning, transitions to hospice from the ED, and palliative care education for emergency medicine physicians. He is also a contributor to content at PalliEM.org.

Bruce R. Gutierrez, DO

NewYork-Presbyterian: Weill Cornell Medicine

Bruce Gutierrez, DO currently serves as both an emergency medicine and palliative care attending physician at NewYork-Presbyterian Weill Cornell. He is also an instructor in clinical medicine and emergency medicine at the Weill Cornell Medical College. He recently completed his fellowship in hospice and palliative medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. He completed his emergency medicine training at Jacobi/Montefiore Medical Centers in the Bronx. His passions include incorporating palliative care principles in the emergency department, educating other emergency physicians on hospice and palliative medicine, and simulation-based learning. When not at work, he enjoys exploring the city, playing with dogs, trying new restaurants, and traveling.

Dennis Hsieh, MD, JD

Chief Medical Officer

Central California Alliance for Health

Dr. Hsieh is the Chief Medical Officer for the Central California Alliance for Health and works on addressing challenges with the social determinants of health.. He was previously the Chief Medical Officer for Contra Costa Health Plan, Director of Social Medicine and Community Health at the LA County Department of Health Services’ (DHS) Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, and Medical Director of LA County DHS’s Whole Person Care Transitions of Care.

Blake Shultz, MD, JD

Mass General Brigham, Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency

Blake Shultz is an Emergency Medicine resident at the Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency program and Associate Research Scholar at the Solomon Center for Health Law and Policy at Yale Law School.