People

Dan Mayer, MD, FACEP, FAAEM

Albany Medical College

Dan Mayer, MD has been an Emergency Medicine physician for the past 46 years. He has been teaching for the past 32 years and practicing Emergency Medicine for the past 37 years in a variety of hospital settings including academic urban emergency departments and rural community hospital emergency departments. He was an attending Emergency Medicine physician at Albany Medical Center Hospital from 1987 until his retirement in 2014. He also taught evidence-based medicine, medical decision-making and Emergency Medicine at Albany Medical College. He has taught medical students, other health science students, residents and attending physicians. He has been board certified in Emergency Medicine since 1984. He is currently retired from active clinical practice and is active in publishing medical research in Emergency Medicine and teaching EBM to dental residents. He is an Associate Editor for the Western Journal of Emergency Medicine and JACEP Open. He has been an outstanding peer-reviewer for Academic Medicine, JACEP Open, Western Journal of Emergency Medicine, Academic Emergency Medicine, and Annals of Emergency Medicine.

Jennifer Koehl, PharmD, BCEMP

Massachusetts General Hospital

Dr. Jenny Koehl, PharmD, BCEMP serves as the Residency Director for the PGY-2 Emergency Medicine and PGY-2 Emergency Medicine/Critical Care combined Programs at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Koehl earned her PharmD degree at the University of California San Francisco, and completed her PGY-1 and PGY-2 Emergency Medicine pharmacy residencies at the University of Wisconsin Health. Dr. Koehl is currently an Attending Clinical Emergency Medicine Pharmacist at Massachusetts General Hospital with practice interests including substance use disorders, neurology, and geriatrics.

Rachel M. Skains, MD, MSPH

Assistant Professor

University of Alabama at Birmingham

Dr. Skains is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine (EM) at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) with a joint faculty position at the Birmingham VA Medical Center (BVAMC). After graduating from Wake Forest School of Medicine (2016), she completed her EM residency at UAB (2019) followed by a Clinical Research Fellowship focused on Geriatric EM while pursuing a Master of Science in Public Health (MSPH) in Clinical and Translational Science from the UAB School of Public Health (2021). Dr. Skains was awarded the AHRQ NRSA T32 Postdoctoral Scholar Fellowship in the UAB Health Services Research Training Program (2020-2022), in addition to funding through the UAB Integrative Center for Aging Research (ICAR), Geriatric Emergency care Applied Research (GEAR) 1.0, NIA Grants for Early Medical/Surgical Specialists' Transition to Aging Research (GEMSSTAR) R03 (2023-2025), Exploratory/ Developmental Grant R21 (2023-2025), and GEMSSTAR for EM Supplemental Funding Program through SAEMF/EMF to examine the risk of adverse health outcomes, such as delirium, with potentially inappropriate medication use among older adults in the ED. In addition, Dr. Skains was an ED physician champion for the UAB – Highlands and BVAMC Geriatric ED Committees, which received Level 1 (2021) and Level 3 (2023) accreditations respectively, completed the UAB Geriatric Scholar Interprofessional Program (2019-2021), updated the Geriatric ED Guidelines 2.0 in Medication Safety, published the first expert consensus-based list of high-risk prescriptions for older ED patients (GEMS-Rx),  and serves as Member-at-Large for the SAEM Academy of Geriatric Emergency Medicine (AGEM) (2024-2026).

William A. Kantrales, DO

HCA Florida Orange Park Hospital

Susan Stroud, MD

The University of Utah

Dr. Stroud is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and is the Residency Director at the University of Utah. She completed her residency training at Alameda County Medical Center (Highland) in 2001. After residency, Dr. Stroud was a faculty member at San Francisco General Hospital and an instructor at UCSF School of Medicine. She joined the faculty at the University of Utah in 2003 where she initially served as Medical Student Clerkship Director and helped to create the residency program. She has served as the Residency Director since 2008.

Christine Miyake, MD

Valley Health System

Dr Miyake is a board certified emergency physician currently practicing in Las Vegas NV. She attended medical school at the University of Nevada School of Medicine and completed her emergency medicine residency in 2007 at the University of Rochester. She has 15 + years of experience and has worked at multiple academic centers across the country. She has been actively involved in sepsis quality initiatives throughout her career. Dr. Miyake is program director for the Valley Health System emergency medicine residency program in Las Vegas. In addition Dr. Miyake is currently medical director for short stay reviews for Livanta LLC. She enjoys crafting, reading and spending time with family.

Simi Jandu, MD

University of Massachusetts

Simi Jandu is a senior Medical Education Fellow and serves as an Attending Physician at UMass Chan. Dr. Jandu went to Beaumont Health - Royal Oak for residency and then moved to Massachusetts where she is completing her second year education fellowship. She is also currently completing a Master of Education in the Health Professions as an adjunct to the fellowship.

Christine M. Raps, MD

University of Utah

Christine Raps is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Utah and serves as Assistant Program Director and Assistant Director of the Emergency Medicine Clerkship at the University of Utah School of Medicine. She joined program leadership at the University of Utah after working as core faculty and Co-Director of Ultrasound at St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Stockton, California. She is currently working on her master's degree in Education for Health Professions at the University of Utah. Her interests include curriculum development, assessment, resident well-being, and mentorship.

Jason An, MD, FACEP

Riverside Community Hospital

My name is Jason An and I currently serve as the Designated Institutional Official and Emergency Medicine Program Director at Riverside Community Hospital in California. I am proud to be a part of a department that won the ACEP EM Wellness Center of Excellence award in 2022. My areas of interest in EM include medical education, ED procedures, mentoring, and physician well-being.

Jennifer Chapman, MD, MBA

Orange Park Medical Center

My name is Jennifer Chapman MD, MBA and my current professional roles include Program Director of HCA Florida- Orange Park Emergency Medicine Residency Program, Vice-Chairman Department of Emergency Medicine and Assistant Facilty Medical Director of Emergency Department. I attended University of Rochester School of Medicine before completing EM residency at Kings County/SUNY Downstate in Brooklyn. Upon finishing residency, I enjoyed working at Lahey Hospital in Burlington MA, working with Boston Medical College EM residents before moving down to sunny Florida. My family and I enjoy the benefits of living in the Jacksonville area. We are avid football fans and I was thrilled to take on the role of Airway Management Physician for the Jacksonville Jaguars, a position that I share with two of my EM colleagues.

Vinay N. Kampalath, MD, DTM&H

Assistant Professor, Pediatrics

University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine

Vinay N. Kampalath, MD, DTM&H is an Assistant Professor in Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Kampalath has worked in several development and humanitarian contexts as a clinician and educator, and is a researcher studying humanitarian emergencies, universal health coverage, and emergency care development. Dr. Kampalath earned his medical degree at Brown University and finished his residency in pediatrics and fellowship in pediatric emergency medicine and global health at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He earned his diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Shama Patel, MD MPH

University of Florida College of Medicine Jacksonville

Shama Patel has worked in the field of global health for over 15 years, starting as a Global Health fellow at CDC and moving onto medicine, completing an International Emergency Medicine Fellowship and now working as clinical faculty of University of Florida - Jacksonville. She works in health systems development and resilency, global EM research, disaster response and educational programming.

Katie Wells, MD, MPH

University of Vermont Medical Center

Dr. Katie Wells is the University of Vermont (UVM) Emergency Department Network Director of International Emergency Medicine and Health Equity. She is also the inaugural UVM Larner College of Medicine Director of Social Medicine. Over the last five years, Dr. Wells has built the UVM International Emergency Medicine program from the ground up, having been awarded multiple grants focused on building critical access to healthcare for Vermont’s immigrant and refugee communities. She completed her Global Health Fellowship with the University of Utah Center for Global Surgery, where she researched trauma, emergency, and surgical system development. Dr. Wells received her Master’s in Public Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She spent two years working in Mongolia, focusing on surgical, emergency, and trauma system development while conducting research with the Mongolian Ministry of Health and the national hospital system. During her fellowship, she completed her MPH with a focus on disaster medicine and refugee health. Dr. Wells also focuses on building curriculum and researching health equity and social justice while overseeing trainee involvement in social medicine programs.

Since joining Vermont, Dr. Wells and her team have built partnerships, working alongside multiple international partners and organizations focused on expanding international emergency care system development. UVM Department of Emergency Medicine has supported the development of the first Ugandan curriculum for emergency care nursing for the country, developed an International Rural Emergency Care Systems (IRECS) rotation built for practitioners working in the international context, which was piloted this year with Ugandan partners including SEED Global Health, and two Ugandan residency training programs at Makerere and Mbarara University of Science and Technology with the plan to expand this for all international partners. Additionally, Wells partnered with AFEM and South African partners, Stellenbosch University and the University of Cape Town, to explore equitable GH partnerships and built UVM’s first institutional multidisciplinary Global Health Equity fellowship starting July 2024, amongst many other initiatives. Wells has also developed the first UVM institutional collaborative immigrant health program called the Immigrant Health Initiative (IHI), bringing in members of over 20 different University of Vermont Health Network departments and over 50 community partners and created the first salary-funded hospital network immigrant community liaison position held explicitly by a member of Vermont’s refugee community. Dr. Wells is working collaboratively with community and medical center partners to change statewide policy focused on immigrant health.

Michael Hrdy, MD

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Michael Hrdy, MD is an Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics in the Division of Emergency Medicine at the Perlman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and works in the pediatric emergency department at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He is one of the core simulation faculty and is the Director of Emergency Simulation for the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's King of Prussia campus. He completed Pediatrics residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital and Pediatric Emergency Medicine fellowship at Children's National Hospital in Washington, DC. 

Alexander Croft, MD

Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine

Dr. Croft is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine. After receiving his medical degree from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, he pursued training in Emergency Medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine where he also completed a Chief Residency. It was during this time he found his love for simulation-based education, leading him to a fellowship in Medical Simulation through Indiana University School of Medicine.

Professionally, Dr. Croft has interests in advanced debriefing techniques, human factors engineering, in-situ simulation, and intradisciplinary simulation. At Washington University in St. Louis, he serves as the Director for Simulation, and the Director of the In-Situ Simulation Acute Care Program.

Glenn Paetow, MD, MACM

Hennepin County Medical Center

Dr. Paetow completed his Emergency Medicine Residency and a Fellowship in Medical Education and Simulation, both at Hennepin County Medical Center. After obtaining his Masters in Academic Medicine through the University of Southern California, he joined Hennepin County Medical Center as a faculty member in the Department of Emergency Medicine. He served as an Associate Program Director until 2022 when he became the Program Director for the Emergency Medicine Residency Program.

He is also the Medical Director for the Interdisciplinary Simulation and Education Center. His academic interests include graduate medical education, wellness, simulation, quality improvement, and cultural responsive healthcare.

Valerie Dobiesz, MD, MPH

Brigham & Women's Hospital/Harvard Medical School

Valerie Dobiesz, MD, MPH, Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School, is an emergency physician working clinically at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and Tséhootsooí Medical Center in Fort Defiance and serves as the Director of the Front Line Indigenous Partnership (FLIP) Program which is dedicated to improving American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) health and eliminating existing health disparities. She is a core faculty in the BWH emergency department’s Office of Inclusion Diversity, Equity and Social Justice and a core faculty member of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI) where she directs programs on Indigenous Health Disparities and Medical Education in War and Conflict. She is nationally recognized for her emergency medicine courses for medical professionals in the areas of simulation education, maternal health, gender equity, orthopedics, and wilderness and expedition medicine. To address the lack of a sufficient AIAN healthcare workforce she partners with Tribal leaders on developing and supporting multiple pathway programs for Indigenous youth to pursue healthcare careers including the Medicine Pathways to Advancing Tribal Healthcare program, Saint Michael Indian School Premedical Society, San Carlos Apache Premedical Summer Program, North American Center of Boston Medicine Ways Pathway Program, and the relaunching of the National Native American Youth Initiative program in collaboration with the Association of American Indian Physicians. She has presented over 200 national and over 100 international lectures on a variety of subspecialties in emergency medicine in Peru, India, Nepal, Tanzania, Antarctica, Cuba, the Philippines, Haiti, Galapagos, Democratic Republic of Congo, Vietnam, Fiji, New Zealand, Bhutan, Ukraine, and Argentina.

Kimberly Sokol, MD, MS, MACM

Kaweah Delta Health Care District

Dr. Sokol is the Medical Director of Simulation, Co-Director of the Clinical Teaching and Simulation Fellowship, and Core Faculty member of the Emergency Medicine residency program at Kaweah Health Medical Center in Visalia, California. A graduate of both the emergency medicine residency program and simulation fellowship at the University of California Irvine, she is interested in running simulations for a variety of learners.

Vivienne Ng, MD, MPH

University of Arizona

Vivienne Ng grew up in several areas of the United States, settling most recently on the West Coast where she completed her undergraduate and public health training at the University of California Berkeley focusing on infectious disease epidemiology, with a special interest in Global Health and Maternal and Child Health. After a brief stint in upstate New York for medical school, she returned quickly to California, where the sun shines for the better part of the year for residency and fellowship training in simulation education and research.

She joined the University of Arizona faculty in 2013 to build the simulation education curriculum for the department of emergency medicine. In addition to her simulation work, she is also an Associate Program Director for the University Campus Emergency Medicine Residency Program and the Director for the Medical Simulation Fellowship. She additionally mentors medical students as a core faculty advisor for EM bound students at the UA.

Her professional interests include medical education and mentorship, simulation education, pediatric emergency care, and global health. She spends her free time traveling, trying new foods, and exploring new outdoor wonders with her family and dog.

Tina Chen, MD

Saint Louis University

Tina Chen is the Associate Dean of Simulation and Clinical Skills for Saint Louis University School of Medicine, as well as the Director of Emergency Medicine Simulation for the Saint Louis University Emergency Medicine Residency Program. She completed Medical Simulation fellowship at the Center for Education, Simulation, and Innovation at Hartford Hospital.