People

Lauren Cameron-Comasco, MD

Immediate Past President

Beaumont Health System, Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine

Dr. Cameron-Comasco is Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine. She is the Director of Geriatric Emergency Medicine and the Geriatric Emergency Medicine Fellowship Director at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, MI. Dr. Cameron-Comasco received her medical degree from Wayne State University School of Medicine and completed her residency at Henry Ford Hospital, where she served as Chief Resident. After residency, she joined the Department of Emergency Medicine at Beaumont Royal Oak and completed her fellowship in Geriatric Emergency Medicine. Beaumont's ED was Accredited as a Level 2 Geriatric Emergency Department under her leadership. She has studied the operational effects of implementing a Geriatric Emergency Department. Her interests lie in geriatric emergency medicine education and the optimization of older adult care in the Emergency Department.

• Academic interest: geriatric emergency care, cognitive impairment, operations, resident education​

Kalpana Narayan Shankar, MD, MSc, MS

Treasurer

Brigham and Women's Hospital

Bio Unavailable 

Surriya Colleen Ahmad, MD

Secretary

Bellevue Hospital Center and Clinical Faculty

I am originally from Louisville, KY, graduated from Emory University in Atlanta, GA with a Bachelor of Science in Biology and Spanish, and received my Doctorate of Medicine from University of Louisville in Louisville, KY. I completed my combined Emergency Medicine and Internal Medicine residency at the State University of New York Downstate Health Sciences University (SUNY DHSU) and Kings County Hospital Center (KCHC) in Brooklyn, NY. I completed my Geriatric Emergency Medicine (GEM) Fellowship at Weill Cornell/New York Presbyterian Hospital in New York City. I am currently an Attending Physician at Bellevue Hospital Center and Clinical Faculty in the Ronald O. Perelman Department of Emergency Medicine at NYU Langone Hospitals in New York City.

I have been a member of SAEM and AGEM for three years, and have particularly enjoyed working with the AGEM Outreach Committee. In December 2020 I co-organized and co-hosted a Leaders in GEM virtual event with the aim of generating early interest in GEM amongst medical students and residents and helping to connect them with mentors who have been successful in the field. I served on the AGEM Executive Committee as a Member At Large. I am honored to be Treasurer for AGEM this year.

Between taking care of patients in both a public inner-city Level 1 Trauma Center and Tertiary care center in residency and having an octogenarian father and nonagenarian grandmother who I have watched navigate the sometimes treacherous walls of an Emergency Department from the lens of a patient their age, I grew interested in how we can best optimize the care of older adults in the ED. In addition, my interest areas lie in using novel tools to improve communication with older adults, screening for geriatric depression in older adults who come into the Emergency Department, decreasing loneliness and social isolation in this population, health disparities in geriatric patients, physician wellness, streamlining transitions of care, geriatric ED accreditation best care practices, as well as enhancing diversity in the field of Geriatric Emergency Medicine.

Katie Hunold Buck, MD

President

The Ohio State University

Dr. Buck is an Assistant Professor at Ohio State University and Director of the Level 1 Geriatric ED. She received her medical degree from the University of Virginia and completed EM residency and a Research Fellowship at Ohio State University. She is a current NIA Beeson K76 award recipient. Her research focus is improving diagnostic accuracy in older adult emergency department patients with current work on pneumonia. She has been involved in geriatric emergency medicine and AGEM since she was an undergraduate student.

• Academic interest: diagnostic accuracy, infectious disease (pneumonia) in older adults
• Current or prior funding: GEMSSTAR R03, BEESON K76

Liz Goldberg, MD, ScM

Past President

University of Colorado, Denver

Dr. Goldberg is a board-certified emergency physician and Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine. She completed her internship, residency, and chief residency at Brown University. She is a graduate of the post-doctoral research fellowship at the Center of Gerontology and Healthcare Research at Brown University (AHRQ T32) and Masters of Epidemiology (ScM) program.

Her research interests lie at the intersection of aging and emergency medicine. She has lead state wide and national initiatives to improve population health funded by the National Institutes of Health, foundations, professional societies, and payors. As the principal investigator of a National Institutes of Health-funded fall prevention study for older adults in the emergency department (GAPcare-the Geriatric Acute and Post-Acute Fall Prevention Intervention), she developed and tested a multidisciplinary intervention that significantly reduced fall-related ED visits for older adults. For GAPcare, she brought together a team of pharmacists and physical therapists to provide medication therapy management and fall risk assessments to older adults seeking emergency care after a fall. She is currently funded by a Paul B. Beeson Emerging Leaders Career Development Award in Aging (National Institutes of Health, NIA K76) to evaluate whether the Apple Watch can enhance fall outcome assessment and linkage as part of the GAPcare intervention. She is the co-creator of MyCovidRisk.app, a risk assessment and mitigation tool that was used over 1 Million times prior to vaccination being available.

Dr. Goldberg is passionate about expanding the physician scientist pipeline, and has mentored many faculty, fellows, residents, and students. She was the inaugural Associate Director of the Accelerated MPH for Clinicians program at the Brown School of Public Health.

• Academic interest: geriatric fall prevention, digital health
• Current or prior funding: GEMSSTAR R03, BEESON K76

Phong Huynh, MD

New York-Presbyterian Emergency Medicine

Dr. Phong Huynh is a PGY-3 resident at New York-Presbyterian Emergency Medicine Residency with an enthusiasm for point-of-care ultrasound. He was tasked to formulate an education conference day based on a focused theme and chose the utilization of point-of-care ultrasound in critical patients. Phong coordinated efforts with ultrasound and simulation faculty to create a dynamic hands-on learning experience for learners of varying stages. The whole day was gamified to illicit the inherent competitive spirit to enhance learning. Residents who returned to their clinical shifts after the learning session actually incorporated the learning objectives which translated to saving the life of a patient with massive pulmonary embolism.

Tanya Xiong

Tanya Xiong

Nick Ludmer

Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, University of Chicago

Dr. Nicholas Ludmer completed his residency in Emergency Medicine at the University of Cincinnati, and continued on to complete his fellowship in International Medical Education / Global Health here at the University of Chicago.  Dr. Ludmer currently serves as the director of the Global Health Track within the Emergency Medicine Residency, as well as the Assistant Director for the Emergency Medicine Global Health Fellowship.  His academic interests include global health, with current work focussing on developing Basic Emergency Care training for a group of primary providers in rural Chiapas, Mexico.  He is also passionate about pre and post-graduate medical education, and serves as the Assistant Director for Tissue, Cell and Organ Physiology Course within the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. 

Karen Broderick

Fellowship Coordinator

Karen Broderick

Justine M. Nagurney, MD

Resident, Emergency Medicine

Yale School of Medicine

• Research Interests: Geriatric Emergency Medicine

Tony Rosen, MD, MPH

Instructor in Medicine, Attending Emergency Physician

Weill Cornell Medical College

• Specialty: Emergency Medicine
• Research Interests: elder abuse and neglect, geriatric injury prevention, emergency care for older adults
• Year of Award: Beeson 2016, Fan Fox and Leslie Samuels Foundation 2016, Beeson 2016, Department of Justice 2016, John A. Hartford Foundation Change AGEnts Grant 2016, GEMSSTAR/Jahnigen 2014, MSTAR 2007

Tony is a researcher in elder abuse and geriatric injury prevention at Weill Cornell Medical College and a practicing Emergency Physician at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. Tony's research explores forensic injury patterns in physical elder abuse. He has led the development of an Emergency Department-based multi-disciplinary Vulnerable Elder Protection Team (VEPT) to assess, treat, and ensure the safety of elder abuse and neglect victims while collecting evidence and working closely with the authorities. Tony's work has also explored a specific, under-recognized type of elder abuse, resident-to-resident aggression in nursing homes. He has assisted in the development and evaluation of clinical protocols in ED assessment / management of agitated delirium and appropriate use of indwelling urinary catheters. Tony serves on the Steering Committee of the New York City Elder Abuse Center and a physician member of multi-disciplinary elder abuse response teams in Manhattan and Brooklyn. He is also a member of the New York City Violent Death Reporting System Advisory Board and the NYC Elder Fatality Review Team. 

Google Scholar

Bibliography

Jin H. Han, MD, MSc

Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine

Vanderbilt University Medical Center

• Specialties: Emergency Medicine
• Research Interests: Delirium, post-hospitalization long-term cognitive impairment, diagnostic testing, and heart failure
• Current or Prior Funding: National Institute on Aging K23, Emergency Medicine Foundation Grant, Vanderbilt Physician Scientist Development Grant

Dr. Han is an associate professor with the Department of Emergency Medicine and Associated Research Director for the Center for Quality Aging at  Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He completed his emergency medicine residency at the University of Cincinnati and also served as chief resident. He completed a research fellowship and obtained a Masters in Clinical Epidemiology. In addition to his clinical responsibilities in the emergency department, Dr. Han has been very active in patient oriented research. He has over 60 peer-reviewed publications, book chapters, and reviews in the areas of geriatric medicine, cardiology, and emergency department overcrowding. He is the recipient of the Vanderbilt Physician Scientist Development Grant and Emergency Medicine Foundation Career Development Award and has served as co-investigator on several NIH grants. Dr. Han was most recently funded by a National Institute on Aging K23 award which validated several brief delirium assessments for the emergency department setting and investigated how delirium in the ED affects long-term outcomes.

Maura Kennedy, MD, MPH

Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine

Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

• Specialties: Emergency Medicine
• Research Interests: Delirium, Geriatric Falls and Trauma
• Current or Prior Funding: GEMSSTAR/Dennis W. Jahnigen Career Development 2011

Maura is the 2016-2017 past-president of the Academy of Geriatric Emergency Medicine and an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She has lectured nationally on geriatric trauma and falls and currently serves as one of the SAEM representatives for GeriTraC, an interdisciplinary group developing guidelines on the care of older injured patients. She has also served as an associate editor for the "Geriatric Emergencies: A discussion-based review" textbook and participated in the development of the AGS Clinical Practice Guideline for Postoperative Delirium in Older Adults.

Google Scholar

Lawrence Lewis, MD, FACEP

Professor of Emergency Medicine

Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine

• Specialties: Emergency Medicine, Internal Medicine
• Research Interests: Asthma, anaphylaxis, traumatic brain injury
• Current or Prior Funding: John A. Hartford, 1995  ADRC 2001, DOD 2009-2014  

Dr. Lewis has served as Chair of the SAEM Research Committee (1998-2000), Chair of the ACEP Continuing Education Committee (1993-95), and was an American Geriatric Society grant and Jahnigen Career Development Award reviewer from 2001-2003. He also served as a senior oral board examiner for the American Board of Emergency Medicine until 2010, and was Chief of the Division of Emergency Medicine at Washington University from 1994-2004. He currently is a Professor of Emergency Medicine at Washington University with primary clinical duties at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, and primary research interests in TBI, and asthma, anaphylaxis, and angioedema.

Scott M. Dresden, MD, MS, FACEP

Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine

Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

• Specialties: Emergency Medicine
• Research Interests: Transitions of Care, Unique Models of ED care, Health Related Quality of Life, 
• Current or Prior Funding: Emergency Medicine Foundation Health Policy Grant 2015, GEMSSTAR/Jahnigen 2016

Scott is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine Northwestern University in Chicago.  He is a GEMSSTAR/Jahnigen scholar with funded research interests including ED use, ED transitions of care and Health Related Quality of Life.  He is director of Geriatric Emergency Department Innovations (GEDI) at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

Google Scholar

Mary R. Mulcare, MD, FACEP

Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine

Weill Cornell Medicine

• Specialties: Emergency Medicine
• Research Interests: Protocol development, resident education

Mary Mulcare, MD, FACEP, completed her medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Upon graduation from EM residency at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, she did a fellowship in Geriatric Emergency Medicine (GEM) at Weill Cornell Medical Center. Her research focused on designing a multi-phased approach to protocol development and implementation in the ED, focusing specifically on indwelling urinary catheters in older adults as the pilot process. Since fellowship, she has remained active in the GEM community and is currently the Assistant GEM Fellowship Director at Weill Cornell. In addition to caring for our older adult population, her other passion is resident education. She is the Assistant Program Director for the EM residency at NYPH, with an academic focus on feedback and developing their Business of Medicine curriculum. 

Shan W. Liu, MD, SD, FACEP

Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine

Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School

• Specialties: Emergency Medicine
• Research Interest: Geriatric fall, Quality of Care, Boarding
• Current or Prior Funding: Hartford 2012, Milton Foundation 2013

Shan Liu is a Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School.  She has had funding to assess fall outcomes. Her research focus is on how to prevent recurrent falls.  She is currently AGEM's executive board secretary.

Bibliography

Timothy F. Platts-Mills, MD, MSc

Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine; Director, Clinical Research; Co-Director of Geriatric Emergency Medicine

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Medicine

• Specialties: Emergency Medicine
• Research Interests: Emergency care interventions for older adults, post-traumatic pain, elder abuse, malnutrition
• Current or Prior Funding: National Institute of Justice, 2016; NIH K23 Career Development, 2013; Hartford Collaborative Pilot Project, 2014

Timothy F. Platts-Mills, MD, MSc received his undergraduate degree from Harvard College and his medical degree from the University of California, Los Angeles. He completed a four-year residency in emergency medicine at the University of California San Francisco-Fresno. After working full time clinically for three years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Dr. Platts-Mills completed a Masters of Science in Clinical Research from the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. He is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the UNC with joint appointments with the Department of Anesthesiology and the Department of Medicine, Division of Geriatrics. Dr. Platts-Mills' career goal is to improve the quality of emergency care for older adults through research, research mentorship, and support of the larger community of geriatric emergency medicine researchers. Dr. Platts-Mills' K23 research examines the determinants of persistent pain and functional decline after motor vehicle collision among older adults. The long-term goal of this work is to develop emergency department-initiated interventions to reduce morbidity due to persistent pain after motor vehicle collision in the elderly. A related area of research interest is improving patient education and physician decision making regarding pharmacologic agents for the outpatient treatment of acute musculoskeletal pain in older adults. Dr. Platts-Mills' research group is also developing a protocol to screen for elder abuse in the emergency department, a study funded by the National Institute of Justice. Dr. Platts-Mills serves as a decision editor in geriatrics for Annals of Emergency Medicine.

Google Scholar