OMS-AAEM Section Council Election

I am nominating Dr. Weber as chair-elect of AAEM-OMS.  He has been involved in a leadership role in OMS over the past year and would make an excellent chair-elect.

I am excited to submit my candidacy for Chair-Elect of the AAEM Operations Management Section. With a background in emergency medicine leadership, operations, and advocacy, I am eager to contribute to the growth and impact of our section.

As a board member of the AAEM Physicians Group, I have been actively engaged in protecting physician-led emergency medicine groups and navigating operational challenges within our field. My administrative fellowship training has given me a strong foundation in hospital operations, efficiency, and strategic management. Additionally, my experience helping to organize FLAAEM 2024 reinforced my passion for bringing together leaders and future AAEM members to exchange innovative ideas and improve emergency department operations. I am committed to advancing the mission of this section, fostering collaboration, and providing resources to optimize emergency medicine practice. I would be honored to serve as Chair-Elect and appreciate your support.

Dr. Scaletta has served this year as Secretary/Financial chair and has indicated his willingness to continue to serve.  We value his input and his experience has been an invaluable resource for us.

As a medical student with a strong interest in Emergency Medicine, I have gained a deeper understanding of the challenges facing the field through my rotations and work experience. Since 2021, I have worked as an ED Clinical Information Manager. Knowing from the beginning that I wanted to become an EM physician, I remained committed to this role throughout my medical education.

In high-volume EDs, more than half of patients are boarders, with many bedded in hallways. This often results in patients leaving without being seen or eloping due to long wait times. I have also observed frequent misuse of the ED, with some patients visiting multiple times a day for non-emergent issues. These experiences have illuminated the broader systemic problems facing EM. The ED serves as the gateway to healthcare, but it has also become a catch-all for the socioeconomic disparities and inefficiencies within a fractured healthcare system. Furthermore, the growing influence of insurance companies and increased private equity acquisitions around the country is deeply troubling. Unfortunately, progress toward meaningful reform has been slow.

These issues have inspired my desire to serve within the Operations Management Section. I am eager to collaborate with like-minded professionals who are bold and dedicated to addressing these challenges head-on. It is unrealistic to assume that the system will fix itself, but the reality is that physicians are not adequately trained in the business and management aspects of medicine. This knowledge gap leaves physicians – and their ability to deliver quality care – vulnerable to decisions made by unqualified individuals.

My ultimate goal is to make a meaningful impact on how medicine is practiced over the next 30 years. However, I recognize that I cannot do this alone. By joining this community, I hope to learn from experienced physicians and work together to implement effective changes.

Emergency medicine thrives on adaptability, teamwork, and continuous learning principles I’ve embraced through leadership and program development. As AMSA’s Vice President of Membership, I led national engagement efforts, expanded chapter outreach, and created structured mentorship pipelines to connect students with physicians. I implemented sustainable leadership pathways, ensuring members had clear avenues to grow within the organization. Managing large-scale initiatives at a national level has prepared me to strengthen mentorship, education, and engagement within this section.

In this role, I standardized mentorship tracking, developed data-driven strategies to retain members, and worked on initiatives that increased accessibility to leadership opportunities. I collaborated with national committees to design structured learning opportunities and skills workshops, ensuring students had the support to grow into confident, capable physicians. These experiences have given me the ability to implement sustainable programming that fosters long-term engagement – an essential component of effective section leadership.

If elected, I will focus on:

• Strengthening mentorship by developing a structured system where students and residents engage in recurring case-based discussions, procedural workshops, and career advising.
• Building a culture of preparedness by integrating emergency scenarios into section activities, fostering hands-on learning that translates directly to clinical settings.
• Advocating for system-based learning by incorporating discussions on care coordination, discharge planning, and ED workflow efficiency into educational programming.
• Ensuring inclusivity and accessibility by implementing transparent leadership pathways that encourage participation from diverse backgrounds and levels of training.

With experience in national program development, mentorship structuring, and membership engagement, I am confident in my ability to strengthen this section and contribute to its long-term impact. I look forward to the opportunity to serve.

As an aspiring EM physician, I’ve developed a deep interest in organized medicine and ED operations throughout medical school. My initial exposure to organized medicine came in March 2024, when I participated in an EM lobbying event with the Arizona state legislature, organized by our local ACEP chapter. During this event, I had the opportunity to meet with legislators and discuss potential solutions for the ED boarding crisis currently affecting our state. I was struck by how little the legislators understood about the ED-related issues occurring within their own districts. However, I was relieved to learn that many of the legislators rely on trusted physicians to guide their decisions on health-related policy. This experience highlighted the critical role EM physicians can play as community leaders, advocating for healthcare improvements based on their firsthand knowledge and experience.

While legislative lobbying is an important tool, it cannot alone solve deeply entrenched issues like ED boarding. Quality improvement research is also a tool for addressing these system- related problems. I am currently working on research at a large hospital which seeks to examine how ED boarding is impacting the health outcomes of severely-ill patients.

As an AAEM/RSA representative for the Operations Management Section, I aim to leverage my budding interest and experience to recruit residents and students and engage them with section events. I will also work to facilitate communication between the AAEM/RSA and OMS-AAEM, ensuring alignment on common initiatives and opportunities for collaboration. Lastly, I hope to partner with the council’s physician members on projects related to ED boarding and other pressing ED operational challenges.

Thank you for considering my application for AAEM/RSA representative for the OMS-AAEM. I look forward to learning from each of you and contributing to the best of my abilities.