People

Gina Lopez, MD, MPH

Boston Medical Center

Dr. Gina Lopez is a board-certified Emergency Medicine physician working at Boston Medical Center, the busiest emergency department in New England. With a large safety net population, she works with the Multi-Visit Patient Program which strives to meet the complex care needs of the most vulnerable, frequent visitors both in the ED creates bridges to services in the community. She is highly committed to the diverse patient population, as well as cultivating diversity within Emergency Medicine through work with the Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion group which creates a sense of community amongst those who have faced barriers practicing medicine.

Serving as the Physician Director of Workplace Safety, she collaborates with leaders across the hospital system from nursing, public safety, behavioral medicine and patient advocacy to coordinate care for patients with behavioral challenges prioritizing patient and staff safety. Dr. Lopez championed the roll out of utilization of standardized agitation scoring across the hospital system. She has been a partner in the development the hospital’s Behavioral Response Team working towards early response systems to agitation management, bedside support and prevention of crisis incidents. Partnering with Public Safety, she chairs the hospital Threat Assessment Team and Safety Care Plan Committee reviewing all safety incidents in the hospital and prioritizing care plan development to bring trauma-informed safety recommendations to frontline care providers. Working with Quality and Safety, she reviews workplace violence safety incidents, leads investigations and coordinates root cause analyses for critical events.

She is proud to be involved in efforts to improve hospital policy, staff education and strategic planning for prevention and mitigation of workplace violence. Her special interests include emergency behavioral care, effective de-escalation, workplace safety, health equity and staff wellness.

Alice Bukhman, MD, MPH

Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital

Alice Kidder Bukhman is an Instructor of Emergency Medicine at Harvard Medical School and faculty in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH). Her research and operational work focuses on program development, operations and health equity in both the U.S. and global context. She currently serves a Medical Director for Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Emergency Department and Head of Medical Partnerships for Prisoners’ Legal Services of MA.

Ambrose H. Wong, MD, MSEd, MHS

Yale University School of Medicine

Dr. Wong is a physician-scientist in the Department of Emergency Medicine, with a focus on teamwork, patient safety, behavioral health, and healthcare disparities. He is the Research Director and Associate Fellowship Director at the Yale Center for Medical Simulation. He also has expertise in qualitative and mixed-methods techniques for health services research.

He received his Bachelor of Science from the University of British Columbia in Microbiology & Immunology in Vancouver, Canada and attended Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. Ambrose obtained his Emergency Medicine residency training at NYU & Bellevue Hospitals Center in New York City, serving as chief resident physician in his final year. He subsequently completed a medical simulation fellowship at NYU School of Medicine & New York Simulation Center for the Health Sciences. He received a Master of Science in Health Professions Education at Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions.

Dr. Wong applies healthcare simulation technology to address workplace violence and improve behavioral care in the emergency setting. He has authored 25 peer-reviewed publications on behavioral emergency care and received an NIH NCATS KL2 & YCCI Scholar Award to implement an agitation code team response intervention. He is the current recipient of multiple federal awards to investigate the use of health IT and patient-centered methods to improve the care of agitation management while maintaining safety of staff and healthcare workers.

Sean McHugh, MD

UMass Chan Medical School, Department of Emergency Medicine

Sean McHugh, MD
Sean.McHugh@umassmemorial.org
Resident Physician
UMass Memorial Medical Center/UMass Chan Medical School
Sean is a current PGY-2 emergency medicine resident physician at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, MA. His interests include mountain and water rescue and treatment of pathology related to exposure, including hypothermia and frostbite. He currently contributes to a research project assessing sous vide devices for acute rewarming of frostbitten extremities.

Taylor Haston, DO, DiMM, MBS, MPH

Augusta University

Dr. Taylor Haston is from Charlotte, NC, completed medical school at Nova Southeastern University, Emergency Medicine residency training at the Medical College of Georgia, followed by a Wilderness Medicine Fellowship at MCG. She is now an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, as well as Director for the Wilderness Medicine Fellowship. Dr. Haston has earned her Diploma in Mountain Medicine (DiMM) and certifications in Level 1 Swiftwater Rescue, Advanced Open Water and Rescue Diving. She works as medical support for an international ultra-marathon race series as frequently as her schedule allows and has traveled internationally as faculty, not only with the Wilderness Medicine Section, but also with the International Medicine Section and the Ultrasound Section at MCG.

Jasmine Y. Gale, MD

UMass Chan Medical School

Jasmine Gale, MD is a senior EM resident at UMass Chan Medical School and will be starting her wilderness medicine fellowship in July 2024. She is an accomplished dive master and has a particular interest in dive medicine and hyperbarics. She is involved in teaching in medical student electives and wilderness medicine research as a resident.

Gabrielle Bunney, MD

Stanford University

Dr. Gabrielle Bunney is an Innovation fellow in the department of Emergency Medicine at Stanford. She has a passion for using artificial intelligence (AI) models to support emergency medicine care delivery and efficiency. She has worked on projects using machine learning models to predict early seizures after intracerebral hemorrhage and identify patients for a hospital’s geriatric intervention program aimed to avoid hospital admission. Her current research projects are focused on using artificial intelligence to select patients efficiently and equitably for an early electrocardiogram to detect myocardial infarction.

Stanley E. Chartoff, MD, MPH, FACEP, FAWM

University of Connecticut

Stanley E. Chartoff, MD, MPH, FAWM, Assistant Professor University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, Attending physician Hartford Hospital Department of Emergency Medicine. Rutgers/New Jersey Medical School MD 1986. Harvard School of Public Health MPH 1990. Emergency Medicine Residency Cook County Hospital 1996. Emergency Medicine physician at Hartford Hospital since 2002, faculty for the University of Connecticut Emergency Medicine Residency and Fellowship in International Disaster Medicine. North Branch Medical lead for Team Rubicon. Retired US Air Force Colonel.

Geoff B. Comp, DO, FACEP

Valleywise Hospital

Dr. Geoff Comp is currently an Associate Program Director for the Creighton University School of Medicine Emergency Medicine Residency at the Valleywise Health Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona. Geoff participates as a leader, mentor, and advocate for wilderness medicine and EM medical education with experience lecturing and teaching locally, regionally, and nationally. His professional and research focus includes wilderness medicine, physician wellness, mentorship, as well as innovation in medical education. He constantly seeks opportunities to combine his interests through collaboration with others and outdoor exploration. Outside of medicine, Geoff can be found running or road biking, trying to find the best Mexican food in Arizona, or chasing his two-year-old twin boys (Austin and Carter) with his wife, Mackenzie.

Fatou Ndaw

University of Illinois- Peoria

Fatou is a fourth-year medical student who aims to become a leader in Emergency Medicine. She graduated with a bachelor's in Biology from the University of Michigan and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Medicine at the University of Illinois College of Medicine- Peoria, expected to graduate in 2024. She recently mached into emergency medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. She is committed to improving both patient well-being and the medical community, as demonstrated by her involvement in organizations such as the Emergency Medicine Interest Group, Urban Health Program, and Student National Medical Association where she mentors underrepresented minority students and supports diversity in the field. In her free time, she enjoys family time, CrossFit, crocheting, and watching anime.

Talya Jeffrey, DO, MPH

University of Illinois College of Medicine - Peoria

Talya M. Jeffrey, DO, MPH, is a second year Emergency Medicine resident at the University of Illinois College of Medicine – Peoria. She obtained her DO/MPH from Pacific Northwest University COM & Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.

David H. Wang, MD

Mass Advantage

Health Plan

Ex- palliative care department chair
Ex- ACEP palliative section chair
Ex- AAEM palliative section founding chair
Ex- AAHPM emergency medicine section chair

Kenneth C. Hanson, MD

Landmark

Board certification in Emergency Medicine, Fellow ACEP, subspecialty certification in EMS, Fellow NAEMSP, subspecialty certification in HPM. Past Chair of AAHPM EM-Special Interest Group.
Palliative Lead and Associate Medical Director East Michigan Market, Optum Health
Community Faculty Emergency Medicine Residency and EMS Fellowship Central Michigan University College of Medicine
Flight Surgeon, 122 Fighter Wing, Indiana Air National Guard, rank of Lt Col.

Naomi George, MD MPH

University of New Mexico

I am an emergency and critical care medicine physician working at the intersection of serious illness and acute care medicine, focused on understanding the underlying social drivers of health and systems barriers for patients and families facing serious illness, and developing and implementing interventions to improve patient-centered outcomes and health equity.

Justin K. Justin K. Brooten, MD

Wake Forest University School of Medicine

Dr. Brooten currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, and the Associate Program director of the Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship at the Wake Forest School of Medicine. He is dual board certified in Emergency Medicine and Hospice and Palliative Care and has appointments in the Wake Forest School of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine and the Department of Internal Medicine, Section on Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine. His research interests and educational endeavors focus on the emergency care of older adults and the early integration of palliative care in emergency medical care settings, including prehospital emergency care. In addition, he is interested in the use of clinical informatics methods and utilizing EMR systems to identify patients at high risk for in hospital mortality, and other patient populations who may benefit from early palliative care interventions. He is the co-founder and CEO of PalliEM.org, a website and podcast with the mission of providing free online medical education resources to clinicians interested in applying palliative care principles and skills in emergency medical settings. He completed his medical training at the Medical College of Georgia/UGA medical partnership, and his residency and fellowship training at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine, in Winston Salem North Carolina. He currently practices emergency medicine in community and academic settings, and is also an inpatient palliative care consultant at Atrium Health, Wake Forest Baptist. He is happy to call the beautiful piedmont region of North Carolina home, where he lives with his wife and two children.

Annika Bhananker

Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness, and Safety

Annika Bhananker is a Research Coordinator at the VA Center for Quality, Effectiveness and Safety in Houston, Texas. She is an undergraduate student at Rice University majoring in Anthropology. She is interested in pursuing emergency medicine and serves as a volunteer EMT for Rice EMS.

M Riccardo Colella, DO, MPH, FACEP

Medical College of Wisconsin

Dr. Colella is appointed by the State of Wisconsin’s Department of Health as the Statewide EMS Medical Director. He serves as Chief for the Division of EMS Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin and is the immediate-past medical director of the Milwaukee County Emergency Medical Services (EMS) System, a national leader in EMS serving a population of approximately one million citizens. For the past 15 years, Dr. Colella has been a continuously NIH-funded clinical trial investigator and is the founding program director for the ACGME-accredited EMS Fellowship Program.

He completed medical school at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, emergency medicine residency at the Medical College of Georgia, EMS Fellowship at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and his MPH: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC.

Melanie F. Molina, MD, MAS

University of California, San Francisco

Dr. Melanie Molina, MD, MAS is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine and Affiliate Faculty of the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Prior to her faculty position, Dr. Molina completed a postdoctoral fellowship through the National Clinician Scholars Program at UCSF and a Masters in Advanced Studies through UCSF’s Training in Clinical Research program. During that time, she investigated and published work elucidating COVID-19-related health disparities and ways to leverage technology to integrate social needs screening/linkage to resources into clinical care. Dr. Molina’s own experiences overcoming childhood adversity sparked her desire to work toward reducing health disparities and continue to drive her advocacy work.

Dick Kuo, MD

Baylor College of Medicine

Dr Kuo currently serves as Professor and Chair of the Henry JN Taub Department of Emergency Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. He received his BA from Johns Hopkins University and his MD from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. After completing residency at the University of Maryland he continued on as faculty eventually serving as Medical Director and Director of Faculty Development. He was recruited in 2009 to join Baylor College of Medicine to help form a new EM program based at Ben Taub Hospital in his hometown of Houston, Texas. In 2017 the Henry JN Taub Deaprtment of Emergency Medicine was established and Dr Kuo was named inaugural chair.

Dalia Owda, MD

Yale University School of Medicine

Dalia Owda, MD is an emergency medicine physician and current postdoctoral fellow in the National Clinician Scholars Program (NCSP) at Yale University School of Medicine / Yale-New Haven Health System. Prior to fellowship, Dr. Owda completed her emergency medicine residency at Beaumont Health System in Royal Oak, Michigan, where she also served as Chief Resident in her final year. During her time in residency, Dr. Owda became a leader within the DEI space, creating a DEI Committee and mentorship program for URM medical students, which led to her receiving a top award for Excellence in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Currently, Dr. Owda focuses her research on advancing workforce diversity within academic medicine, with specific focus on the expriences of URM trainees and faculty, as well as evaluating disparities of emergency service utilization.