Department Blog

EM/Peds resident Taylor Lindquist, DO, was named Best Resident Presenter at the Clinical Pathologic Case Competition (CPC) national semifinals at the Council of Residency Directors (CORD) meeting in New Orleans, LA, on March 28. She will compete in the final round at the ACEP24 scientific assembly in September. Instructor Rachel Wiltjer, DO, and resident Robert Iannaccone, MD, were among the CPC runners-up. Assistant Clerkship Director Kathleen Stephanos, MD, served as a judge in other divisions of the competition.

“Cardiology Challenges,” the EM Department’s annual emergency cardiology symposium, was presented on the UMB campus April 3. Professor and Vice Chair of Academic Affairs Amal Mattu, MD, organized the conference. About 60 emergency clinicians on campus attended, as did 500 online participants from around the globe. Video proceedings of the conference are expected to reach more than 2,000 additional registrants, who may view it at their convenience.

Lecturers included Assistant Professor Leen Alblaihed, MBBS, MPH, on “Soundwaves of Survival: Echocardiography’s Role in Peri-Arrest Cases,” Associate Professor Semhar Tewelde, MD, on “Sick AF: Atrial Fibrillation in Critical Illness,” and Clinical Instructor and Cardiology Fellow Rohit Menon, MD, on “Third Time’s NOT the Charm? Management of Electrical Storm.”

The EM Department hosted the annual meeting and education conference of the Maryland Chapter of the ACEP, the American College of Emergency Physicians, on April 11 at the SMC Campus Center. Professor Michael Bond, MD, began his term as Maryland ACEP President, and resident Satya Vedula, MD, began his term as the UMEM residents’ representative on the organization's board.

EM resident and faculty development fellow Bri Klucher, MD, won the conference’s annual Larry Linder Resident Lecture competition. Other honors went to Professor Stephen M. Schenkel, MD, MPP, named Chairperson of the Year, and Associate Professor Dan Gingold, MD, MPH, named EMS Physician of the Year.

The 2024 edition of Carol Rivers’ Emergency Medicine: Preparing for the Written Board Exam and Review of Core Content features chapters by eleven members of the EM faculty: Michael C. Bond, MD, orthopedic emergencies; Laura Bontempo, MD, and Brian Browne, MD, cutaneous disorders; Sarah Dubbs, MD, hematologic disorders; Danya Khoujah, MBBS, nervous system disorders; Hong K. Kim, MD, MPH, toxicologic disorders; Ben Lawner, DO, emergency medicine services; Joseph Martinez, MD, abdominal and gastrointestinal disorders; Bennett Myers, MD, endocrine, metabolic, and nutritional disorders; Sarah Sommerkamp, MD, gynecologic and obstetric disorders; and Gentry Wilkerson, MD, immune system disorders. The editor-in-chief of this edition is Amal Mattu, MD. 

UMEM has more faculty contributors to this book than any other emergency medicine program in the country. The 11th edition will be published in print and digital formats on Jan. 1, 2024.

The American Board of Emergency Medicine has released its 2025 reading list for ABEM-certified physicians preparing to meet Lifelong Learning and Self-Assessment (LLSA) requirements. The list includes “High-dose nitroglycerin infusion description of safety and efficacy in sympathetic crashing acute pulmonary edema: the HI-DOSE SCAPE study” by Professor Amal Mattu, MD, and UMMC clinical pharmacy specialists Ashley Martinelli, PharmD, Wesley D. Oliver, PharmD, Brandon Houseman, PharmD, and Sandeep Devabhakthuni, PharmD. Ten articles are selected annually for the list.

Assistant Professor Cheyenne Falat, MD, discussed hypothermia and safety measures for extreme cold weather in an interview with FOX45 Morning News on Nov. 29, as Baltimore City issued its first Code Blue for extreme cold. Instructor Sarah Lee, MD, was interviewed for “Why you feel more aches and pains in the cold weather — and what you can do about it,” published Dec. 8 by Fox News online and reprinted in the New York Post and on Yahoo! News.

Associate Professor Quincy Tran, MD, PhD, is among the authors of “Sustainable surgical resource initiative for Haiti: the SSRI-Haiti project,” published in Global Health Action. 2023;16:1. Begun after the 2010 earthquake, the capacity-building project was designed to deliver staff training support and visiting medical personnel for two operating rooms and an intensive care unit at St. Luke's Medical Center in Port-au-Prince and a remote surgical center in Port-Salut.

Zachary Dezman, MD, MS, Clinical Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Epidemiology and Public Health, together with 3 representatives of the Federation of American Scientists, submitted a comment to the US Food and Drug Administration recommending steps to address the systemic bias arising from the use of pulse oximeters. Contributing to the comment were Adjunct Professors of Pediatrics Roderick King, MD, MPH and Joseph Wright, MD, MPH, and EM physician Joel E. Klein, MD.

Emergency Medicine resident Christina M. Sajak, MD, Assistant Professor Kevin M. Semelrath, MD, Associate Professor Laura J. Bontempo, MD, MEd, and Assistant Professor T. Andrew Windsor, MD authored “45-year-old Male with Bilateral Lower Extremity Wounds, Swelling, and Rash,” published February 9 in Clinical Practice and Cases in Emergency Medicine. 2023;7(1):9-14. DOI: 10.5811/cpcem.2022.11.58813

Clinical Associate Professor Zachary Dezman, MD, MS, participated in panel discussions as part of “Understanding Fatal Overdoses to Inform Product Development and Public Health Interventions to Manage Overdose” March 8-9, a virtual program hosted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Reagan-Udall Foundation for the FDA to explore clinical and public health responses to fatal overdoses of fentanyl and other street drugs.